Fit for a king: Saskatchewan painter’s prairie landscape to hang at Windsor Castle - 650 CKOM

Triumph, which has just opened at London’s Almeida theatre, is Caryl Churchill’s latest piece of explosive minimalism. Running at just 20 minutes, it skewers contemporary barbarism without mentioning the names of Trump, Putin or any of the other supposedly strong national leaders. It works through historical analogy and is a reminder that Churchill – while “always ahead of the game” in the words of the play’s director, James Macdonald – has in recent years developed a form of elliptical drama for which the apt word might be compressionism. At the heart of Churchill’s new play is an edgy romance between a male journalist and a female press officer who dons a blond wig for her screen appearances and who is a vigorous apologist for a cruel, vindictive, narcissistic emperor. At first she merrily trumpets his more acceptable achievements: pearls imported from Britain, gold from the temples of Gaul, statues erected to his own glory. But through her lover she learns of the monstrosities of the regime she represents – such as prisoners trapped in claustrophobic cages and sawn in half – and reveals the truth on camera.