All stories by Arifa Akbar on BroadwayStars

Thursday, September 13, 2018

Wasted review – sex, drugs and headbanging … meet the rock'n'roll Brontës by Arifa Akbar

Southwark Playhouse, LondonThe doomed sisters release their inner goths in this fantastically witty, mischievous and camp musical update of their tragic livesThe lives of the Brontë sisters…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:36AM
Wednesday, September 12, 2018

An Adventure review – epic journey through Mau Mau-era Kenya by Arifa Akbar

Vinay Patel’s ambitious, highly personal new play, a young couple leave behind from India in search of a better life‘Pick me and I will make us … the greatest adventure you could ever …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:18AM
Tuesday, September 11, 2018

Abi/Abigail's Party review – Mike Leigh's cringy classic gets a spin-off by Arifa Akbar

★★★☆☆/★★★★☆Queen’s theatre, HornchurchAtiha Sen Gupta creates a companion piece for Leigh’s story while a revival proves the original’s timeless powerWho was Abigai…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:36AM
Sunday, September 9, 2018

About Leo review – vivid portrait of a painter who reframed art by Arifa Akbar

Jermyn Street theatre, LondonThis profound and beautiful study of surrealist Leonora Carrington, once the partner of Max Ernst, ingeniously contrasts scenes from her early and late careerThe…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:54AM
Thursday, September 6, 2018

God of Carnage review – sitcom spirit tames bullying drama's savagery by Arifa Akbar

Theatre Royal, Bath With a starry cast that includes Elizabeth McGovern and Ralf Little, this revival of Yasmina Reza’s menace-filled comedy emphasises the laughs but loses the play’s sa…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:24AM
Sunday, September 2, 2018

Actor Jade Anouka meets boxer Nicola Adams: ‘The basics of both our worlds are the same’ by Arifa Akbar

Actor Jade Anouka prepared to play Hotspur by watching videos of boxer Nicola Adams. Adams, in turn, acted in her youth and hopes to again. They met up to talk breaking boundaries, performan…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:42AM
Monday, July 30, 2018

Lamplighters review – audience takes centre stage in chaotic spy spoof by Arifa Akbar

Old Red Lion, LondonThis improvised John le Carré parody is only as clever and funny as its liveliest participantsLamplighters is a thriller set in the mould of John le Carré’s cold-war …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:24AM
Thursday, July 26, 2018

King Lear review – Ian McKellen’s dazzling swan song weighed with poignancy by Arifa Akbar

Duke of York’s, LondonThe 79-year-old star shines brightest in play’s darkest moments, in what may be his last big Shakespearean role on stageA tweet pinned to Sir Ian McKellen’s Twitt…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:36PM
Monday, July 16, 2018

Alkaline review – faith, fear and fury in edgy dinner-party drama by Arifa Akbar

Park theatre, LondonStephanie Martin’s drama – part comedy of manners and part state-of-the-nation play – is one killer scene short of greatnessAlkaline takes the well-worn drama of th…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:36PM
Thursday, July 12, 2018

Hive City Legacy review – a political twerk of art from femmes of colour by Arifa Akbar

Roundhouse, LondonThe Hot Brown Honey collective join forces with nine young performers to explore prejudice in a blast of hip-hop and burlesqueLast year, the Roundhouse put out an open call…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:32PM
Monday, July 9, 2018

Timber review – all the wood's a stage for spectacular forest festival by Arifa Akbar

Feanedock, National ForestA new arts extravaganza offers campfire stories, breathtaking theatre, laughing yoga and lessons on how to think like a treeStand on a hillock in Feanedock and you …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:04AM
Tuesday, July 3, 2018

Spun review – Britishness and belonging in the wake of 7/7 by Arifa Akbar

Arcola, LondonThere are storming performances in this play about two British Pakistani Londoners whose friendship is tested after the 2005 terror attacks‘What do you see when you look at m…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:18PM

Jellyfish review – love, fear and glimmering magic in Skegness by Arifa Akbar

Bush theatre, LondonThere is tenderness and humour in Ben Weatherill’s play about a young woman with Down’s syndrome caught between her boyfriend and her motherThe stage is so over-fille…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:24AM
Thursday, June 28, 2018

The Winter’s Tale review – Blanche McIntyre celebrates the play's problems by Arifa Akbar

Shakespeare’s Globe, LondonA superb cast deliver striking performances in a production that is knowingly dissonant, from the costumes to the climaxThe perennial question of this “problem…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:42PM
Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Jerusalem review – Jez Butterworth's Rooster Byron is back for Brexit Britain by Arifa Akbar

Watermill theatre, NewburyRave music thumps as Jasper Britton plays the refusenik in an intimate revival of the drama about Albion’s dark heartIt takes courage to revive a play that was de…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:54AM
Sunday, June 17, 2018

Notes from the Field review – searing exposé of the school-to-jail pipeline by Arifa Akbar

Royal Court, LondonAnna Deavere Smith’s powerful one-woman show highlights the shocking injustices faced by African Americans ‘This is American history, not African American history,” …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:48AM
Friday, June 15, 2018

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest review – McMurphy’s misogyny laid bare by Arifa Akbar

Sheffield Crucible There are strong performances in an adaptation that gets closer to Ken Kesey’s novel than the popular film versionWhen Ken Kesey’s novel was first staged in 1963, he t…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:18PM
Thursday, June 14, 2018

The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives review – a swaggering spectacular by Arifa Akbar

Arcola, LondonFemi Elufowoju Jr directs an arresting version of Lola Shoneyin’s novel about marital power-play and sexual envy“Sir, you will deposit your sperm inside,” a hospital nurs…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:36AM
Sunday, June 3, 2018

The Chalk Garden review – Penelope Keith sparks a twee rebellion by Arifa Akbar

Chichester Festival theatre Despite its pitch-perfect lead, this version of Enid Bagnold’s class comedy lacks the emotionally charged edginess that gives it biteThe Chalk Garden is Enid Ba…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:24AM
Thursday, May 31, 2018

Polly Stenham on rewriting Strindberg: 'I wanted to go for the jugular' by Arifa Akbar

As her explosive update of the sex-and-class classic Miss Julie hits the stage, playwright Polly Stenham explains why liberal hypocrisy is her new target‘We think we are super ‘woke’,�…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:24AM
Sunday, May 6, 2018

The Fall review – millennial angst supplies short, sharp shock by Arifa Akbar

Southwark Playhouse, LondonThe mood grows ever darker in James Fritz’s play about a young generation increasingly burdened by their wealthy eldersThe Fall opens with a glee club-style choi…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:54AM
Monday, May 25, 2015

Steven Berkoff: Rise of an 'up and coming nobody' by Arifa Akbar

Steven Berkoff may be among the most acclaimed playwrights and actors of his generation but he revealed he would much rather have been a tailor, like his father, given a choice between the t…

SOURCE: The Independent at 05:58PM

All that Chat

2024-2025 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 05, 2024: Home - Todd Haimes Theatre
Jul 11, 2024: Oh, Mary! - Lyceum Theatre
Jul 30, 2024: Job - Hayes Theater
Sep 12, 2024: The Roommate - Booth Theatre
Nov 14, 2024: Tammy Faye - Palace Theatre
Dec 12, 2024: Cult of Love - Hayes Theater
Dec 19, 2024: Gypsy - Majestic Theatre
Mar 15, 2025: Purpose - Hayes Theater
Apr 01, 2025: Glengarry Glen Ross
TBA: Titanic