Alfred Hickling
A Wondrous Place - review
When Christopher Eccleston was regenerated as the ninth Doctor Who, his assistant couldn't understand why a time lord should have a northern accent.
The History Boys - review
Alan Bennett's almost 10-year-old play about a group of bright, northern grammar-school lads preparing for Oxbridge has not wanted for quality revivals.
Spilt Milk by Chico Buarque - review
The fictional memoirs of Eulálio Assumpção tumble out in no particular order and create the impression of a proud dynasty brought low by military governments and debauchery
Brilliant Adventures - review
Royal Exchange, Manchester The Royal Exchange has hit a seam of remarkable young writing talent, having recently presented Rory Mullarkey's disquieting debut Cannibals, and now this Bruntwood prize-winning piece of homespun sci-fi, jointly presented wi
Outsiders: Six Italian
This collection, first published as a series of supplements with the Corriere della Serra, presents six left-field Italian authors – 10, if you count the members of the Wu Ming collective, whose contribution about an Italian consortium's attempts to pro
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic/Petrenko - review
Shostakovich's Fourteenth Symphony is impossible to classify: part song-cycle, part secular rite for the dying, part hospital diary, it is without question one of the most harrowing 60 minutes of music ever written.
Homecoming by Susie Steiner - review
An everyday story of hard-pressed hill farmers is all about keeping calm and carrying on We have Susie Steiner to thank, in part, for the "Keep Calm and Carry On" phenomenon . It was her praise of the wartime public information poster in a Guardian colu
Blue Remembered Hills - review
It's curious that Dennis Potter is primarily honoured – in the theatre at least – for one of the slightest pieces he wrote. Originally conceived for the small screen, Blue Remembered Hills hardly seems substantial enough to command an entire evening:
Gruff Rhys: my musical take on the communist Forrest Gump
In March 1972, the badly mutilated body of a 46-year-old man was found at the foot of a power mast outside Milan, having apparently died when the explosives he was carrying detonated prematurely.