CHRIS SEARLE recommends a work of love and deep admiration for a great musician
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A skillfully crafted nugget of a play
by Simon Parsons
(L to R) Thomas McGee as Jordan and David Lloyd as Yates
[Chelsey Cliff]
KENNY MacASKILL relishes a fictionalised account of the life and death of the principled Irish anti-colonialist, executed for betraying his English imperial masters
FIONA O’CONNOR admires an ambitious first novel that loosens South Africa’s rainbow collective to examine the racial tensions within
Aussie mining corporation murder, Liverpudlian ex-cop amnesia, a naive vigilante tries to reset capitalism, and the riddle of the dead psychoanalyst
SYLVIA HIKINS is persuaded by an entertaining play that the true miracle of Lourdes would be for attitudes toward disability to change
JAMIE BRITTON recommends this fine analysis of the architectural, ecological and infrastructural destruction of the Gaza Strip
The Red Lion
Bristol Old Vic, The Weston Studio
PATRICK MARBER’S tightly written three-hander is both a paean and a critique of the beautiful game. Set in a the changing room of a semi-pro, non-league soccer team riding at the top of their league, traditional values and club loyalty face the challenge of the modern financial game.
The clash of ethics plays out around the new wunderkind discovery, Jordan trapped between fallen, local legend and now loyal, club kit man, Yates and bullish, ambitious manager, Kidd.
Thomas McGee does a solid job on his stage debut as the damaged youngster attempting to find his place in the murky world of football arrangements, agents and transactions where his principles and need for success are under strain from the outset.
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With climate change, commercial overload and endless fixtures, footballers are being pushed to breaking point. It’s time their unions became a more powerful, unified force, writes JAMES NALTON