In 1981 Margaret Thatcher’s government took an intransigent stance against Republicans in Northern Ireland, notably allowing ten men to starve themselves to death in Long Kesh prison. One inmate who just missed that unhappy episode was Patrick Magee, but the effects of a long and violent battle for independence led him to plant a bomb […]

Guruguru is a highly watchable and extremely likeable idiot-clown providing a truly unusual experience. He is both hugely idiotic and just simply huge. The show begins with him calling from behind the curtain for a lost friend called Happiness, and when he emerges in his Uncle Fester/jester outfit there is a collective intake of breath […]

Chris Goode’s Stand is a very gentle call to arms. I left the Battersea Arts Centre with a mixture of powerful emotions, from feeling guilty about not going to the last march to save the NHS, excitement and trepidation about the potential of adopting a child, and a sinking feeling that we live in a […]

Stepping into the surreal and beautiful world of Pina Bausch’s pieces is always a pleasure; an experience to be relished. Although for this latest foray into her back catalogue it is a dark world into which we’re plummeted. Auf dem Gebirge hat man ein Geschrei gehort (On the Mountain a Cry was Heard) was created in […]

Penny Arcade is sitting on the edge of the stage as we enter, dressed in a short pleated skirt and T-shirt, dark tights and shiny black ankle boots, her magenta-coloured hair glowing under the lights. She swings her legs against the stage front, smiles at people she knows, returns greetings, waits for us all to […]