News

There’s nothing like a witch hunt to keep you in control

The Crucible

In brief

Comme une Image

Take the Troubles and wrap a story round them

In my new book, The Defender, the main character, a 14 year old boy called Ian, comes home to find two menacing characters waiting for his dad.

A Cloud in Trousers shows the poet Mayakovsky trying to a make a revolution within a revolution

Taking its title from one of Vladimir Mayakovsky’s greatest poems, in which the future poet of the Russian Revolution revealed that he could be as tender hearted as "a cloud in trousers", this play sets out to bring us the story of the man himself.

Music

Camouflage is Relative Pete Miser

A cultural encounter between East and West

A huge black screen, dated 1674 and made by skilled Chinese craftsmen, depicts the activities of an enclosed Chinese court. It is a lively scene, rich in decoration and colour, and shows a multitude of characters going about their daily tasks. In the extreme left of the screen are a small group of European merchants.

Ray Charles: remembering the man who had music in his blood

Ray

In brief

Caesar’s Greatest Battle

‘It all started with a bad experience in Romania’

The whole thing began for me in November 2002 after a rather bruising experience in Bucharest, Romania.

On holiday with George, Laura, Tony, Cherie and Donald

Guantanamo Baywatch Justin Butcher

Reviews Round-up

New Year’s Revolutions Tommy Evans

Avant-garde revolution that swept the art world

Avant-Garde Graphics 1918-1934

58 | The Exception to the Rulers

58Philippe Cherbonnier Appalled by the news of the 58 Chinese people who suffocated in a lorry on the journey to Dover in 2000, Philippe Cherbonnier set out to explore the immigration debate in Britain.

MusicK/Rearranging the 20th Century

He was inspired by ordinary people’s struggles

PABLO NERUDA’S last act of defiance came after his death in November 1973.

Theatre & Exhibition

THEATRE Stuff Happens

Young musicians breaking free

SAM BESTE is now old enough to drink in the places he’s been earning a fast growing reputation in. Other 18 year olds like Wayne Rooney or soul prodigy Joss Stone may be better known, but Sam’s is an equally impressive talent.

A black slave rebellion for the 1960s generation

QUEIMADA, OR Burn!, has just been released on DVD (£13.99).

Redefining what is possible

Was it a conscious decision to make your new book, Iron Council, very political?

One cruel death but many ruined lives

SILENT CRY is a play about the death in police custody of Arif Ahmed. The dialogue takes place in and around the home of the young man’s family, and focuses on how this avoidable tragedy threatens to pull them apart. It is based on documented evidence and interviews, and the story begins as Arif’s life ends.