MIK SABIERS revels in a band that ploughs an idiosyncratic furrow of expletive laden, guitar-driven alt rock
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Model citizens
GORDON PARSONS is underwhelmed by the inflation of a petty war into the undeserved status of epic
Joanne Howarth as Mrs Hargreaves in Falkland Sound
[Ellie Kurttz]
ANDY HEDGECOCK, MARIA DUARTE and ANGUS REID review Synthetic Sincerity, Our Hero, Balthazar, Heartstopper Forever, and A Year In London
The bard invites readers to a gig, raps for Clacton, and lays out the Burnham-Hurzeler conundrum
RON JACOBS recommends an important book that enhances the oppositional theories put forth by Fanon and, in doing so, remakes psychology itself
JAN WOOLF relishes an extensive history of our long relationship to trees in Britain that underlines the current emergency
DIANE WATT argues that while evidence of sex is not there, a 16th‑century lesbian poet could be Scotland’s answer to Gentleman Jack
KEITH RICHMOND relishes a superbly conceived modern version of Aeschylus’ drama of murderous family succession
Falkland Sound
The Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
THIS is a history play, we are told at the opening of Brad Birch’s new work dealing with one of those nasty little wars that have peppered modern history since the end of World War II.
Apart from around a thousand deaths of British and Argentine soldiers all told, and the usual legacy of lifelong physical and mental injuries, the inevitable consequences of any modern conflict, the only significant results were the fall of the ghastly Galtieri Argentine dictatorship and the regrettable resurrection of the equally ghastly Mrs Thatcher.
Birch’s play touches on the political context, with brief gung-ho comments from UK Spitting Image MPs pontificating on a situation they characteristically know nothing, let alone understand anything, about, but is mainly concerned with the effects on a handful of the few thousand inhabitants of the Falklands at the time.
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