Wednesday, January 15, 2014
St James Theatre, LondonGiving this revue of Sondheim numbers a narrative may be a little tenuous, but it's a feast of pleasure delivered with real verveIt's a sign of Stephen Sondheim's fec…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:30PMThursday, January 9, 2014
Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonTransferring a winning novel to stage is difficult. Doing it with two – and succeeding – is a special featTurning a novel into a play is always tricky: e…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:00AMMonday, December 30, 2013
Michael Billington: Lucy Kirkwood's thrillingly ambitious play tackled global politics, multinational corporations and was bursting with big ideasMichael Billington
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:00AMFriday, December 20, 2013
Susan Stroman's production, with its ironic minstrel-show format, skilfully suggested that the US's outlook on racial injustice had moved on since the 1930s – but not far enough• Read Mi…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:26AMThursday, December 19, 2013
Aldwych Theatre, LondonMusical portrayal of the Profumo scandal with nifty songs in 1960s style sits oddly with social and political critiqueStephen Ward, the osteopath at the centre of the …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:30PMRoyal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonThis reinvention of JM Barrie's story dispenses with the original's dark ambiguity, but there's still plenty to enjoyElla Hickson, who has writt…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:58AMTuesday, December 17, 2013
Donmar Warehouse, LondonA fast, witty, intelligent production that, in Tom Hiddleston, boasts a fine CoriolanusA chamber production of Coriolanus? It sounds a contradiction in terms. But, as…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:51PMOld Vic, LondonA scathing portrait by Turgenev of the cruelties of Russian rural life finally gets a slap-up London productionWe've long thought of Ivan Turgenev as a one-play man who, in A …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:36AMMonday, December 16, 2013
Hoxton Hall, LondonRuth Wilson excels as actor and director in these three early plays by Eugene O'Neill, making a spellbinding eveningRuth Wilson and Sam Yates have joined forces to direct,…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:04AMHe found stardom on screen in Lawrence of Arabia, but O'Toole was a legendary and often mesmerising presence in the theatre• Obituary: Peter O'Toole, 1932-2013• Peter O'Toole: a life in …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:10AMThursday, December 12, 2013
American Psycho, the musical, at the Almeida, LondonIt sounds improbable: a musical thriller about a serial killer. But Sondheim did it in Sweeney Todd. And, although this version of Bret Ea…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:52PMThis satirical piece about the MPs' expenses scandal raises a few titters but lacks the brutal logic of first-rate farceI yield to no one in my love of farce, but this new one by Colin Swash…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:10AMTuesday, December 10, 2013
Hampstead theatre, LondonHoward Brenton's ambitious account of the partition of India in 1947 crams an amazing amount into 25 scenes of cool clarityIt is not often a critic wishes a play wer…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:11AMMonday, December 9, 2013
Theatre Royal Stratford East, LondonDouble entendres abound in a family-friendly panto that puts a new spin on a familiar tale.It's not every day you hear 500 people enthusiastically chantin…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:48PMSunday, December 8, 2013
Lyttelton, LondonGeorg Kaiser's 1912 expressionist landmark comes to life thanks to a production full of vitality and a beautifully unsentimental central performanceThe National is clearly g…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:40AMFriday, December 6, 2013
Royal Court, London While the story is about the mutual love between two marginalised people, it lacks any coherent frameworkI came fresh to Jack Thorne's play never having seen the film or …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:01PMWednesday, December 4, 2013
National Theatre, London Bijan Sheibani's play is at its best when it returns to the human values of Erich Kastner's storyThe National has set the bar high when it comes to family entertainm…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:17PMTuesday, December 3, 2013
Jude Law's performance as Shakespeare's contradictory king brings to mind John Sutherland's provocative essayJude Law is the big draw in the fifth and final production of Michael Grandage's …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:00PMMenier Chocolate Factory, LondonLeonard Bernstein's musical gets a restless, comic-strip production that has a jaunty ebullience and two outstanding leadsI suspect there are two ways to appr…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:02AMSunday, December 1, 2013
Guildhall School, LondonA beautifully staged show about the brutal Depression-era dance marathons is something of an endurance test for us as wellAvid fans of Gypsy will recall that Dainty J…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:29AMFriday, November 29, 2013
Finborough, London There are strong performances in this entertaining revival of RC Sherriff's ghost story, but much of the play feels like paddingIt is the fate of RC Sherriff to be remembe…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:20AMThursday, November 28, 2013
Tricycle, LondonGuilty of the very intolerance it condemns, Mary O'Malley's 1977 convent school drama – here directed by Kathy Burke – is a jolly but nonetheless flawed affairTime has n…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:23PMTuesday, November 26, 2013
St James's, LondonSarah Ruhl's superb drama of female frustration and solitude is well served by director Laurence BoswellSarah Ruhl's brilliant play is, to put it mildly, an eye-opener. Set…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:11AMThursday, November 21, 2013
Young Vic, LondonSix politically engaged playlets demonstrate that drama has extra bite and zest when it deals with big issuesDo we all get more rightwing in times of austerity? That's the p…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:52AMTuesday, November 19, 2013
Gielgud Theatre, LondonWhile the mechanics of the dual murders are moderately exciting, in the second half the tension deceleratesTheatre is theatre, film film. Right? Actually not any more …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:18PMGate, LondonThis wryly resilient musical monologue about the corporate world is as New York as a triple-decker pastrami sandwichAn authentic piece of Manhattan has landed in west London. It …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:58AMSunday, November 17, 2013
London PalladiumDame Edna's creator pushes the bad taste boundaries in this raucous show that confirms just what a rare bird he isIn a theatre shorn of outsize personalities, the idea of a B…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:58AMFriday, November 15, 2013
Barbican, LondonThe audience become eavesdroppers in Ivo van Hove's gripping and inventive restaging of the Ingmar Bergman classicWho's afraid of Ingmar Bergman? Obviously not Ivo van Hove a…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:27AMWednesday, November 13, 2013
This revival of Jez Butterworth's play – a tale of rock'n'roll rivalry in gangland Soho – packs plenty of punchJez Butterworth's first play burst on the scene like a fireball in 199…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:00PMDuke of York's, LondonMatthew Macfadyen is a fine Jeeves in this farce-fuelled dramatisation of PG Wodehouse's The Code of the WoostersHow do you dramatise a sublime novel like PG Wodehouse'…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:44AMTuesday, November 12, 2013
Garrick, London This 1950s courtroom drama is an efficient piece of entertainment but is beginning to show its ageReginald Rose's script has had an incredibly long life. It first surfaced on…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:20AM 
