ANGUS REID, ANDY HEDGECOCK and MARIA DUARTE review On The Sea, A Useful Ghost, Brunello: The Gracious Visionary, and Pinocchio Unstrung
Brilliant exposure of Tory entitlement
PAUL FOLEY relishes a superb production that plays Wilde’s farce as a contemporary dissection of the rich and ridiculous ruling class
RULING CLASS WARRIOR: Abigail Cruttenden as Lady Bracknell and Phoebe Pryce as Gwendolen
[Johan Persson]
RON JACOBS enjoys a great tale, told by a US communist, of the lives of working-class New Yorkers
BRENT CUTLER searches a new history of contemporary Iran for an understanding of the Islamic Republic, finding both interesting detail and glaring omissions
MARIA DUARTE recommends the true story of the remarkable woman who sued Donald Trump for sexual assault not once, but twice
KENNY MacASKILL is disappointed by a polemical, rather than factual, account of the Lone Star State and its political path since the civil war
PAUL DONOVAN is fascinated by the lives of Charles and Mary Bagot, and the insight this biography shines on the morals of pre-Victorian society
GORDON PARSONS appreciates fine performances and a feel for ambiguity, but misses the music of the dialogue
The Importance of Being Earnest
Royal Exchange Manchester
OSCAR WILDE’s perennial classic, The Importance of Being Earnest is as popular with audiences today as it was back in 1895 (apart from the odd homophobic lord, of course).
Despite Wilde’s wonderful manipulation of language, a wit that cuts to the bone and throwing a satirical punch at the ruling class, does it hold up in today’s fast-moving world? I had my doubts. Surely the absurdities of the ruling class which Wilde so enjoyed poking fun at no longer exist?
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PAUL FOLEY revels in the coolest, most joyful piece of theatre you’ll get this summer
MIRANDA RICHMOND relishes the gloriously liberated art of Roy Oxlade, and traces his method back to the thinking of David Bomberg, his acknowledged teacher
MARJORIE MAYO welcomes an account of family life after Oscar Wilde, a cathartic exercise, written by his grandson
Although this production was in rehearsal before the playwright’s death, it allows us to pay homage to his life, suggests MARY CONWAY