The bard celebrates two other fine practitioners of the art, and laments a lost brewer
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Malign performances
GORDON PARSONS is beguiled by an analysis of performance operates in theatre and plays a vital role in political power-play
THE BIG SLEEP: Donald Trump at his trial at Manhattan criminal court last Thursday
[Mike Segar/Pool Photo via AP]
This right-wing conspiracy theory is used to justify the coercive measures against gender, race and labour rights that best serve capitalism, attests GAVIN O’TOOLE
KENNY MONROSE recommends a new exhibition that highlights the significance of Black British music
ANGUS REID is bowled over by an exuberant film about the making of Keith Jarrett’s legendary concert
MARIA DUARTE, FIONA O’CONNOR and ANDY HEDGECOCK review Savage House, Enzo, Madfabulous, and Erupcja
CHRIS SEARLE recommends a work of love and deep admiration for a great musician
The Performer: Art, Life, Politics
Richard Sennet
Allen Lane, £25
“WHEN I started to write this essay on society and the performing arts, a cluster of demagogues had come to dominate the public realm. Donald Trump in America and Boris Johnson in Britain are skilled performers. Malign performances of this sort draw on the same materials of expression, though, as other kinds of expression.”
This is a promising start to leading US sociologist Richard Sennett’s entertaining and provocatively informative examination of the place and the nature of performance both on stage and in society at large.
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