Like so many Alexanders

This week on CW, Sarah Boyes reviews Kate Summerscale’s The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, and explores the historic interplay of detectives in fact and fiction, as well as the importance of secrets in constituting the modern self. Theatre reviews include Matt Trueman on the Barbican’s Raoul, whose cast of hundreds happens to share a single body, and Miriam Gillinson on the Arcola’s Yasser, about a conflicted Palestinian Shylock. And in films, Ion Martea reviews Tales from the Golden Age, a multiple-director piece about Stalinist Romania.

Meanwhile, Robin Walsh reports on the libel laws’ threat to science, and Michael Savage laments the Wallace Collection’s decision to indulge Damien Hirst. The final Battle of Ideas Satellite events in London explore the state of science on TV on Monday 26 October, and the merits or otherwise of American culture on Tuesday 27 October.

23 October 2009