All stories by Susannah Clapp on BroadwayStars

Sunday, June 10, 2018

The week in theatre: My Name Is Lucy Barton; Leave Taking; Killer Joe by Susannah Clapp

Laura Linney is utterly assured in a fine adaptation of the bestselling novel, but fellow Hollywood star Orlando Bloom fails to convince in Killer JoeWhat fascinates me about the rise of the…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:32AM
Sunday, May 27, 2018

The week in theatre: Hamlet; As You Like It; Shirleymander – review by Susannah Clapp

Shakespeare’s Globe; Playground, LondonMichelle Terry’s reign as the Globe’s artistic director begins with an assured double bill; and Shirley Porter’s dark deeds are nicely skewered…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:24AM
Sunday, May 20, 2018

The week in theatre: Red; Effigies of Wickedness – review by Susannah Clapp

Wyndham’s; Gate, LondonMark Rothko’s work and mind are brilliantly evoked in a revival of John Logan’s 2009 play. And Weimar Germany is alive and kicking…Red: for rage and fire – a…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:48AM
Sunday, May 13, 2018

The week in theatre: The Whale; Nightfall; An Ideal Husband – review by Susannah Clapp

Ustinov Studio, Bath; The Bridge; Vaudeville, LondonA morbidly obese man is trapped with his regrets and his furious daughter in the Ustinov’s superb revival of Samuel D Hunter’s The Wha…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:24AM
Sunday, May 6, 2018

The week in theatre: Mood Music; Chess; Nine Night by Susannah Clapp

Artist and producer fight over a song in Joe Penhall’s intricate new drama, a revival of Chess makes all the wrong moves, and a party of mourners lifts the spiritsThe lens through which we…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:36AM
Sunday, April 29, 2018

The week in theatre: The Writer; Absolute Hell – review by Susannah Clapp

A thrillingly shifting feminist drama will send audiences out of the theatre arguing, but a plunge into postwar Soho is stiflingElla Hickson’s new play is an assault on the stage. The Writ…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:06AM
Sunday, April 22, 2018

The week in theatre: Tina; A Clockwork Orange; Instructions for Correct Assembly – review by Susannah Clapp

Aldwych, London; Everyman, Liverpool; Royal Court, LondonAdrienne Warren is a knockout as Tina Turner, droog culture rules in Liverpool. Plus, how to build a flat-pack childThe two most sign…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:33AM
Sunday, April 15, 2018

The week in theatre: The Way of the World; The Country Wife; Plastic – review by Susannah Clapp

Donmar Warehouse; Southwark Playhouse; Old Red Lion, LondonTwo biting Restoration dramas conjure contemporary echoes, and a boy with a ‘face like a fist’ reacts with fury to school bulli…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AM
Sunday, April 8, 2018

The week in theatre: The Fantastic Follies of Mrs Rich; Cathy – review by Susannah Clapp

Swan, Stratford-upon-Avon; Soho theatre, LondonMary Pix’s forgotten 1700 play fills the stage with defiant energy, while Ali Taylor’s remake of Cathy Come Home hits hardIs it a clus…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AM
Sunday, April 1, 2018

The week in theatre: The Inheritance; Frankenstein: Making a Monster – review by Susannah Clapp

Young Vic; Battersea Arts Centre, LondonMatthew Lopez’s seven-hour, Forster-inspired epic of New York gay life rewards patience. Plus, BAC’s thrilling beatbox Mary Shelley remake“You c…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AM
Sunday, March 11, 2018

The week in theatre: Summer and Smoke; Macbeth – review by Susannah Clapp

Almeida; Olivier, LondonPatsy Ferran shows her dramatic range in a Tennessee Williams revival, but Rory Kinnear’s Macbeth is one-dimensionalSummer and Smoke must make Rebecca Frecknall’s…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:35PM
Sunday, March 4, 2018

The week in theatre: Fanny & Alexander; Trust – review by Susannah Clapp

Old Vic, London; Gate, LondonPerceptions are challenged in a new Ingmar Bergman adaptation and a state-of-the-world addressShould the theatre reflect the outside world, or be a refuge from i…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:59AM
Sunday, February 25, 2018

