Theatre Royal, BathThis unqualified masterpiece from 1631 by Lope de Vega is shot through with irony and ambiguityThis is the real deal: an unqualified masterpiece by Lope de Vega that, in M…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:15PMThis week, Rufus Norris was appointed the new director of the National theatre. After 50 dramatic years, where does he take it from here? Guardian critic Michael Billington assesses how…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:25AMRoyal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonDavid Tennant is mesmerising in the first show of Gregory Doran's six-year plan to present all of Shakespeare's worksThis show marks the start o…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:00PMUstinov Studio, BathLope de Vega's romantic comedy has something in common with the Taming of the Shrew, and gets a lively performance here, but it leaves a somewhat acrid aftertasteLaurence…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:00PMThe National Theatre's new artistic director has an air of unpredictability and will bring plenty of excitement to the job. Comment thread: Let us know what you thinkHow on earth do you foll…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:24AMThe Threepenny Opera gets a high-finance update, a mighty solo effort illuminates Finnegans Wake, but Beckett fails to spark at the Dublin theatre festivalThe Threepenny Opera by Bertol…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:32PMAlmeida, LondonRichard Eyre's first-rate revival of Ibsen's play grabs you by the throat and never releases its gripThe most radical feature of Richard Eyre's first-rate revival of Ghosts is…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:30AMFinborough, LondonAn intriguing look ahead to retribution in Zimbabwe following the reign of Robert Mugabe opens up new dramatic territoryAnders Lustgarten is a rare animal: a political play…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:00PMTricycle theatre, LondonA very funny portrait of a relationship between monarch and prime minister that clearly wasn't made in heavenThe Queen and Margaret Thatcher are becoming a familiar t…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:55PMCurve, LeicesterRudkin's darkly riveting play brilliantly demonstrates the way Hitchcock's art is the key to his lifePlays and films about the private life of Alfred Hitchcock are a growth i…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:01PM(King's Head, London)This premiere of a Dickens adaptation co-written by Terence Rattigan and John Gielgud is brisk yet brilliantly stagedThis, somewhat surprisingly, is the professional pre…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:51PMMenier Chocolate Factory, LondonNicky Silver's play about a Jewish family preparing for the worst doesn't follow through with enough forceNicky Silver is a prolific New York dramatist who is…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:46AMRoyal Court, LondonRachel De-lahay weaves together tales of immigration limbo and national identity, but neglects to thread in some angerRachel De-lahay made a sharp impression with her mosa…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:52PMMinerva, ChichesterJulian Mitchell's 1981 play on ways public schools in the 1930s bred betrayal is highly perceptive in this astute productionSchool plays seem to have a magnetic attraction…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:34AMTheatre 503, LondonYou would expect a play about six Welsh miners trapped underground to offer a display of quiet heroism. But the good thing about this remarkable first full-length work by …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:34PMOld Vic, LondonI am the last person to complain about senior citizens being given free rein. I also hold Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones in high regard and thought their performances i…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:44PMBush, LondonActor Rory Kinnear's first play may not be startlingly original but it has meaty roles and a clear understanding of family tensionRory Kinnear seems unfairly talented. Not only i…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:56AMArcola, LondonBertolt Brecht's rarely performed play about human isolation is bewildering but comes from a hauntingly original imaginationEven dedicated admirers of Bertolt Brecht are often …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:31PMBrecht's belief that drama should present moral ideas through action is unfashionable, but as theatre becomes ever more narcissistic, audiences are seeking him out againIt's that man again: …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:37AMNoel Coward Theatre, LondonEver since the Polish critic, Jan Kott, wrote a famous essay viewing Shakespeare's play as a nightmarish fantasy, directors have been exploring the dark side of Th…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:02PMWyndham's, LondonAs a piece of black comedy, Clive Exton's play is neither sufficiently dark nor consistently funnyClive Exton made a name for himself writing black comedies for ITV in the e…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:39PMOrange Tree, RichmondSusan Glaspell's convoluted exploration of US involvement in the second world war is kept afloat by an adroit castThis is the fifth full-length play by the American femi…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:26AMLyric Hammersmith, London A new version of Woyzeck plays out like a compendium of avant garde cliches, catching little of the desperation that drives Büchner's hero to murderI get the idea …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:10AMRoyal Court, London A City suit sells his soul in this enjoyable if slightly unsubtle morality tale by Matilda the Musical's Dennis KellyVicky Featherstone's Royal Court regime begins with a…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:57AMRoyal & Derngate, NorthamptonAyub Khan-Din's adaptation of ER Braithwaite's autobiography features strong performances but could do with more dramaThe most moving part of the evening came a…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:40AMFinborough, LondonJB Priestley's tale of a post-nuclear Britain is prescient, with its premonitions of modern life, and quietly passionate about this island's charmsInside that burly pragmat…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:28PMYvonne Arnaud, GuildfordThe Original Theatre Company revives Peter Shaffer's bittersweet 1962 comedy double bill that explores the tension between order and passionThe conflict between dessi…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:52PMMark Ravenhill's take on Voltaire's satire is an extraordinary piece, despite its overwhelming profusion of ideasMark Ravenhill has taken Voltaire's laconically witty satire on 18th-century …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:21AMOlivier, London John Heffernan convinces as king in a visually vibrant revival, yet the lyrical beauty of Marlowe's verse is lost in the mixI've argued countless times that "director's theat…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:42AMAs a theatrical form, farce is infinitely flexible, timeless and revelatory … and several recent shows prove it's ripe for a revivalFarce is in the ascendant right now. We've just had Feyd…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:18AMRoyal Court, London A well-written ode to community life in London is thwarted by its snapshot formatThis show does what it says on the tin. It consists of 10 five-minute episodes of a soap …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:14AM
