Professor Martin Paul Eve on The Ferryman Jez Butterworth’s previous play, Jerusalem, starring the irrepressible Mark Rylance, was a stage hit. After its gestation at the Royal Court, Jerusalem transferred to the West End and then to Broadway in the US, despite its main theme being
Daragh Carville on Girl from the North Country Old Vic, August 2, 2017 On the night of August 2, it was impossible to watch Girl from the North Country, Conor McPherson’s new play incorporating the songs of Bob Dylan, without thinking of Sam Shepard, whose
Martin Eve on The White Devil by John Webster at the Wanamaker Playhouse The White Devil is, by many standards of judgement, a pretty terrible play. It features a large cast of characters who appear and disappear extremely quickly, making it very difficult to follow.
Joseph Brooker on Eduardo Paolozzi at the Whitechapel Gallery The artist Sir Eduardo Paolozzi (1924-2005), Edinburgh-born of Italian descent, was a pioneer of Pop Art. The Whitechapel Gallery is exhibiting his work (February to May 2017) in a major retrospective showing over 250 items. Paolozzi’s early
Joseph Brooker on SS-GB In a self-referential high point of Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle (1962), two characters debate whether a fiction depicting an ‘alternate present’ belongs to the science fiction genre, unaware that they are in a novel of alternate
Rewatching The Godfather On Saturday March 11 I went to see The Godfather at the London Palladium – with a live orchestra accompaniment – in the company of my son. It’s a film I’ve seen many times, a film I use as a touchstone in
Joseph Brooker on St Joan at the Donmar Warehouse. Saint Joan (1923) is among the most celebrated works by the Dublin-born playwright George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950). The play was recently staged at the Donmar Warehouse in Covent Garden, directed by Josie Rourke and with Gemma
Caroline Edwards at the Royal Academy’s new exhibition, “Revolution: Russian Art 1917-1932” One hundred years after the Russian Revolution of 1917, London’s Royal Academy is staging an exhibition of the idealistic early years of Russian avant-garde art, “Revolution, Russian Art 1917-1932” (11 February-17 April 2017). In presenting
Joseph Brooker on Maps and the 20th Century: Drawing the Line at the British Library The British Library currently displays a large selection of maps from the 20th century. The maps are sorted into the themes: Mapping a New World (a general section, with emphasis on
Martin Eve on Nice Fish at the Harold Pinter Theatre The reviews were mixed and I wasn’t sure what to expect. Two men sitting on a sheet of ice, fishing and talking. For that is the plot of Nice Fish almost in its entirety, which