Thursday, February 19, 2015
January 6-February 28, PN various: The Faction season at the New Diorama is now a staple for any Off-West End theatregoer, always getting the year going with a bang. It's no different i…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 01:10PMWednesday, February 18, 2015
How much information do you want in your theatre programme? I want a lot, but of a certain type. I love the ones you get at the opera, full of left-field articles and so glossy…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 04:00AMMonday, February 16, 2015
Southwark Playhouse, London: Paula Vogel's How I Learned to Drive is a sticky play that brilliantly explores manipulation, the desperate search for human connection and paedophilia. It&…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:55AMWednesday, February 11, 2015
Recently, Amy Golding from Newcastle-based theatre company Curious Monkey held a Future of Fringe symposium for artists and companies from the North East. The reports have yet to come out bu…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 04:00AMMonday, February 9, 2015
White Bear Theatre, London: Long before Pope Francis began making waves by highlighting the extravagances of the Catholic Church, the father of his order - the Jesuits - Ignatius of Loyola (…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 07:44AMWednesday, February 4, 2015
Last week, mini-season Walking the Tightrope set out to explore issues of freedom of expression, censorship and boycotts in the arts through a series of microplays (which you can download al…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:00AMWednesday, January 28, 2015
Caroline Horton’s Islands at the Bush Theatre has well and truly put the cat among the pigeons. Most of the critics have had their claws out, slating it as self indulgent and toothless. A …
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 04:00AMWednesday, January 21, 2015
I saw the film Birdman for the second time on Sunday. It’s as blisteringly good on repeat viewing, still making me feel tearful and calm all at once. This time my brain was in gear…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 04:00AMWednesday, January 14, 2015
Last week Alan Lane from Leeds-based company Slung Low wrote an impassioned blog on asking audiences to pay what they wanted, rather than adhere to a fixed-fee structure. In it he argued tha…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 07:00AMWednesday, January 7, 2015
It’s out. The Stage 100, billed as “UK theatre’s definitive power list”, has been published. But 2015’s list has caused both celebration and consternation. Anger has been voiced ab…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 04:00AMWednesday, December 31, 2014
After a stonking end to 2014, I can’t wait to see what 2015 is going to bring to the fringe. With that in mind, I’ve put together a selection of treats heading our way over…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:00AMMonday, December 29, 2014
On bullish form in 2014, fringe winners included cerebral explorations, feminist fightbacks and provocative journeys into darkness. Honour Bayes says it was a good year to be called Chris. T…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:00AMTuesday, December 23, 2014
The Lion and Unicorn, London: Okai Collier Company's The Winter's Tale brings the Lion and Unicorn's Shakespeare Sessions to a tidy end for 2014. In a savvy move, the company …
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:19AMWednesday, December 17, 2014
Last week I was talking to a director who explained how hard it is to pitch to some fringe venues due to their year-long programming schedules. This worries me a bit. For a big theatre…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 07:00AMTuesday, December 16, 2014
Bridge House Theatre, Penge, London: Guy Retallack's decision to stage It's A Wonderful Life as a tongue in cheek 1940's radio play is inspired. It adds a bit of savvy satire …
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 12:17PMWednesday, December 10, 2014
Meera Syal has said that theatres need to cater more for Asian audiences and take advantage of the “brown pound” and one theatre company in Watford is doing just that. Rifco Art…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 07:00AMMonday, December 8, 2014
The Puppet Theatre Barge, London: Nestled on a canal in Little Venice bobs the Puppet Barge, a marionette theatre specialising in shows for children. It's lined with dark wooden panels …
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:59AMThursday, December 4, 2014
Southwark Playhouse, London: Miyamoto Usagi is a samurai, the greatest in the land - well, he's not yet but after this coming of age tale, I think we can be pretty sure he will be. He&#…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 10:44AMWednesday, December 3, 2014
Christmas season is well and truly upon us and I couldn’t be happier. The idea of pantos as far as the eye can see makes me as happy as those kids that surround you when…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 08:12AMFriday, November 28, 2014
Finborough Theatre, London: There's a strong taste of George Orwell's 1984 in Eve Leigh's first full-length play, although Leigh is more hopeful about the resilience of the hu…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 09:28AMThursday, November 27, 2014
I went to see Pomona last week with a knot in my stomach. I was ready to be made deeply uncomfortable, if not a little disturbed. I came out having felt awkward but vicariously so….
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 07:00AMTuesday, November 25, 2014
Southwark Playhouse, London: There's nothing much to like about the people in Daniel Anderson's strident debut Saxon Court and it nearly drowns under the weight of its own unpleasa…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 07:47AMWednesday, November 19, 2014
Right, before we get all festive (which I positively refuse to do – at least in print – until the last week of November), I want to talk about fringe festivals because golly there are…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 07:00AMWednesday, November 12, 2014
News that The Hunger Games is to be turned into a ‘theatrical experience’ in a purpose-built theatre outside Wembley Stadium brought about mixed emotions last week. I love the Hunger Gam…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 07:00AMMonday, November 10, 2014
The Pit, Barbican Theatre, London: Three silent figures in black sit by laptops powered via clusters of red cords that pour out of the back of them like blood vessels. Behind floats a fluore…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:29AMThursday, November 6, 2014
Its time to dust off your sparkly gold stilettos, sequin dress and velvet bow tie – awards season is upon us. Arguably theatre has never had the sort of glamorous gung-ho attitude to award…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 07:00AMFriday, October 31, 2014
Finborough Theatre, London: The winner of this year's <a href="http://papatango.co.uk/" target=_blank>Papatango new writing prize</a> is further proof of the high …
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 07:20AMWednesday, October 29, 2014
These days new fringe theatres are popping up everywhere. After the London Theatre Workshop in Fulham and the Twickenham Theatre (which lost its venue but promises to find another) this mont…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:00AMMonday, October 27, 2014
The Barbican, London: Simon Stone's production is as devastating as it is dazzling. Stone and co-writer Chris Ryan take a scalpel to Ibsen's original in a reincarnation that is mor…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:51AMWednesday, October 22, 2014
The Fringe Focus column sees Honour Bayes look outside the world of cavernous auditoria and into the more intimate world of fringe and immersive theatre. Every week she will try to navigate …
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 04:00AMThursday, October 16, 2014
Hackney Downs Studio: Laura Lomas' Bird delicately unpicks the provocative issue of child sexual exploitation. In form, it slightly echoes Philip Ridley's Dark Vanilla Jungle, but …
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 09:32AM 
