JAMES WALSH recommends an exceptional documentary about the experience of Western doctors in Gaza
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‘The house of commons is a posh white peoples’ rap battle’
JAMES WALSH applauds the observations of a new Chinese master of stand-up
ONE TO WATCH: Alvin Liu
[Courtesy of Alvin Liu]
KEVIN DONNELLY suggests that the task of transforming cultural spaces is far from over and that photography still has a key role to play
RITA DI SANTO talks to Scottish-Irish filmmaker MARK COUSINS about his new panorama of world cinema The Story of Documentary Film
ALAN MORRISON welcomes a new collection from the most imaginative and committed ecopoet of our time
CAL McBRIDE relishes the lyrical truth of an unstable identity in an over-tidy and conventional social realist treatment
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CHRIS SEARLE welcomes a startling vision of contemporary Newport from a veteran photographer of the British working class
Rice, Alvin Liu
ALVIN LIU is from China, where a thriving stand-up scene has developed in the past few years in Shanghai and Beijing — though your entire venue might get shut down if someone makes a joke that could even vaguely be construed as a slight against the motherland.
No such problems in Britain — yet — and there are some very funny Chinese comics up-and-coming on the London scene, including Chin Wang and the brilliant Blank Peng. Liu definitely has the chops to join them, with his by turns universal and deeply personal observations building up to an excellent debut hour.
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