PAUL DONOVAN is chilled by the contemporary resonance of Harper Lee’s coming of age tale amidst racism and white supremacy in this excellent production
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Arts ahead
Star critics cherry-pick some of the best on offer in the weeks to come
GEOFF BOTTOMS recommends the unashamedly light-hearted escapism on offer in this stage version of the 1963 film
Full of mysterious religious references and radical sound design, the Scottish duo’s new offering is candidate for album of the year, suggests SIMON DUFF
MARY CONWAY revels in a powerful reminder that human lives are not defined by physical perfection
PAUL DONOVAN recommends the fine performances in this account of the pre-war meeting between the US president and the British king
TECLYN AROD relishes an intimate celebration of jazz improvisation that mixes local and national musicians
EDINBURGH THEATRE
Vagabonds — My Phil Lynott Odyssey
Zoo 124, The Pleasance
Carpenters Mews
Until August 31
In Vagabonds, Rob Mountford — saddled with a mess of cultural identity — is challenged by the statue of his hero, Thin Lizzy’s Phil Lynott, to tell that rock star’s swashbuckling story. But, as Mountford does so, his own story takes over in a tale of confused Irish heritage and untimely death as he explores what makes a hero and how true myths are. It’s described as a “hilarious, philosophical, rock’n’roll one-man show,” and should be well worth a punt.
edfringe.com
LONDON CINEMA
The London Labour Film Festival
Arthouse
Tottenham Lane, N8
24-26 September
The third London Labour Film Festival Full shines the spotlight on austerity with screenings of Theopi Skarlatos’s film Greece: The End Of Austerity and Ken Loach’s Bread and Roses, (pictured) featuring two Latina sisters struggling for union recognition in the workplace. Also in the programme are The Divide, which tackles 21st-century globalisation, Pride, the celebration of LGBT activism during the miners’ 1984 strike and the disturbing fast-food tale Compliance, which unfolds over a busy day in a burger restaurant where a prank caller convinces a manager that an employee has committed a theft and needs to be interrogated.
londonlabourfilmfest.com
LONDON PHOTOGRAPHY
Syd Shelton: Rock against Racism
Autograph ABP
Rivington Place, EC2
Between 1976 and 1981, the movement Rock Against Racism (RAR) confronted racist ideology in the streets, parks and town halls of Britain. Formed by a collective of musicians and political activists to fight fascism and racism through music, this free exhibition of Syd Shelton’s photographs captures the spirit of the times as reggae and punk bands performed on the same stage, attracting large multicultural audiences in a show of resistance to violent and institutionalised racism. The Clash, Elvis Costello, Misty in Roots, Tom Robinson, Au Pairs and The Specials feature, along with the audiences at RAR gigs and carnivals across England.
autograph-abp.co.uk
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MARY CONWAY applauds the timely revival of Miller’s study of people fatally deformed by the economics of survival
GORDON PARSONS is blown away by a superb production of Rostand’s comedy of verbal panache and swordmanship
Gin Lane by William Hogarth is a critique of 18th-century London’s growing funeral trade, posits DAN O’BRIEN
Fiery words from the Bard in Blackpool and Edinburgh, and Evidence Based Punk Rock from The Protest Family