In this week's theatre, Gareth King reviews 'Earthquakes in London' at the National, and 'The Prince of Homburg' at the Donmar. The two productions might be equal in their ambitions but only one clearly delivers on its promise.
In this week's diary, Mikhail Goldman tackles the omnipresent red, blue and white masts of the Tesco empire. Far from helping communities and seeking socially-positive efficiencies, Goldman shows how Tesco and its rivals have been aggressive in their pursuit of profit and relentless in using their considerable power to silence opposition. The Tesco success story is a mirage built on a billion little failures, but a growing resistance is finally gaining ground.
In the news this week in Latin America: Massacre in Mexico, Morales unhappy with Peru, Brazil awaits its first female president and much more. Ceasefire correspondent Tom Kavanagh delivers his weekly round up of what's been going on south of the border...
The Infidel is a comedy whose subject matter includes Muslims, Jews, cultural identity, religious intolerance, clerical hypocrisy, political islamism, violent extremism, anti-semitism, media mendacity and plain old-fashioned racism. Upon its release on DVD earlier this month, Hicham Yezza reviews it.
The past week has seen the 5th Camp for Climate Action take place outside the Royal Bank of Scotland's headquarters in Edinburgh. In a passionately polemical column, Mikhail Goldman argues that the choice of target could have brought together a wide spectrum of greens and anti-capitalists, but that the timing was completely wrong. He concludes that although the climate camp movement has to be applauded for its considerable achievements, its prominence has come at a heavy price.
The Roma community in and around Marseille is the latest group at the receiving end of the steamroller tactics of the French gendarmerie, who on Friday began to expel thousands said to be living illegally in France. But our own government’s approach to immigration is hardly more progressive. Corin Faife examines the British tradition of how to do your dirty work with a smiling face.
The Great Game is a mini-cycle of plays that is intense, powerful and evocative. As it enters the last week of its London run, before a move accross the Atlantic, Lucy Shaw went to see it.
In the news this week in Latin America: Protests in Honduras, police officers arrested in Mexico, Fidel Castro's new career as a columnist and much more. Ceasefire correspondent, Tom Kavanagh, gives his weekly report on what's been going on south of the border...
The latest production of Arthur Miller's All My Sons is a "revival of a revival", by the same team that produced its previous National Theatre staging in 2000. It is a tale of two grieving parents (David Suchet and Zoe Wanamaker) of a World War II pilot assumed dead in combat seven years previously, who have to face up to the truth of their past over the course of a single day. The production has received impressively unanimous critical acclaim. Gareth King went to see it and discovered why.
What is reality? Is the universe, ultimately, no more than bits of information?
Physics, and Quantum Theory in particular, have grappled with the fundamental structure of nature's basic building blocks for decades, but the answers remain elusive. Quantum physicist and Ceasefire columnist Sebastian Meznaric takes a look at a new book on the topic and finds it full of intriguing and original insights.