Shakespeare, our contemporary: the Bard 400 years later
Credit: Martin O’Neill for New Statesman
By Howard Jacobson, Will Self, Germaine Greer, Imogen Stubbs, Simon Callow, James Shapiro, Colm Toibin, Rowan Williams, Andrew Marr, Daljit Nagra.
To mark the 400th anniversary of the playwright’s death, our contributors nominate the works that speak most urgently to the 21st century.
Jon Bon Jovi on Trump, Bono, Bieber — and the agony of his split with Richie Sambora
By Kate Mossman
I should have cancelled but there was not a chance in hell. The shit I went through on that last tour. I have earned this grey hair.”
Marina Abramović turned attention seeking into a modern art form
By Julie Burchill
Reading Abramović’s memoir is rather like watching EastEnders: I didn’t learn anything about performance art reading it, but I can’t deny I had fun.
Credit: Cameron Law for New Statesman
Death of the hatchet job
By D J Taylor
Book reviewing used to be a blood sport. How has it become so benign and polite?
He gave a total stranger $50,000 in cash: the strange, multi-million dollar empire of Trans-Siberian Orchestra
By Kate Mossman
Kate Mossman meets the man behind one of the world’s wealthiest rock bands.
Seasons change, Gilmores stay the same
By Anna Leszkiewicz
Gilmore Girls is fundamentally about two things: inheritance and community. The four seasons are crucial in exploring those themes.
It’s unfashionable to call someone a “genius” – but William Empson was one
By John Gray
Father than denying the contradictoriness of being human, Empson revelled in it, as The Face of Buddha reveals.
How Frankenstein became a monster – and what he means to us today
By Frances Wilson
Monstrous Progeny invites us to reflect on two hundred years of a prolific, and horrific, creation.
Credit: Tate
Paul Nash: the modernity of ancient landscapes
By Michael Prodger
Famous for his eerie First World War paintings, a new exhibition reminds us why Paul Nash was the greatest British artist of the first half of the 20th century.
Sometimes it’s hard to be a man – especially if you overthink it
By Steven Poole
A new outpouring of books show masculinity isn’t in crisis, human beings are.
Why the British addiction to period drama is driving away our best black and Asian actors
By Andrew Dickon
There is a diversity crisis in British TV and film as, increasingly, stars are decamping to America to make their career there.
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