Theresa May put her worst day behind her pretty quickly. Being thumped by a margin of 230 votes would cause most of us to have no confidence in ourselves, never mind asking anyone else to. But by immediately winning a confidence vote the next day May has had a chance—briefly—to change the narrative.
Read MoreTheresa May achieved something this week that had long been felt impossible. Both Remainers and Leavers passionately wanted the same thing – for her deal to fail.
And fail it did, spectacularly so. There will have been sore throats from all the chanting and sore heads from the celebrating that both sides were doing. The problem for everyone is that they woke up with that sense you get after a truly epic night out that you don’t quite know what happened, what exactly you did or what to do about it.
Read MoreCorbyn’s strength has always been in his relationship with the Labour Party membership. The reason the 2016 “coup” attempt was always bound for failure was that he knew when asked the members would choose him over any other MP.
That campaign—even more than 2015—focused on Jeremy the man, making him indivisible from his political programme. This gave him the strength to put Labour on a path towards socialism it hadn’t been on in decades. And those like myself who worried about the electability of such a strategy were proved wrong. The 2017 manifesto offered policies that would transform our economy “for the many not the few” and added ten points to Labour’s performance as a result.
Read MoreAmber Rudd has described Buffy Summers as her feminist hero. Quite right too. While it’s hard to agree with Rudd that she’s an “early feminist” (Mary Wollstonecraft might have something to say about that) she’s definitely a fantastic role model for anyone who wants to look up not just to a hero but to a champion.
Read MoreClamour is an odd experience – more art installation than theatre but promoted as the latter. It was more interactive than it was immersive, and it wasn’t very interactive – not least because the tech it relied on simply wasn’t up to it.
Read MoreThe Greatest Snowman is enormous – if slightly confusing – fun.
Played pretty much as a straight up pantomime, it come across as charmingly childlike and simple. The storyline is not taxing, and the immersive element was less prominent than in recent production by the same team Journey to the Underworld.
Read MoreDivine Proportions promises much and almost – almost – delivers.
The party atmosphere is apparent from the beginning. Audience members are encouraged to dress decadently and buy further glitter on arrival.
Read MoreSketching has all the great hallmarks of a James Graham play. There are a lot of characters, and their stories interweave frenetically. Music is used – sparingly but to high dramatic effect. There is a little bit of everything for everyone. What you get out of a James Graham play often depends on what you take into it. My meditative and melancholic mood found perfect reflection in the stories of the people of the city of London, but those in a more celebratory frame of mind will find plenty to enjoy too.
Read MoreFrankenstein sets itself firmly in the 80s before the show begins with a thumping and iconic 80s soundtrack. As you enter the “squat” space and are greeted by a group with a very strong ‘Legs Akimbo‘ vibe telling ghost stories. As Mary speaks, she tells of a dream she had – a dream the group shared of a family suffering a tragedy.
As they tell it the story takes over and we are led through their interpretation of Frankenstein.
Read MoreAnother World War Win at the Colab Factory.
Illicit Secrets: Bletchley is a very clever drama. Like a predecessor Hidden Figures, it uses immersive theatre to celebrate real heroes from The Second World War – in this case, the code breakers of Bletchley Park. It does this by immersing you in their work and their world.
Read MoreOwen Kingston looks like a pirate king. Even in a small coffee shop dashing between engagements, he looks larger than life and like he should be brandishing a cutlass (very unfair, given he is incredibly sweet natured).
Read MoreOnce again the Labour Party is spending a summer at war with itself. The disgust at antisemitism that has been rightly vocalised by Jeremy Corbyn, Tom Watson and many others has not stopped the issue becoming a political football in Labour’s vastly overheated National Executive Committee elections.
Many Corbyn supporters, the vast majority of whom share the disgust at antisemitism, still feel bruised after the attempted ousting of Corbyn in 2016 and vindicated by the party’s better-than-expected showing at the general election. They know that the Venn diagram of those who are outraged and upset by antisemitism has a lot of overlap with those who will never accept Corbyn as a leader. Some have therefore understandably – if wrongly, in my view – seen this issue purely through those old lenses.
Read MoreReading Gaol is a fantastically evocative poem and this is a powerful piece of work built out of and around it. The play consists of readings of Reading Gaol, interspersed with monologues – written now but covering a longer time span from Wilde’s time to now. Each is delivered by one of five actors, who each get their chance to shine.
Read More“Why don’t you just leave?” This is a question frequently faced by Labour members who are sceptical of the leadership and direction of the party.
A decade ago it was asked of those now in charge, who felt similarly out of step with New Labour. They stayed; things changed. Many see a lesson there.
Read MoreAs part of my ongoing role as Co-Chair of Open Labour, I co-edited a pamphlet of the future of the relationship between the EU and the UK. This looked specifically at how the left should approach the future of cooperation with our nearest trading bloc.
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