The Critics
Fact or Fiction: an introductory guide
As the misrepresentations in The Crown call for historical dramas to be clearer in their creative license, Romeo Coates offers a brieg guide to fact and fiction in drama
Dress sense
The average rock band from the 1980s onwards dressed as if they were going to fix your car, not blow your mind
The universal appeal of self-pity
Zeinab Badawi’s ‘The History of Africa’ (BBC World News)
Learning to love Big Brother
A contemporary political drama uses the double whammy of Covid and Brexit to reanimate older, primeval forces
His own best character
A new Netflix release has been trailed as a masterpiece, with myriad claims to Oscar recognition, says Christopher Silvester
Carving out a new genre
Digital theatre is now beginning to offer stalls-starved audiences the kind of quality work they would have queued to see live
Stars, stripes and dollars
Michael Prodger on the artists who make huge sums for painting the US flag
Tunes of glory
How do you love a song you disagree with?
Do not go gently
Opera has treated the subject of cancelling the pleasures of others in some depth
The Russians aren’t coming
New music was not officially muted in the Soviet Union. It just got left at home, says Norman Lebrecht