All stories by Kate Wyver on BroadwayStars

Thursday, March 2, 2023

Hedda Gabler review – queer update of Ibsen’s intense story of desire by Kate Wyver

Reading Rep theatreIt makes sense to rethink the sexual currents running through the classic drama, but this version has lost the nuance it needs Queering Hedda Gabler feels completely natur…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:09AM
Monday, February 27, 2023

‘It stole years’: the musical about those silenced by anti-gay law Section 28 by Kate Wyver

Influenced by the music of Billy Bragg, Bonnie Tyler and Meatloaf, After the Act explores the culture of fear and self-censorship caused by the law, voted through by the Tories during moral …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AM
Thursday, February 23, 2023

The Winter’s Tale review – the Globe’s two-venue telling loses its way by Kate Wyver

Sam Wanamaker Playhouse and Shakespeare’s Globe, LondonAs this ambitious production switches between stages, and deaths pile up like dishes, neither the comedy nor the tragedy have room to…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:00AM
Friday, February 17, 2023

Bootycandy review – thrilling, uproarious comedy explores Black queerness from every angle by Kate Wyver

Gate theatre, LondonInventive direction and a spectacular cast make the London transfer of Robert O’Hara’s kaleidoscopic off-Broadway play a spiralling, high-energy triumph Robert O’Ha…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:21AM
Saturday, January 28, 2023

‘I told my gran: You don’t touch Aidan’s hair!’ Jenna Coleman and Aidan Turner on friendship and their daring new play by Kate Wyver

Having starred in some of Britain’s biggest TV shows, the pair are taking to the stage for Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons, a minimalist two-hander where words are strictly rationed. An…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:55AM
Friday, January 27, 2023

Saint Jude review – delightfully disturbing immersive theatre in creepy clinic by Kate Wyver

Petty France, LondonTaking part in a trial shift to help coma patients wake up, the tension grows as it slowly becomes clear why you’re really mining strangers’ secrets A deliciously une…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:29AM
Tuesday, December 13, 2022

Oh yes it is! Oh no it isn’t! Is the panto dame still a suitable cause for mirth? by Kate Wyver

Fire the glitter cannons! Unleash the water pistols! The panto season is here. But how did the cross-dressing dame become so central to the tradition? And in an age of gender fluidity, shoul…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:32PM

Naked truths slathered in hummus: Lucy McCormick’s intimate and alarming cabaret by Kate Wyver

The disruptive artist’s new show is a boisterous evening, with her brazen persona an exhilarating challenge for audiences Lucy McCormick’s half-naked body is covered in tomato puree. The…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:06AM
Thursday, November 24, 2022

Henry V review – a troubled king reaches for foreign quarrels by Kate Wyver

Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, LondonIn this coruscating production from Headlong and Shakespeare’s Globe, Henry’s grasp for power is cast in a stark light The king is weeping as his subjects …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:36PM
Wednesday, November 23, 2022

The Massive Tragedy of Madame Bovary! review – Faubert farce flops by Kate Wyver

Jermyn Street theatre, LondonThe cast’s hard work can’t save a confused script that struggles to mine comedy from a desperately sad story A gentle chuckle is never the aim of a great far…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:42AM
Friday, November 11, 2022

Zachary Quinto: ‘I have lost a certain faith in America’s system’ by Kate Wyver

The Star Trek actor is making his West End debut in a play about the 1968 US TV political debates between Gore Vidal and William F Buckley. But he fears the pair’s fiery exchanges may be p…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:18PM
Thursday, November 10, 2022

Zombiegate review – a Halloween night dive into online toxicity by Kate Wyver

Theatre503, LondonMatthew Gabrielli’s play about abusive online culture cleverly uses puppets as trolls but feels didactic Everyone knows you should never respond to trolls. In Zombiegate,…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:32AM
Thursday, November 3, 2022

Super High Resolution review – compelling exploration of a crumbling NHS by Kate Wyver

Soho theatre, LondonDirected by Blanche McIntyre, Nathan Ellis’s drama serves as a reminder of what cuts are doing to our health service but it tells more than it shows The bone-deep exhau…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:24PM
Friday, October 21, 2022

A Gig for Ghosts review – a joyous musical meditation on love and death by Kate Wyver

Soho theatre, LondonThe raucous folk songs, open-hearted performances and tender love story make this queer gig-theatre romcom a delight Gently directed by Ria Parry, this is a queer romcom …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:55PM
Thursday, October 20, 2022

The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes review – a frank discussion of disability by Kate Wyver

Battersea Arts Centre, LondonHumour and rage intertwine in Back to Back theatre company’s playful debate of ethics, language and philosophy The unjust treatment of people with learning d…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:07AM
Wednesday, October 5, 2022

The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore review – a sour night by Kate Wyver

Charing Cross theatre, LondonTennessee Williams’ script about a dying widow dictating her memoirs is dragged into the modern day as characters fidget with their phones on a sparse set Some…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:33AM
Sunday, October 2, 2022

