Anne McElvoy
Playing the Wall game
Ella Hickson’s new play is a clever—and technically inventive—portrayal of East Germany in the 1960s
Miller’s tales and Nordic gloom
Willy Loman is back in town, still pursuing the American dream, while Ibsen’s unhappy ghosts return too
All boys together in Pinterworld
A new production of Betrayal reminds us of the playwright’s insights into male relationships
Spoiled for choice
Joshua Harmon’s new play about the struggle to get into top American universities could not be more timely
Molière still hits the spot
The classic Tartuffe transposed to Highgate provides a witty commentary on post-crash London
Thrashing out a few solutions
New plays on Broadway and at the Royal Court take on gay coming of age and corporal punishment
Underrated: Wolf Biermann
The brave dissident East German singer and songwriter still standing up for freedom
A nuanced take on immigration
A new play about a bereaved London Caribbean family avoids the preachiness of much contemporary drama
Porgy’s blessed: songs, cast, dance
George Gershwin’s masterpiece is revealed in all its splendour by ENO’s sprightly new co-production
Everyday story of Trump’s folk
Stephen Karam’s Broadway hit about a family at the mercy of the market resonates in London too
Tolerating the intolerant
“For those who thought that a global pandemic would sound the death knell for identity politics, think again”
How to prevent the next pandemic
‘I have been reporting as a science journalist for years that the world is at increasing risk of pandemics like this; that this was predicted; that we know what we need to do to prepare and we simply haven’t done it; and that more and worse pandemics are coming so we need to do that, now’
D’où parles-tu? The post-truth world
Power, illusion and the open society: how postmodernism undermines our foundational concepts