Eurofile

Brecht lived through some of Europe’s darkest times yet still produced some of the 20th century’s boldest, most influential and epoch-defining theatre

From the Dutch golden age through Manchester and Margate to the place where three European nations meet; a selection of unmissable reads

How Råpunk – raw punk – brought pure rage to Sweden

The second coming of smash burgers is cause for celebration because thin and flash-fried is how burgers should be

Our editor-at-large’s rundown of the pick of the week’s streaming, cinema and books

Hollywood vintage has produced films of varying quality about hillbilly people. Its masterpiece, of course, is John Ford’s The Grapes of Wrath

If opera needs a way to entrance new, younger audiences, this production of Samson needs to get on the road

The small town of Barga in Italy celebrates Burns night in its own way

The Death Of England is cutting-edge theatre that doesn’t care who it offends

Is there no land so remote nowadays that its cuisine can’t receive the descriptor ‘street’ and be flogged from a stall at lunchtime to British workers?

This technical terminology is easily understood and describes the act of parsing playful sentences that are designed to confuse

Why do we make so much fuss about ‘copying’ in the arts when almost everything we create is based on something else?

How the British countryside saved modern art’s greatest champion

With his gramophone recordings, the Italian transcended the closed world of performance to become a global phenomenon

It is the utilitarian nature of crêpes, their accessibility and the fact they enjoy French ceremony that I adore

Our editor-at-large’s rundown of the pick of the week’s cinema, streaming and books

Women presidents in film get into all kinds of trouble, mainly because they’re not at home taking care of their kids and cooking for their husbands

As the New European approaches a landmark, we look back at some of the gems – from expansive histories to personal stories – uncovered on these pages since 2016

A revised English version of the psychoanalyst’s texts reveals a tirade against Americans – but also a suggestion that he may have studied the president himself

Nato and chess aren’t traditional topics for stand-ups. But North Macedonian comedian Vlad Ilich makes it work in three languages

You can understand why people want to at least take back some semblance of control, when their passport is eventually stamped and they enter the “other country” of serious illness

The writer who risked his life to watch his own books burned by Nazis – so he could write about it

How Berlin made the notorious, magnificent Einstürzende Neubauten

The man behind the masks and mysteries – James Ensor, the angry, vindictive, solitary genius of Ostend

He was only truly fulfilled when either in the air or writing about being in the air

Rather surprisingly, the French word for ‘customs’ is related to the English word for a low sofa-bed

Le Clarence trades in Parisian fine dining in its purest, truest form in matters of service and personality

Our editor-at-large’s rundown of the pick of the week’s streaming and books

It is a great virtue, and a great gift as well, to know when to stop. Especially when you’re at the top