DOUGLAS FIELD relishes the hard-boiled language, satire and humour of the third and last of the Harlem trilogy
Running with Lions
Lyric Hammersmith, London
SAD but uplifting, Running with Lions is the story of a British-Caribbean family struggling to come to terms with the death of Joshua — son of Maxwell and Shirley, younger brother of Gloria and uncle of Imani, Gloria’s 16-year-old daughter.
Joshua was killed as a young man in a hit-and-run accident many years back, yet no-one in the household has been able to process their grief.
Gloria has had several breakdowns, Shirley shuts down all mention of her son, and Maxwell, a preacher, is secretly paralysed by the idea that God could have done such a thing.
ANDY HEDGECOCK, MARIA DUARTE and ANGUS REID review Synthetic Sincerity, Our Hero, Balthazar, Heartstopper Forever, and A Year In London
PETER MASON applauds a stage version of Le Carre’s novel that questions what ordinary people have to gain from high-level governmental spying
LEO BOIX, ANDY HEDGECOCK and MARIA DUARTE review Dreamers, It Was Just An Accident, Folktales, and Eternity
SIMON PARSONS is beguiled by a dream-like exploration of the memories of a childhood in Hong Kong


