Monday, September 9, 2013
The comic timing and dynamic of spectators are just as important as the performances on stage.We've all experienced audiences behaving badly, whether it's talking on their mobile phones, cou…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:15AMSunday, September 8, 2013
Southwark Playhouse, LondonThe macabre literary bent of the Jacobean playwright John Webster is celebrated in Shakespeare in Love, which briefly depicts the young Webster torturing mice. TS …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:38AMFriday, September 6, 2013
Jermyn Street, LondonA clunky snippet of a play ponders Ted Hughes's relationship with Assia Wevill with uninspiring resultsIn 1966, the poet Ted Hughes and his lover, Assia Wevill, escaped …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:50AMSean Foley, who is directing a musical based on The X Factor, believes we're too snobby about adaptations. But theatre is getting smarter at page-to-stage translationsIf William Shakespeare …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:23AMThursday, September 5, 2013
Belgrade theatre, CoventryA story of war, pop and prison shared between father and two sons is a great idea for a musical but lacks power on stageThe Gibsons are an old army family. Colonel …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:08AMWednesday, September 4, 2013
St James, Piccadilly The struggles of a cross-dressing female pope with morning sickness make for a rollicking medieval soap operaThe 21st-century Church of England still ties itself up in k…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:35AMOne commentator has suggested that productions such as Nirbhaya present rape as entertainment. But violence in theatre makes us contemplate something we may prefer to ignore"You can pay to s…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:37AMMonday, September 2, 2013
Mercury, ColchesterAnimals, the first world war, unashamed sentimentality – this is familiar Michael Morpurgo territory, but that's no complaintCross The Lion King with War Horse and you g…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:49PMThere's an unspoken assumption that critics should never discuss the show they're reviewing. Isn't it all a bit ... outdated?Some years ago I took my dad with me to the theatre. There were i…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:38AMSunday, September 1, 2013
Zoo Southside, EdinburghIt's not entirely clear what Little Bulb's exuberant show about a 1980s TV production company is really trying to say, but there's no denying its energyHeading into t…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:45PMThursday, August 29, 2013
Dance Base, EdinburghThis new verbatim dance-theatre piece looks at a disappearing way of life in the Fens with beautifully stark resultsThe title hints of something lost, but choreographer …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:04PMHeading to the theatre on your own is no longer unusual – and seeing a show alone can be more fun than going with companyTheatre is often perceived a sociable activity, best done in pairs …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:29AMWednesday, August 28, 2013
This account of the Tolpuddle martyrs' struggle for higher wages and justice is heartfelt, but should trust its audience rather moreThe Tolpuddle martyrs were a group of 19th-century Dorset …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:49PMC nova, EdinburghA pairing of wartime plays show off the work of this young company to fine effectThere was no Belt Up at Edinburgh this year, but this double bill of plays from the Bunker T…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:36AMTuesday, August 27, 2013
Royal Lyceum, EdinburghBarry McGovern illuminates Beckett's dark vision in a one-man show that still feels fresh after 30 years"You can't leave. You're afraid to leave. It may be worse elsew…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:21AMBedlam, EdinburghTucked In's inventive father-and-son adventure lets the audience take as much or as little as they want from itGiven its willingness to tackle difficult subjects, it's good …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:09AMMonday, August 26, 2013
Royal LyceumAfter the triumph of Krapp's Last Tape, Michael Gambon is back in a crueller Beckett piece about an elderly man being tormented for his sinsWritten for TV in 1965, Samuel Beckett…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:16AMHub, EdinburghBeckett wanted his radio play to 'come out of the dark', and this intriguing installation-style production delivers just thatSamuel Beckett wrote All That Fall as a radio play,…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:46AMFriday, August 23, 2013
I've been at the festival in good times – and in bad. As Bring the Happy attempts to maps personal histories of the fringe, what are your unforgettable moments?Years before I heard that wo…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:02AMDrill HallA layered mix of everyday poetry, lyrical ramblings and philosophy explores personal relationships in the Facebook ageWhen was the last time you really missed someone? In a hyper-c…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:50AMAn investigation of the Bradley Manning case, amazing juggling, and a show in which a man balances rocks – there's something for everyone in Edinburgh this weekendIt's been a funny old Ed…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:39AMThursday, August 22, 2013
Far from being in opposition to professional critics, bloggers have come into their own at Edinburgh this yearAugust began with the bad news that the Independent on Sunday is foolishly dispe…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:29AMForest FringeAction Hero conjour an everytown America of razzmatazz, popcorn – and melacholy at the complexities of lifeIn shows such as A Western and Watch Me Fall, the Bristol-based comp…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:25AMWednesday, August 21, 2013
The artists who want to change the world, Chinese self-censorship – and begging to differ with Liz LochheadAction, not just actingThere is a story about two artists who are shown the newly…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:50PMEdinburgh PlayhouseBeijing People's Art Theatre go for bombast, but slack pacing and an underused chorus leave it more mediocre than menacingIt sure is big, and – with no less than two Chi…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:54AMUnderbellyPhoebe Waller-Bridge's up-for-anything antiheroine provides a distinctive take on the effects of porn on 21st-century womenForty years ago, Erica Jong coined the phrase "zipless fu…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:04AMTuesday, August 20, 2013
Whale Arts Centre, Wester HailesA site-specific show about domestic abuse lets audiences witness the shattering impact of violence close up"You are here as a witness," declares a sign on a w…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:58AMAre theatrelovers being priced out of the fringe, the joy of shows in progress – and why story-telling is back with a vengeanceIs the price right?There is nothing that seems to incense th…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:09AMMonday, August 19, 2013
Technology can be a wonderful thing, surprising audiences and creating new ways of experiencing theatre. But you wouldn't know it from this year's Edinburgh international festivalI'm serious…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:06AMPleasance DomeBryony Kimmings and her niece Taylor bring a family-size warm humour to their anger over the sexualisation of tweenagersBryony Kimmings's last two Edinburgh shows explored her …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:48AMFriday, August 16, 2013
Northern Stage at St StephensChris Thorpe's darkly compelling three-hander gnaws at our ideas of heroism and compromiseWe've all seen the famous pictures of the white-shirted protestor confr…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:36AM 
