Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Orange Tree, RichmondStudents of French farce can have a field day with this one. Written in 1875 by Alfred Hennequin and Alfred Delacour, and here niftily translated by Reggie Oliver, it pr…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:46PMTuesday, January 11, 2011
Roundhouse, LondonI was tickled by the Observer's recent, inadvertent description of a malt whisky as "a genuine classic which never fails to disappoint". I've always felt that Julius Caesar…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:30PMMonday, January 10, 2011
Theatro Technis, LondonAs a famed singer and actor persecuted for his radical politics and civil-rights campaigning, Paul Robeson has the dimensions of an American tragic hero. And, even if …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:00PMFriday, January 7, 2011
Finborough, LondonAs a novelist, Graham Greene was prepared to experiment: as a dramatist, he was trapped in the conventions of the well-made West End play. That, at least, is the conclusion…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:30PMThursday, January 6, 2011
Royal Albert Hall, LondonCirque du Soleil is often accused of a soulless efficiency. So it must have seemed a bright idea to get Robert Lepage (who also hails from Quebec, where the circus s…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:31PMWednesday, January 5, 2011
Riverside Studios, LondonWho would have thought it? One of the strongest theatrical survivors of the mid-1950s turns out to be this whimsical musical by Julian Slade and Dorothy Reynolds abo…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:30PMTuesday, January 4, 2011
Little Angel, LondonYou don't, of course, get the whole of Alice in Tim Kane's 90-minute puppet version: no caucus-race, no croquet-mallet flamingos and – perhaps rightly, as the show is a…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:30PMThe plot is thin, the musical numbers bland – but Julie Taymor's production remains kaleidoscopically brilliantI may not be the ideal person to explain the enduring appeal of The Lion King…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:32PMWhich playwright was banned in Dudley for discrimination? Who handbagged the Queen? Put your theatrical knowledge to the testMichael Billington
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:43AMWhich playwright was banned in Dudley for discrimination? Who handbagged the Queen? Test your theatrical knowledge on the year just gone here Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:43AMMonday, January 3, 2011
Michael Billington thinks Terence Rattigan is well worth revisiting in his centenary year, and selects the best of the rest of the year's theatreCentenaries offer a great chance for re-asses…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AMSunday, December 19, 2010
Roundhouse, London"A sad tale's best for winter," says the boy Mamilius; and, possibly because of the season of the year, I became unusually aware of the fairytale elements in Shakespeare's …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:15PMThursday, December 16, 2010
The absurdity of comparing the living with the dead, plus the changing nature of acting 'greatness', means polls like the one carried out by the Stage are little more than a marketing exerci…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:54AMHampstead Theatre, LondonIn an exceptional season for family shows, this one ranks comparison with the best. First seen in Bristol in 2004, it consists of eight European fairy tales dramatis…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:37AMWednesday, December 15, 2010
'My plan for how the Bard could rule TV'Did you catch Rupert Goold's Macbeth on telly on Sunday night? Probably not. For a start, it was tucked away on BBC4. It was also up against The X Fac…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:45PMTuesday, December 14, 2010
Old Vic, LondonBack in 1966 Feydeau's masterpiece erupted on to this very stage in a production by Jacques Charon that ushered in a major re-evaluation of farce. At a time when the genre is …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:26PMMonday, December 13, 2010
Royal Court, LondonWe don't normally associate the Royal Court with seasonal jollity. Anthony Neilson, whose last work at this venue, Relocated, dealt with the abduction and abuse of childre…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:57PMThursday, December 9, 2010
The RSC have produced a dark and delightful adaptation of Roald Dahl's tale of a child genius, and her monstrous headmistressAt a time of year when mush is licensed, it is a bright idea of t…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06PMThe RSC have produced a dark and delightful adaptation of Roald Dahl's tale of a child genius, and her monstrous headmistressAt a time of year when mush is licensed, it is a bright idea of t…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06PMWednesday, December 8, 2010
Lyttelton, LondonIn theory, it seems perfect timing: a revival of Alan Ayckbourn's 30-year-old bilious comedy about the rows, tears, forced merriment and crises of Christmas family reunions.…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:54PMBristol Old VicIt is a nice irony that the author of one of the most impeccably middle class of all children's books was a one-time Bolshevik sympathiser as well as the Manchester Guardian's…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:30PMTuesday, December 7, 2010
Donmar Warehouse, London"How can you bear another Lear?" someone asked me over lunch. And, if one's honest, there are times when Mount Lear, as a critic once called it, can seem as daun…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMMonday, December 6, 2010
Finborough, LondonAt this time of year, the name of JM Barrie usually means one thing: Peter Pan. But, with characteristic audacity, the Finborough has chosen to revive this 1902 Regency-set…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:15PMSunday, December 5, 2010
Lyric Hammersmith, LondonIt's good that the Lyric is elastic enough to switch from Blasted one month to panto the next. But, while director Steve Marmion and his team have created a raucousl…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:15PMFriday, December 3, 2010
Roundhouse, LondonRupert Goold's sensational production of this problematic play sails into London from Stratford with all guns blazing. Signalling the start of a five-year partnership …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:30PMWednesday, December 1, 2010
Cottesloe, LondonThe dedicatedly avant-garde Katie Mitchell astonished many last year with her playful production of The Cat in the Hat. Now she has directed and co-devised, with writer Lucy…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:20PMTuesday, November 30, 2010
Young Vic, LondonDavid Almond's Skellig provided the Young Vic with one of its biggest Christmas hits in 2003. Now Almond is back with a charming, gently optimistic fable about human longing…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:30PMMonday, November 29, 2010
Trafalgar Studios, LondonThe Donmar's West End season is driven by the desire to promote young directors, and it has an excellent one in Chris Rolls. He has grasped the key point that this 1…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:10PMThursday, November 25, 2010
Royal Court, LondonThe myth of childhood innocence is under sustained attack at the Royal Court. After Polly Stenham's Tusk Tusk and Anya Reiss's Spur of the Moment, we now have a disturbing…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:02PMA number of productions are dragging British theatre away from the grip of realism – with sensational results"Expressionist" is one of those handy terms that we critics use rather promiscu…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:34AMWednesday, November 24, 2010
Menier Chocolate Factory, LondonIllusionist Paul Kieve is the invisible genius of British theatre. You may not know the name, but he has supplied the tricks for scores of plays and musicals …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:45PM 
