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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‘Hardly politically correct’
Iain Aitch speaks to Tim Wells and is tempted to steal as his own many of the the poet’s acute, crafted observations
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
If London were to elect its own poet laureate then it would be hard to look past East End wordsmith Tim Wells and not just because he’s a big fella.
Wells’s carefully honed verse can appear bold, brash and lewd to the uninitiated or un-listening. But watch the man in action, listen with a pint in your hand or delve into his new collection Everything Crash and you realise that for every bog door joke there is a piece of classical inspiration. And for every mention of a reggae floor-filler there is a crafted observation so acute that you want to steal it as your own.
Judge by appearances and you’ll miss the button-down shirt-attired suedehead verbalist deliver lines in Yiddish, Sylheti, Cockney and Jamaican patois.
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