All stories by Lyn Gardner on BroadwayStars

Friday, May 5, 2017

Golem and Brighton festival: this week’s best UK theatre and dance by Lyn Gardner and Judith Mackrell

Catch 1927’s fable about our over-reliance on machines and explore the best of dance, as curated by Kate Tempest. Plus: Every Brilliant Thing and Voodoo1 GolemFew companies have the all-ro…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:02AM
Thursday, May 4, 2017

Madame Rubinstein review – Margolyes and Barber star in battle of the lipsticks by Lyn Gardner

Park theatre, LondonThe two stars have fun playing cosmetics queens Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden but this clunky, camp show misfiresWatching Miriam Margolyes and Frances Barber slug…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:12AM

This Beautiful Future review – exquisite portrait of young love in the heat of war by Lyn Gardner

The Yard, London A French teenager and a German boy soldier are unselfconscious lovers in this idiosyncratic fable set in occupied FranceIt’s 1944, and teenagers Elodie and Otto are on opp…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:02AM
Monday, May 1, 2017

While We're Here review – love and loneliness in a small play with a big heart by Lyn Gardner

Bush, LondonTessa Peake-Jones and Andrew French star in Barney Norris’s quietly affecting two-hander about ordinary lives“I’ve been alive for so long and I haven’t got anything to sh…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:12AM

From Tata to the NHS: how Kully Thiarai is making theatre for Wales by Lyn Gardner

They both create work that is bold and deeply relevant for local communities, so National Theatre Wales and its new artistic director Kully Thiarai are a perfect fitKully Thiarai, the new ar…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:42AM
Sunday, April 30, 2017

Oh Yes Oh No review – taboo-breaking theatre about female sexual desire by Lyn Gardner

Camden People’s theatre, LondonLouise Orwin’s bold work involves the voices of real women, as well as naked Ken and Barbie dolls, in order to lay bare the politics of female sexuality“…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:31AM
Friday, April 28, 2017

Divine Chaos of Starry Things review – retracing revolutions from Paris to the South Pacific by Lyn Gardner

White Bear, London Politics predominates in Paul Mason’s frustrating account of the French communard Louise Michel who was deported to New Caledonia in the 1870sDealing with defeat is part…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:02AM

Breakin’ Convention and The Toad Knew: this week’s best UK theatre and dance by Lyn Gardner and Judith Mackrell

James Thierrée creates fairytale-style marvels, while the world’s biggest hip-hop dance-theatre festival returns for its 14th year1 The Toad KnewAs weird as it is compelling, the latest f…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:54AM
Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Cock and Bull review – sparky satire turns rhetoric against Tories by Lyn Gardner

Royal Festival Hall, LondonNic Green’s alternative party conference draws on Conservatives’ soundbites to conjour grief at the destructive power of politicsThe best theatre often has a s…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:18AM
Tuesday, April 25, 2017

The Braille Legacy review – woefully corny account of visionary inventor by Lyn Gardner

Charing Cross theatre, LondonThis new French musical about the teenager who came up with a new system of reading and writing is busy, dizzy and emotionally overwroughtThom Southerland triump…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:06AM

Does Punchdrunk's The Drowned Man live up to the hype? by Lyn Gardner

Reaction is divided to The Drowned Man, Punchdrunk's vast Hollywood promenade show. Has it been overhyped? Or should audiences go prepared to dig deeper for their experience?The reviews are …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:24AM

The Masque of the Red Death left me Punchdrunk by Lyn Gardner

You need sensible shoes and a stout heart for this dazzling and exhausting evening inspired by Edgar Allan Poe.Poe-faced ... River Carmalt, Adam Burton and Jack Laskey in The Masque of the R…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:12AM

Welcome to Fallow Cross: inside the secret village built by Punchdrunk by Lyn Gardner

Punchdrunk scour cities for places to house their theatre spectaculars. Now they’ve even created a fully functioning village – complete with cosy pubA wood stove is burning in the pub. C…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:54AM
Sunday, April 23, 2017

Home Truths review – a history of the housing crisis in nine plays by Lyn Gardner

Bunker, LondonThe homeless people’s theatre company Cardboard Citizens takes a long look at housing, from Victorian slum life and 70s squatting to present day inequalitiesThe national shor…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:42AM
Saturday, April 22, 2017

Whisper House review – ghost story goes slump in the night by Lyn Gardner

The Other Palace, LondonSet in a haunted lighthouse during the second world war, Duncan Sheik’s rock musical features a plot as wisp-like as the phantoms on the stageComposed by Duncan She…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:54AM
Friday, April 21, 2017

