Sunday, April 7, 2019
Ustinov Studio, Theatre Royal, BathPunchy characters, great pace, prizes… but something doesn't work in this play about dysfunctional relatives
Claudio Tolcachir's award-winning play, firs…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AM[SHARE]Sunday, March 31, 2019
Royal Lyceum theatre, EdinburghBill Forsyth's adaptation of his 1983 film, with new music by Mark Knopfler, is topical all over again
Bill Forsyth's lighthearted story has a strong moral und…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AM[SHARE]Sunday, March 24, 2019
Birmingham Repertory theatreA reimagining of the life of Cyrano de Bergerac writer Edmond Rostand is a whirl of can-cans and cavorting in its English-language premiere
Panache! The word enca…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:00AM[SHARE]Sunday, March 17, 2019
Theatre Royal PlymouthPhil Porter's new play about social media moderators is a bold attempt to address issues of online censorship but doesn't quite click
"Click the left arrow to delete. C…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:00AM[SHARE]Sunday, March 10, 2019
Library theatre, BoltonMarital tensions and mental health are expertly explored in David Thacker's production of Miller's 1993 play
Director David Thacker's setting, as realised in Ciaran Ba…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:00AM[SHARE]Sunday, March 3, 2019
Royal & Derngate, NorthamptonNiamh Cusack and Stephen Boxer shine in a clunky adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's novel
Kazuo Ishiguro's 1989 Booker prize-winning novel is narrated by Stevens…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AM[SHARE]Sunday, February 24, 2019
Bristol Old VicA beautifully crafted play about a family threatened by racial tensions during the 1960s Bristol bus boycott
The Princess, in Princess and the Hustler, is 10-year-old Phyllis …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AM[SHARE]Broadway theatre, Letchworth Garden CityA mischievous menagerie of six actors have fun down on the farm
Mother, father, grandfather, big sister and little brother dance around the bed singin…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AM[SHARE]Sunday, February 17, 2019
Royal Exchange, ManchesterAnna Jordan's new adaptation sets Brecht's anti-war play in a dystopian 2080From the lighting rig are suspended wire grids on to which are fastened ragged cardboard…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:18AM[SHARE]Sunday, February 10, 2019
Leeds PlayhouseKiza Deen excels in green's heart-wrenching one-woman play about the killing of a black schoolboyA son and brother dies as a consequence of "something important, not no random…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:18AM[SHARE]Sunday, February 3, 2019
Lyceum theatre, SheffieldDastardly Agatha Cackle's attempts to make witching great again have the young audience almost levitating in their seatsAn onstage banner proclaims that "Miss Cackle…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:12AM[SHARE]Sunday, January 27, 2019
Hull Truck theatreBarrie Rutter revives Ben Benison's reworking of King Lear set in a 21st-century fishing community with action-packed successA reworking of King Lear, spliced with legends …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:54AM[SHARE]Sunday, January 20, 2019
Home, ManchesterOne man's life from cradle to grave is the subject of Eve Steele's intense one-woman playManchester's annual Push festival celebrates the creative work of the north-west of E…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:54AM[SHARE]Sunday, December 30, 2018
Sharon D Clarke's bravura performance in Caroline, or Change reaches London's West End, tears flow at Goodnight Mister Tom, and a Robin Hood reboot hits the markChristmas is for children, bu…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:54AM[SHARE]Sunday, December 23, 2018
Tramway, GlasgowSound, light and sets brilliantly convey Scrooge's turn from miserliness to philanthropy in Neil Bartlett's joyous adaptationCharles Dickens's 1843 story of the transformatio…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:48AM[SHARE]Sunday, December 16, 2018
Mel Brooks's classic musical about two swindling impresarios gets a risky reprise, while a brilliant cast carry off Cole Porter"It ain't no myst'ry. If it's politics or hist'ry. The thing yo…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:54AM[SHARE]Sunday, December 9, 2018
Ustinov, BathDiana Quick and Ian Gelder star as Holocaust survivors moving from New York to Florida in this superb production of Donald Margulies's 80s black comedyFinely directed by Laurenc…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:06AM[SHARE]Sunday, December 2, 2018
NST City, SouthamptonJon Brittain's musical adaptation of David Walliams's tale of Joe Spud, the richest boy in the country, has plenty to sing aboutDavid Walliams's book titles give more th…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:06AM[SHARE]Sunday, November 25, 2018
Home, ManchesterThough prison metaphors threaten to oversimplify this nuanced tale of sinister role-play, great performances win outWhen Mistress is out, her two maids, sisters Claire and So…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:48AM[SHARE]Sunday, November 18, 2018
York Theatre RoyalPantomime gags drive home the betrayal of the working class in this deft update of Fo's comic caperHunger is the starting point for Italian Nobel prize winner Dario Fo's 19…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:42AM[SHARE]Sunday, November 11, 2018
Nottingham PlayhouseThrough Gatiss, the audience feels the agonies of Alan Bennett's tormented monarchKing George III is not mad, but he is ill. However, the porphyria from which he suffers …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:48AM[SHARE]Sunday, November 4, 2018
Crucible, SheffieldA crack ensemble delivers Kate Bowen's timely new play exploring identity and gender through female officers on their first tour of dutyLast month, the defence secretary a…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:48AM[SHARE]Sunday, October 28, 2018
Live theatre, NewcastleA fantastical reworking of The Fall of the House of Usher set in a Tyneside psychiatric ward hits all the right notesA large, bright clock face looms over double doors…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:48AM[SHARE]Sunday, October 21, 2018
Leeds PlayhouseCharacters stranded in a transitional land exchange stories, fears and hopes in this timely productionPremiered during the Yugoslav wars, the action of David Greig's first ful…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:24AM[SHARE]Sunday, October 14, 2018
Albion Electric Warehouse, LeedsThe audience becomes part of the action in this tremendous promenade production of Brecht's antiwar, anti-capitalist playRed Ladder is 50 this year. For a com…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:12AM[SHARE]Sunday, September 30, 2018
Birmingham Rep, and touringThe now-retired inspector returns in a new story by Ian Rankin and playwright Rona MunroIn one of Ian Rankin's Rebus stories, the curmudgeonly Edinburgh detective …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:18AM[SHARE]Sunday, September 23, 2018
Crucible Studio, SheffieldThin characterisation and half-formed scenes mar this play about women, race and Labour politics set in a northern cityChris Bush's new play, directed by Rebecca Fr…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:54AM[SHARE]Sunday, September 16, 2018
Stephen Joseph theatre, ScarboroughAlan Ayckbourn blurs the lines as an ageing crime writer's life invades his fictionFor three of its four acts, the tone of Alan Ayckbourn's new play, his 8…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:18AM[SHARE]Sunday, September 9, 2018
York Theatre RoyalA stunning cast and unshowy direction do full justice to Bennett's far-reaching play imagining a meeting between Auden and BrittenIt's 1972. To the Oxford college rooms of …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:06AM[SHARE]Sunday, August 26, 2018
CanadaHub at King's Hall, EdinburghCliff Cardinal's visceral tale of addiction, violence and abuse is a shape-shifting tour de force"It's a tough watch," said the man handing over my ti…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:54AM[SHARE]Sunday, August 19, 2018
Assembly Rainy Hall, Edinburgh Mark O'Rowe's compelling new work draws breathtaking performances from Aisling O'Sullivan, Cathy Belton and Derbhle Crotty"People are sitting at a table having…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:24AM[SHARE] 
