race issues
aleks.sierz
Theatre is the art of storytelling, and the best stories are those that constantly change their shape. In Dennis Kelly's storming new play, Orphans, which wowed critics and audiences when it opened in Edinburgh in August, the narrative morphs and flips like a bad conscience. And for good reason. Long before the final climax, you just know that something isn't right.The evening starts innocuously enough. Danny and Helen are a nice couple. If not exactly shining, happy people, they at least exude an air of comfort as they settle down to enjoy a quiet night at home. Nice room, nice furnishings, Read more ...
Matt Wolf
The exhilaration of scientific enquiry turns out to be dead on arrival when it comes to Creation, the Jon Amiel film about Charles Darwin that is simultaneously brilliantly timed and also a snore. Survival of the fittest in this context takes on a new meaning that will be immediately clear to those who make it all the way through.The movie would be welcome even if 2009 were not both the bicentenary of Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species, his pioneering tome. A staggering 42 per cent of Americans, apparently, don’t believe in evolution, while Read more ...
aleks.sierz
Richard Bean's monster mainstage play, England People Very Nice, was about immigration to London's East End - and was easily the most controversial play of 2009. He is a son of Hull (b. 1956). He is one of the most prolific and talented playwrights to emerge on the British new writing scene since the start of the new millennium. He is also a late developer: before becoming a playwright, he was a stand-up comic, and before that an occupational psychologist. As a writer, he first came to attention with his play Toast at the Royal Court in 1999, one of his gritty work plays, which he once Read more ...