Wednesday, April 11, 2012
As the director of 2012's Brighton festival, Vanessa Redgrave hopes to save the Earth, fix the economy and uncover the real origins of the Arab spring. So why does Michael Billington th…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:30PMTuesday, April 10, 2012
Apollo, LondonWhy, however often we see it, do we continue to find Eugene O'Neill's family drama so moving? Partly because the play draws so closely on the author's own experience. Watching …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:00PMSome say that England's rep theatres need a revolution if they're to have a future. Perhaps instead they could learn from the pastSome argue that the days of the civic repertory theatre and …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:47AMThursday, April 5, 2012
Lowry, SalfordFifties Broadway musicals are back in vogue. First it was Gypsy in Leicester. Now two celebrated Mancunian institutions, the Halle Orchestra and the Royal Exchange, join forces…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:15PMWednesday, April 4, 2012
Belgrade, CoventryLaurie Slade, who has come up with a new version of Strindberg's 1887 play, says it would be superficial to view it as a misogynistic rant. Indeed it would. But it would al…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:29PMTuesday, April 3, 2012
Finborough, London"I never want to see the ugly, misshapen little brat again," said WS Gilbert after the 1896 premiere of his final collaboration with Arthur Sullivan. His wish was granted, …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:00PMThe gay and lesbian theatre movement has changed radically since the oppressive days of the 1950s, but could more writers rise to the challenge of contemporary issues?Queer theatre is the ac…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:09AMThe gay and lesbian theatre movement has changed radically since the oppressive days of the 1950s, but could more writers rise to the challenge of contemporary issues? Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:09AMMonday, April 2, 2012
Arcola, LondonI can see why Leonid Zorin's Russian play, written in 1967, became a global success: it deals with that most universal of themes, a fractured love affair. But Romeo and Juliet …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:25PMArden may have fallen out of favour, but the intoxicating vigour of his language set him apart. I hope his day comes againTo anyone of my generation, the death of playwright John Arden is a …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:39AMSunday, April 1, 2012
Actors, I criticise you because I careAm I soft on actors? David Hare said so in our lively on-stage encounter during the recent Guardian Open Weekend. I've been asking myself ever since whe…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:00PMFriday, March 30, 2012
The Print Room, LondonA Chekhov mini-season, with another Vanya opening next week in Chichester, kicks off with Lucy Bailey's fine revival of this sublime play. If I withhold greater pr…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:30PMTuesday, March 27, 2012
It may not be able to topple governments, but it informs, illuminates, entertains and raises awareness – and it's impossible to imagine life without it"Does political theatre ever have any…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:43AMFriday, March 23, 2012
Almeida, LondonWatching Michael Attenborough's revival of Eduardo de Filippo's 1946 Neapolitan comedy is a pleasant experience: a sun-kissed garden set by Robert Jones, warm lighting by…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:31PMThursday, March 22, 2012
Barbican, LondonIt is not quite true to say that Mikhail Bulgakov's novel, written between 1928 and 1940, is unadaptable. I saw a famous production by Yuri Lyubimov in Moscow in 1983, and Ed…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:09PMNewly appointed RSC artistic director Greg Doran is a true Shakespearean, fit for the challenges aheadWhen Michael Boyd's departure from the Royal Shakespeare Company was first announced las…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:51PMTuesday, March 20, 2012
Adelphi, LondonOne test of a true work of art is that it is open to multiple possibilities. Since its premiere in 1979, I have seen Stephen Sondheim's dark masterpiece staged everywhere fro…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:07PMAdelphi, London Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:07PMOlivier wasn't just a great actor – he was a quintessentially modern performer, who cast a powerful spell over audiencesIt's a shock to realise that few people under the age of 60 will eve…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:46PMSunday, March 18, 2012
If you listen to a new CD that tries to capture the original pronunciation of Shakespeare, you might think soI'm not a great fan of "authenticity" in Shakespeare: partly because tastes chang…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:00PMOrange Tree, RichmondThere's something old, something new in this double bill by Martin Crimp. What is odd is that the new piece, Play House, shows the mature Crimp evoking impassioned youth…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:29PMFriday, March 16, 2012
Curve, LeicesterSome people argue this is the greatest Broadway musical. That's open to debate. But there is no dispute that Arthur Laurents's book, Jule Styne's music and Stephen Sondheim's…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:54PMWednesday, March 14, 2012
Actor of poise and beauty who enjoyed a rich and productive career on both sides of the AtlanticFaith Brook, who has died aged 90, was an actor of remarkable elegance, poise and beauty. She …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:56AMTuesday, March 13, 2012
Lyttelton, London"This is Islamophobic shit," cried an angry spectator two-thirds of the way through DV8's investigation of multiculturalism. I was later told that the intervention was a "st…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:15PMThe dream of a national theatre has happily come to pass, not only in England but in Wales and Scotland, too. But is regional theatre under threat as a result?I was very struck by something …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:34AMMonday, March 12, 2012
Etcetera, LondonWhat kind of future London do we see? Francis Beckett, a political journalist and periodic playwright, has devised one in which policing is privatised, hospitals are reserved…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:26PMSunday, March 11, 2012
Young Vic, LondonSound and Fury are a rare company in that they combine an experimental process with rich content. In their last show, Kursk, they took us inside the bowels of a nuclear subm…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:00PMFriday, March 9, 2012
Menier Chocolate Factory, LondonMike Leigh has often been accused of condescension towards his characters. Lindsay Posner's perceptive revival of this 1977 landmark reminds us that we are no…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:30PMThursday, March 8, 2012
Hampstead theatre, LondonI am normally wary of any new play that could be called "Chekhovian": it implies something fragile and wispily atmospheric. But Richard Nelson's extraordinary p…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:15PMWednesday, March 7, 2012
Crucible/Lyceum, SheffieldSheffield is one of the few theatres to devote seasons to living writers. Now it is the turn of Michael Frayn. With Democracy still to come, it is already possible …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:11PMTuesday, March 6, 2012
Finborough, LondonLast year this venturesome venue gave us a riveting portrait of Belfast's Protestant culture in St John Ervine's Mixed Marriage (1911). Now it crosses the border to sh…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:30PM 
