The bard celebrates two other fine practitioners of the art, and laments a lost brewer
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Echoes of Windrush scandal in brilliant immigrant drama
KATHERINE M GRAHAM sees the revival of a play about the Jamaican experience in Britain which is acutely contemporary
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
Leave Taking
Bush Theatre, London
WINSOME PINNOCK’S Leave Taking premiered in 1987 at the Liverpool Playhouse, but watching the Bush Theatre’s production some three decades later, there’s no sense that this is a historical piece. Rather, it’s horrifically contemporary.
Early on, we hear the suggestion that, as an immigrant, you’re only legally in England “till them change them mind again.” This produces an audible gasp from an audience keenly aware of the Windrush scandal and a government that is still, 31 years later, toying with the lives of immigrant families.
This is indeed a timely production by the Bush, following closely on the heels of Arinze Kene’s Misty. It continues that play’s powerful and intelligent interrogation of English culture’s failure to listen to, and to see, the struggles of people of colour.
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