The shipyard painter, political activist and razor-sharp cartoonist Bob Starrett has just written a new book The Way I See It on his eventful life and times. Below we reprint one of his stories and review an essential read
ENO's production of La Boheme is a triumph,
Star critics cherry-pick some of the best on offer in the weeks to come
Leeds Exhibition
Vlassis Caniaris: Composition
Henry Moore Institute
The Headrow
May 30-September 2
On show in Britain for the first time, this is a rare opportunity to see a single work by a Greek sculptor Vlassis Caniaris whose work recalls that of his Italian arte povera contemporaries. Caniaris, like the British artist Sarah Lucas, utilised found objects - particularly tights - in his works which are by turns ingenious and disconcerting. The show will be followed by a major new exhibition by Sarah Lucas from July 17.
London Cultural Event
Don't Iraq Iran
Friday May 25
St James's Church
Piccadilly, W1
This Stop The War benefit couldn't be more timely given the current sabre-rattling over Syria and Iran. It features performances by some of this country's leading artists - actors Mark Rylance, Roger Lloyd Pack and Kika Markham, musicians Brian Eno and Alberto Portugheis , artists Peter Kennard and Cat Phillips - in an outstanding programme of music and the spoken word. The evening begins with Roy Bailey (pictured) and Tony Benn performing The Writing On The Wall, their journey through the history of British radicalism.
Halifax Photography
Northern Broadsides
Crossley Gallery
Dean Clough Mill
May 26-September 16
The work of Northern Broadsides, the theatre company with an authentic "northern" voice, is celebrated in this exhibition of work by Nobby Clarke one of this country's great theatre photographers. Taken over the last two decades, the photographs catalogue the company's work in rehearsal and performance in this country and internationally and is " a fine tribute to a fine man and an artist of his trade," according to the company's artistic director Barry Rutter.
London Performance
Isango Ensemble
Hackney Empire, E8
Until June 3
This multi-award-winning Cape Town company returns to London to present Aesop's Fables, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists and La Boheme. All are adapted in the company's brilliant, unique style to south African contexts, with the Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (pictured) and Aesop's Fables set in the recent apartheid era. Appropriately enough their version of La Boheme transfers the story from the disease-ridden garrets of 19th-century Paris to the townships of South Africa, which has one of the world's highest incidences of TB. Unmissable.
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