Royal 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 11:14AMShakespeare's Globe, LondonJessica Swale's first play leaves you astonished at the prejudices the pioneers of women's education had to overcomeJessica Swale has chosen, for her first play, a…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:18AMKing's Head, LondonSentimentality sits uneasily alongside the truth in a new musical about the Texan outlaws that fails to deglamorise the killers"They're young, they're in love … and they…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:05AMPark theatre, LondonBen Travers' joyous farce creates an alternative universe in which panic lurks just below an innocent surfaceThark at the Park? It has a rhyming inevitability to it. But …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:25AMPersonal passion meets global political drama in Lucy Kirkwood's exhilarating epic. And it survives the transfer across London with its five-star rating intactTransferring a five-star hit pl…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:24PMTheatre Royal, BathThis production of Feydeau and Desvallières' play is diverting, but rarely reaches the dizzying dementia of great farceFor those of us who regard farce as the quintessenc…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:54AMTrafalgar Studios, LondonAlexi Kaye Campbell's play reminds us that despite the sexual sea-change in Britain since the 1950s, prejudice is still with usLast Saturday, Whitehall in London was…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:37PMThe ShedBased on more than 30 hours of interviews, Nadia Fall's production provides a vivid picture of life in a homeless hostelOne virtue of verbatim theatre is that it takes us behind clos…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:35AMSadler's Wells, LondonBy keeping faithful to the Broadway original, the brilliance of this powerful Romeo and Juliet adaptation is rediscoveredThere's nothing radical or revisionist about th…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:18AMStephen Joseph, ScarboroughAlan Ayckbourn may have written funnier plays, but few are more affecting than this Beckett-inspired tale of terrorismWhat astonishes you about Alan Ayckbourn is h…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:49AMLyttelton theatre, LondonRichard Eyre's staging of the lusty Pirandello village comedy is nuanced, yet its Irish accent is ultimately discomfitingThis play by Luigi Pirandello is not what yo…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:24AMDonmar Warehouse, London Nick Payne's excellent new play takes us into the world of no-win, no-fee accident cases, as a dubious claimant gives two lawyers the runaroundIf I reveal that Nick …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:25AMOpen Air theatre, Regent's Park, LondonIs it possible for a musical's numbers to be too familiar? At the preview I attended of Rodgers and Hammerstein's popular classic, several spectators a…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:11PMSt James's Studio, LondonIn the bowels of this spanking new theatre lurks an intimate performance space, with a well-stocked bar: the ideal setting for this 70-minute, one-man play, written …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:48PMTom Stoppard's fierce, unrelenting opposition to the abuse of human rights makes him the ideal recipient of the Pinter/PEN prizeIn Antonia Fraser's book, Must You Go?, detailing her life wit…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:59AMTheatre Royal, BathDavid Haig, like the late Nigel Hawthorne, follows an acclaimed performance in Alan Bennett's The Madness of George III by playing Shakespeare's deranged monarch. But, alt…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:54AMKing's Head, LondonTV has given us The Vicar of Dibley and Rev, but the Church of England rarely gets a look-in on the British stage. For that reason alone it is refreshing to see Nicola Bal…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:44PMRoyal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonShakespeare's supposedly difficult comedy yields easily the best production of the current Stratford season. Director Nancy Meckler treats the p…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:24PMRoyal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonShakespeare's supposedly difficult comedy yields easily the best production of the current Stratford season. Director Nancy Meckler treats the p…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:24PMTheatre in the Park, ChichesterChichester has acquired a 25-metre-high big top to stand in for the temporarily closed Festival theatre. It would seem appropriate that it opens with a revival…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:08PMTheatre in the Park, ChichesterChichester has acquired a 25-metre-high big top to stand in for the temporarily closed Festival theatre. It would seem appropriate that it opens with a revival…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:08PMShakespeare's Globe, LondonMost theatre falls into familiar categories. This, however, is a piece that gloriously defies definition. It can best be described as a series of short plays by Sa…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:00PMBush, LondonCountless artists, from Diana Ross to Beyoncé, have been inspired by the story of the legendary dancer and singer Josephine Baker, who was born in St Louis and became the toast …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:49PMPark theatre, LondonHow much should one reveal? That is the critic's eternal dilemma. It's especially acute in a play such as Oliver Cotton's Daytona, which deals with deception and depends …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:02AMActor Paul Bhattacharjee, who has died, was better known for his role in EastEnders but he was most impressive on stageThe disappearance, and possible death, of Paul Bhattacharjee gave me, l…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:55AM31 London Street, London W2The problem with an immersive company like Punchdrunk is that people tend to take fixed attitudes: either they are a signpost to the theatrical future or they take…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:30PMYoung Vic, LondonThe turbulence following Congolese independence partly inspired John Arden to write the unjustly forgotten Armstrong's Last Goodnight in 1964. Two years later, the Martiniqu…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:13AMMenier Chocolate Factory, LondonI am sometimes accused of failing to report audience reactions. So let me say unequivocally that this musical version of Alice Walker's 1982 novel was greeted…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:12AMCampfield Market Hall/Albert Hall, Manchester International festival★★★/★★★★★Like all the best festivals, the one in Manchester opens up the city. But while Alex Poots, the f…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:30AMRose Lipman Building, LondonAnnie Baker's much-lauded play takes place in a windowless studio in a community-centre in Vermont; and the Royal Court, as part of its "theatre local" project, h…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:07AMTheatre Royal, BathGeorge Bernard Shaw's Candida used to be a stock rep piece, but today is rarely seen. That's a pity because, as Simon Godwin's nifty revival shows, this 1895 play still ha…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:23AM
