Tag Archives: poverty

Mad Man Sad Woman

The Space, London (****)

© Matthew Ferguson, Eva and Huinca, at last, seeing the light...

© Matthew Ferguson, Eva and Huinca, at last, seeing the light…

Juan Radrigán was to Chilean literature and theatre as Maxim Gorki was to Russia under the Tsars. Writing during the Pinochet era, Radrigán’s subjects were exclusively those on the margins of society, the dispossessed and the unheard. Continue reading

Down & Out in Paris and London

New Diorama (****)

© Richard Davenport, the cast in hotel kitchen scene

© Richard Davenport, the cast in hotel kitchen scene

Today it might be termed poverty tourism, but when George Orwell moved to Paris in the late 1920s and subsequently wrote his memoir of living below the breadline, it was with serious intent. Continue reading

Boy

Almeida Theatre, London (****)

© Kwame Lestrade, Frankie Fox (Liam)

© Kwame Lestrade, Frankie Fox (Liam)

Sometimes life can begin to feel like a re-run. Back in the 80’s, in Thatcher-land, British theatre – and television – started to throw up a series of plays reflecting the pinched lives being led by some of its population. Continue reading