Play Well, Monos, Vassa, Elizabeth Strout, The Accident

Saturday Review

Play Well is a new exhibition opening at the Wellcome Collection in London, aiming to explore how play transforms both childhood and society.

On a mountaintop in Colombia, eight children with guns watch over a hostage and a conscripted milk cow, communicated with over the radio by a threatening commander. That's the basic plot of a new film Monos, which has won awards at international festivals.

Vassa is the new production at London's Almeida Theatre, adapted from Maxim Gorky's play by Mike Bartlett and starring Siobhan Redmond.

Elizabeth Strout's new novel Olive Again reintroduces readers to Olive Kitteridge, from her best-selling 2008 novel. Older and (maybe) wiser, she's as blunt and delightful as ever as she copes with a second marriage.

The Accident is a new series beginning on Channel 4 written by Jack Thorne and starring Sarah Lancashire.

Presented by Emma Woolf, the reviewers are Pat Kane, Alex Clark and Sally Gardner. The producer is Oliver Jones.

Podcast Extra recommendations:

Sally: Mystify Pat: The Emotional Mind by Stephen T Asma and Rami Gabriel Alex: The Reluctant Landlord on TV and the Kilkenny One Act Play festival Emma: George Gissing