Junkyard and Mayerling: this week’s best UK theatre and dance by Lyn Gardner and Judith Mackrell

Teen misfits save the day in Jack Thorne and Stephen Warbeck’s play, while the Royal Ballet tackles the Austro-Hungarian empire1 JunkyardIt may be more of a play with songs than a fully fl…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:48AM
Thursday, April 20, 2017

The Story Giant review – life lessons from the land of make-believe by Lyn Gardner

Everyman, LiverpoolAdapted from a children’s book by Liverpool poet Brian Patten, this family show is all about the transformative power of storytellingIt’s good to see the Liverpool Eve…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:12AM
Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Bill Mitchell obituary by Lyn Gardner

Pioneer of landscape theatre who created The Passion, starring Michael Sheen, which was performed on the streets of Port TalbotThe designer and theatre-maker Bill Mitchell, who has died of c…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:24AM

A voyage round my mother: the raw cabaret show about being abandoned and adopted by Lyn Gardner

As a baby, Veronica Thompson was left in a bag outside a South Korean police station. In an intimate and funny solo performance, she traces her journey through her American childhood and Lon…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:48AM
Friday, April 14, 2017

The Play That Goes Wrong – review by Lyn Gardner

Trafalgar Studios, LondonA sleeper fringe hit that has been steadily gathering momentum, this farce about an incompetent amateur dramatic staging of a murder mystery began at the Old Red Lio…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:24AM

The Lion King and The Legend of Mulan: this week’s best UK theatre and dance by Lyn Gardner and Judith Mackrell

Two tales tackled by Disney are reimagined for the stage. Plus: Sally Cookson adapts Fellini’s La Strada and Dance International Glasgow returns1 The Lion KingIn hindsight it seems absurd …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:02AM
Monday, April 10, 2017

Forget Oliviers – Harry Potter and the Cursed Child's biggest win is new theatre audiences by Lyn Gardner

The West End arm of the Harry Potter universe may have broken Olivier award records, but its true success is in making theatre universally appealingHarry Potter and the Cursed Child’s reco…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:24AM
Sunday, April 9, 2017

I Capture the Castle review – musical labour of love oozes romance by Lyn Gardner

Watford PalaceEveryone is in love with this wrong person in this affectionate adaptation of Dodie Smith’s novel about a bohemian family living in a crumbling castle“I write this sitting …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:36AM
Friday, April 7, 2017

The Winter's Tale review – male jealousy casts a toxic shadow in canny revival by Lyn Gardner

Barbican, LondonDeclan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod bring imagination and striking visuals to a modern-day retelling that is easier to admire than to loveDirector Declan Donnellan and designer…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:06AM

Jane Eyre and Betroffenheit: this week’s best UK theatre and dance by Lyn Gardner and Judith Mackrell

Sally Cookson captures the fragile heart of Charlotte Brontë’s novel, while Crystal Pite’s astounding take on grief and addiction returnsJane Eyre Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:54AM
Thursday, April 6, 2017

The Who's Tommy review – bold retake on rock opera tackles disability rights by Lyn Gardner

New Wolsey, Ipswich Disabled and non-disabled actors, mixing in sign language and audio description, bring fresh dramatic insight to Ramps on the Moon’s pinball wizard musicalSwaggering an…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:36AM
Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Natives review – teenage angst goes digital in fable of networked culture by Lyn Gardner

Southwark Playhouse, LondonThree young people find that online validation comes at a price, in Glenn Waldron’s hugely enjoyable dramaParental neglect can come in many forms, and it does so…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:02AM
Tuesday, April 4, 2017

42nd Street – review by Lyn Gardner

Curve, Leicester"You're going to go out there a youngster, but you've got to come back a star," director Julian Marsh (Tim Flavin) tells young Peggy Sawyer in 42nd Street. And there was high…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:48PM

Gecko: the theatre company divorcing post-Brexit Britain by Lyn Gardner

After a series of poetic and emotional productions, Gecko director Amit Lahav is now asking what it means to be in a ‘forced marriage’. He explains why his shows change every night – a…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:42AM
Sunday, April 2, 2017

Lifted By Beauty review – uplifting slogans for a faded seaside town by Lyn Gardner

Various locations, RhylThis ambitious but opaque roving community theatre piece by National Theatre Wales and Mark Storor goes to some unlikely places in search of the heart of RhylI love Na…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:12AM
Saturday, April 1, 2017

Why children's theatre matters by Lyn Gardner

If you are reading this blog, it probably means that you are interested in theatre. So why are some areas of theatre valued over others, particularly theatre for young audiences?This is an e…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:31AM