Missing Persons/Believe What You Will, Trafalgar Studios, London
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The best of the bunch is The Last Word, in which the actor is quietly devastating as a post-feminist male Medea, a creepily despairing, lone Father For Justice who takes revenge on his faithless spouse to self-defeating extremes.
The One Within finds present-day echoes of Sophocles' Ajax in the madness of an Irish Republican warrior who can't cope with the new realities. In The Roykeaneiad, the comic piece that rounds off the evening, Hicks appears as a drunken Irish football fan who likens Roy Keane's huffy World Cup walk-out to Achilles' sulks in his tent in The Iliad. This last drama sums up the problems of the project. The parallels feel very forced coming from an ordinary Joe. Instead of performing a provocative balancing act between the modern and the mythic, these pieces tend to fall between two stools.
A word of welcome for Josie Rourke's persuasive production of Believe What You Will, the controversial 1631 play by Philip Massinger that has just transferred from Stratford. Dazzling as the title character in Ben Jonson's Sejanus, William Houston continues to chew the scenery with relish in his portrayal of another over-reaching fanatic.
Flaminius is the Roman ambassador who uses threats, torture and sanctions against any state that is minded to offer sanctuary to Antiochus, the charismatic Middle Eastern ruler recently emerged from two decades of hiding. In the play's dissection of the imperialistic, might-is-right mentality, the original audiences would have seen a coded criticism of Spain. For Rome, now read the United States.
'Missing Persons' to 25 February; 'Believe' to 11 February (0870 060 6632)
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments