Roberto Rossellini’s 1945 neorealist drama is unsparing in its depiction of the heavy price of both resistance and collaboration with the Nazi occupationRoberto Rossellini’s 1945 film is a blazingly urgent and painful bulletin from the frontline of Italy’s historical agony: the Axis power that had belatedly turned against the Mussolini fascists only...

Corn Exchange/Dance House, Brighton Stopgap and Lîla Dance deliver poetic and political work at this year’s festival, displaying bold innovation and evocative visions‘It’s impossible to create art that meets the needs of everybody. There may be moments that aren’t tuned to your frequency.” The introduction to Stopgap’s Lived Fiction (★★★★☆) at Brighton’s...

Organisers of Seret international film festival say it has been a challenging few months but ‘we are not going to cave’The organisers of an Israeli film festival that is due to open in the UK on Thursday have pledged to push ahead with the event despite pro-Palestinian artists urging venues to boycott it.The Seret international film festival, now in...

The Ontario-born writer turned the ‘classic New Yorker-style short story’ into the highest form of literature, by taking an obsessively detailed interest in the people who lived in her small Canadian townAlice Munro, Nobel winner and titan of the short story, dies aged 92Margaret Atwood reads Dance of the Happy Shades by Alice Munro – audioBack in 2006,...

Trafalgar theatre, London The Olivier award-winner returns to her role as an actor in rehab in Duncan Macmillan’s brutally powerful playDuncan Macmillan’s 2015 play about addiction is a tricksy and unnerving thing, even for those who know what’s coming. This reprise of the original National Theatre and Headlong production reunites some of its main players...

Birmingham Rep A strong cast and a magical set make this more or less word-for-word stage transfer of the cult hit an entertaining tribute pieceIn 1988, I worked on a listings magazine’s competition page. One week, the prize was tickets to a new film called Withnail and I. There were also soundtrack albums and posters designed by Ralph Steadman. The...