Monday, October 4, 2021
Youthful Elsinore reflects life in present-day London
It is a truism that every Hamlet is different, depending more than any other play on the casting of the lead. Each production moulds it…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 10:42PMThursday, September 30, 2021
This serpentine classic is perfectly placed in every sense
Lucy Bailey's production of Christie's Witness for the Prosecution, first staged at County Hall in 2017, has a few years to make up…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 08:03PMFriday, July 9, 2021
Thoughtful and funny revival of a familiar classic
Pinter wrote The Dumb Waiter in 1957 (although it wasn't seen in London until 1960) the year before The Birthday Party received its notorio…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:18PMSunday, May 16, 2021
Live performance, film and digital play combine in this misfired interactive experience
There is a promising production struggling to get out of this muddled concept. Creation Theatre (here …
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 08:33PMSunday, April 4, 2021
Simon Godwin's debut film is part dressed-down rehearsal, part cinematic flourish
Shakespeare's enduring tale of star-crossed lovers is especially pertinent in a pandemic. The fatal plot twi…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 09:42PMThursday, February 11, 2021
Innovative technology places actors virtually in the Palace Theatre, Manchester
The story of Romeo and Juliet is well known, worth revisiting endlessly and always relevant. But there is anot…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:32PMSunday, January 31, 2021
Free reading for charity of Wycherley's first Restoration comedy
Swaggering rakes, posturing fops, sexual intrigue, illicit encounters, wit, artifice, wigs, fans and beauty spots - these ar…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 10:54PMTuesday, June 16, 2020
Michelle Terry, John Light and Pearce Quigley lead an inventive cast relishing the comic potential of the Elizabethan stage
What could be better for a lockdown summer night "out" than a virt…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 02:42AMTuesday, February 11, 2020
Stef Smith brings exhilarating spirit to a familiar classic
Ibsen's Nora slammed the door on her infantilising marriage in 1879 but the sound of it has continued to reverberate down the year…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 10:12PMWednesday, December 11, 2019
Rebecca Frecknall directs a production which ultimately finds its heart
This play can be a challenge for modern audiences: a woman who is ostensibly in a position of power, "a prince" in Ren…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 12:33AMWednesday, December 4, 2019
A vigorous Paterson Joseph meets the Christmas spirits
"Dickensian" commonly means both sentimental Victorian, apple-cheeked family perfection (especially at Christmas) and abject poverty. …
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:48PMFriday, November 29, 2019
Welsh parable of the second coming makes unusual seasonal fare
This is the third Emlyn Williams piece to be presented here in a decade: The Druid's Rest in 2009 was followed by the enormous …
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 10:18PMFriday, November 8, 2019
Gender changes provide a new perspective on the balance of power
This is one play by Shakespeare ripe for tinkering. It's well nigh impossible now to take it at face value and still find rom…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:48AMWednesday, October 2, 2019
Communicator par excellence on a journey from Gandalf to Macbeth via panto, Coronation Street and gender politics
Reviewing Ian McKellen's show is, in one sense, like appraising the Taj Maha…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 08:03PMWednesday, September 25, 2019
The Spanish classic with an Irish accent
Earthiness, lyricism, fatalism, the undeniable force of passion, of ecstatic attraction, known as "duende": these are the familiar ingredients of Lor…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 10:18PMWednesday, September 11, 2019
Tanika Gupta's layered version launches a new era
Newly arrived from a much-lauded stint at the Sherman Theatre, Cardiff, Rachel O'Riordan has undertaken to make "work of scale by women" du…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 10:54PMTuesday, July 30, 2019
Samantha Womack lurches valiantly through this scarcely credible crime drama
It may help if you love the book. It was a runaway bestseller, so fans must be legion, but a suspenseful story wh…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 10:18PMSaturday, July 13, 2019
As The Night of the Iguana opens, the actor renowned for playing dual roles talks Tennessee Williams, Pinter - and Wallis Simpson
Lia Williams is not an actor who looks for easy options. Twi…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:24PMThursday, May 16, 2019
Doubling, humour and an outstanding female Henry V
Henry IV Part One (***)
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 05:48AMThursday, May 9, 2019
Arthur Miller's tragedy from an African-American viewpoint
The Young Vic, a welcoming theatre with a culturally diverse audience, has been home to memorable Miller revivals before, notably I…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 11:42PMFriday, April 26, 2019
The Shadowlands playwright talks about C S Lewis, love, pain and being a writer
It is 30 years since Shadowlands, William Nicholson's much-loved play about C S Lewis's unexpected love affair…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:59PMMonday, March 25, 2019
Two-hander provides multifarious acting opportunities but insufficient focus
Obstetrician Dr Mary Barton had the best of intentions. As a missionary in India she had observed the poor treatm…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 08:45PMThursday, February 21, 2019
★★ TARTUFFE, NATIONAL THEATRE Morality-heavy version of the comedy classic
Brexit provides an unwelcome motor for John Donnelly's Molière-with-a-twist
Here's a recipe for a successful N…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 09:41PMSunday, February 17, 2019
A rediscovered early work by one of the giants of Twentieth Century theatre focuses on a woman's struggle for independenceRemembering meeting Harley Granville Barker when casting him as…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:42PMWednesday, November 28, 2018
Jacobean and contemporary justice collide in audience-involving dramaForget the cloak in the puddle. Never mind potatoes and tobacco. The children's book cliché of Sir Walter Raleigh (or Ra…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 09:36PMMonday, November 12, 2018
The director talks about Macbeth in the candle-lit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, cross-gender casting and the director's roleRobert Hastie is a little late for our meeting. Directing Shakesp…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 03:24AMThursday, November 8, 2018
RSC transfer presents a crowd-pleasing mix of metatheatrical comedy and music with, ultimately, a touch of melancholy Don Quixote and his paunchy sidekick long ago escaped the pages of Migue…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 09:36PMTuesday, October 23, 2018
Horror flick echoes fail to meet all the play's challengesIt has been said before: Macbeth's reputation for bad luck has more to do with the difficulty of bringing off a successful prod…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 09:06PMFriday, September 28, 2018
An ambitious celebratory series kicks off in fine fashionTen years after Pinter's death, Jamie Lloyd has set about honouring the Twentieth Century's outstanding British playwright in an ambi…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 12:04AMFriday, September 7, 2018
Didactic theatre piece stronger on facts than dramaThe title of Tony Harrison's teacherly entertainment - it can't be called a play - refers to the square bullets invented by James Puckle to…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:06PMFriday, August 3, 2018
Oscar Wilde's best-loved comedy with extra homo-erotic innuendoAny actor playing Lady Bracknell must dread the moment when she (or, indeed, he) has to deliver that unforgettable line ab…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 12:32AM 