Evita Too review – discos among the death squads in a gorgeously disordered show by Kate Wyver

Soho theatre, LondonA different Mrs Perón gets the mega-musical treatment in Sh!t Theatre’s hilarious, sinister comedy about the ethics of populism and the heartbreak of loss As in: Evita…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:33PM
Sunday, September 25, 2022

The Gretchen Question – fantastic time-hopping cast deliver a climate cautionary tale by Kate Wyver

Shipwright, DeptfordExquisitely staged on the banks of the Thames, this ambitious and inquisitive production uses its natural surroundings to remind us of everything we stand to lose Sneak a…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:43PM
Thursday, September 22, 2022

The Prince review – playful romp through Shakespearean roles by Kate Wyver

Southwark Playhouse, LondonYouTube philosopher Abigail Thorn moves offline and on to the stage with an ambitious exploration of identities and the performance of gender Using the intelligent…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:13AM
Monday, August 29, 2022

‘I forgot I was blaspheming a saint!’ – Charlie Josephine on writing a non-binary Joan of Arc by Kate Wyver

The Globe theatre sparked outrage when it announced its plans to stage a non-binary Joan of Arc. The play’s writer explains why the French warrior would have approved ‘I’m always hungr…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:55AM
Wednesday, August 17, 2022

‘It must have felt extraordinary’: the play inspired by English theatre’s first female actors by Kate Wyver

The company behind The Actress has dug into 17th-century archives to bring to life two pioneering women of the stage On 8 December 1660, crowds gathered on Vere Street, off Oxford Street in …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:48AM
Tuesday, August 2, 2022

Emily Aboud on Bogeyman: ‘I don’t want to traumatise the people I’m trying to empower’ by Kate Wyver

The writer-director’s new Edinburgh fringe show switches between the 18th-century Haitian revolution and a haunted modern London If a zombie uprising were to take place tomorrow, Emily Abo…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:42AM
Monday, July 18, 2022

‘Words and stories can be dangerous’: playwright Sonali Bhattacharyya on radical history by Kate Wyver

Sonali Bhattacharyya’s Chasing Hares uses folk theatre to depict a trade union dispute in West Bengal. ‘South Asian artists have always been here – but now it’s our time,’ she says…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:24AM
Sunday, July 10, 2022

Operation Black Door review – immersive wartime show is a damp squib by Kate Wyver

Churchill War Rooms, LondonPoor storytelling and a clunky app-based interface mean that this time-travel adventure may well be the audience’s darkest hour Chaotic and disappointing, this a…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:42AM
Tuesday, July 5, 2022

‘It’s the Odyssey – the islands are Soho clubs’: Jack Holden on his 80s drama Cruise by Kate Wyver

The Ten Percent star’s solo show, which is returning to London’s West End, was inspired by his conversations with older gay men as a volunteer for Switchboard An hour before he stepped o…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:37AM
Saturday, June 18, 2022

That Is Not Who I Am review – all is not what it seems in tricksy thriller about truth and power by Kate Wyver

Royal Court, LondonOne play reveals another in a tangled web that pits the Home Office against two Guardian blind-daters Lift up the cover of the playtext for That Is Not Who I Am by Dave Da…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:18PM
Thursday, June 16, 2022

Jitney review – a taut, tense tale of Black injustice in 1970s America by Kate Wyver

Old Vic theatre, LondonA stylish rework of the August Wilson character-study sees a standout performance from Wil Johnson as the put-upon head of the titular cab station Within a run-down st…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:18AM
Wednesday, June 8, 2022

Edinburgh fringe 2022: 20 theatre, comedy and dance shows you shouldn’t miss by Brian Logan, Catherine Love, Mark Fisher, Anya Ryan, Rachael Healy, Kate Wyver, Claire Armitstead, Arifa Akbar and Lyndsey Winship

In the first of our festival previews, we round up some of the best offerings we’ve already reviewed – including Tim Key, Liz Kingsman, La Clique and Hungry This searing, sweaty disco is…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:48AM
Tuesday, June 7, 2022

Thrifty summer: free films, folk and standup – 25 cost-free ways to enjoy arts in the UK by Jenessa Williams, Graeme Virtue, Jonathan Jones, Kate Wyver and Rachel Aroesti

You don’t have to shell out to enjoy the best in music, film, theatre, art and comedy – from a Francis Bacon in Aberdeen to Notting Hill’s unique and spectacular carnival Music Continu…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:42PM

The Haunting of Susan A review – a pint of fear in pub theatre’s ghost story by Kate Wyver

King’s Head theatre, LondonA mixture of ghoulish horror and atmospheric history, Mark Ravenhill’s play vibrates with frights and fury The jump scares are perfectly placed in Mark Ravenhi…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:03AM
Monday, May 23, 2022

Everyday review – witchy rituals and a search for safety by Kate Wyver

New Diorama, LondonDeafinitely Theatre’s evocative and tender show was inspired by real stories of abuse against deaf women and non-binary people In British Sign Language, the sign for a w…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:06AM

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