The week in theatre: Frozen; Brighton Rock – review by Susannah Clapp

Theatre Royal Haymarket, London; York Theatre RoyalA big week for Bryony Lavery sees a revival of her 1998 missing child play, Frozen, and the premiere of her fine Graham Greene adaptationTh…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AM
Sunday, February 18, 2018

The week in theatre: Girls & Boys; The York Realist – review by Susannah Clapp

Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, Royal Court; Donmar Warehouse, LondonAlone on stage for an hour and a half, Carey Mulligan is extraordinary in Dennis Kelly’s gripping new play. Plus, a dream d…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AM
Sunday, February 4, 2018

The week in theatre: Julius Caesar; The Brothers Size; The Culture – review by Susannah Clapp

The Bridge; Young Vic, London; Hull Truck, HullNicholas Hytner’s outstanding production reconfigures Julius Caesar in more ways than one. Plus, James Graham and Moonlight’s Tarell Alvin …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AM
Sunday, January 28, 2018

The week in theatre: John; Lady Windermere’s Fan – review by Susannah Clapp

Dorfman; Vaudeville theatre, LondonTension builds subtly in Annie Baker’s unmissable John at the National, while Kathy Burke has a hectic take on Oscar WildeWhat counts as action in the th…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AM
Sunday, January 21, 2018

The week in theatre: The Birthday Party; Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 – review by Susannah Clapp

Harold Pinter theatre; Gate, London Harold Pinter’s ‘ravings’ make perfect sense 60 years on in his seaside dreamscape, and one woman brings vivid life to 1992’s LA riotsNearly 60 ye…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AM
Sunday, January 14, 2018

My Mum’s a Twat review – a witty teenage confessional by Susannah Clapp

Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, Royal Court, LondonThe naturally comic Patsy Ferran shines in Anoushka Warden’s punchy autobiographical monologue about growing up the child of a cult followerAno…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AM

Rita, Sue and Bob Too review – a threesome stuck in the Thatcher era by Susannah Clapp

Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, Royal Court, LondonAfter all the controversy surrounding this revival of Andrea Dunbar’s memorable play, it adds nothing that’s newRita, Sue and Bob Too comes…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:55AM
Sunday, December 24, 2017

Belleville review – they’ll always have Paris by Susannah Clapp

Donmar Warehouse, LondonJames Norton and Imogen Poots paint an intense picture of a couple in a violent but entirely predictable marriage crisisDoors are battered, blood is spattered, a per…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:12AM

The Jungle review – intimate tragedy from across the Channel by Susannah Clapp

Young Vic, LondonTestimony from Calais refugees makes vital drama in a compelling but unsentimental document of our timesThe Jungle is one of the most vital productions of the year. Desperat…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:12AM

Hamilton review – a delicious treat for heart and head by Susannah Clapp

Victoria Palace, LondonLin-Manuel Miranda’a smash Broadway musical about one of America’s founding fathers now breaks new ground in the West EndYes it is. Worth the wait. Yes it does. Sp…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:12AM
Sunday, December 17, 2017

Pinocchio review – a familiar fable is brought to captivating life by Susannah Clapp

National Theatre, LondonThe almost-real boy and adorably annoying cricket win hearts and minds in John Tiffany’s skilful, subtle adaptationIt is easy to draw up a list of items that make P…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:24AM

Imperium review – Rome sweet Rome, with a masterly turn from Cicero by Susannah Clapp

Swan, Stratford-upon-AvonRobert Harris’s trilogy springs fully to life in Mike Poulton’s two-part epic – but where are the meaty parts for women?There are, well, a legion of reasons fo…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:24AM

The Twilight Zone review – retro anxieties from another dimension by Susannah Clapp

Almeida, LondonThe supernatural stories of the mid-20th century TV show have lost some of their bite in adaptation, but none of their deadpan charmCan irony and fear coexist in the theatre? …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:18AM
Sunday, December 10, 2017

How to Win Against History review – a peer gets his wings by Susannah Clapp

Young Vic, LondonAn Edinburgh fringe hit, this spangled tale of the cross-dressing fifth marquis of Anglesey charms even as it cajolesI bet most of the audience in How to Win Against History…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:48AM

Barnum review – all show, not enough tell by Susannah Clapp

Menier Chocolate Factory, LondonMarcus Brigstocke stars in a revival of the Broadway musical that brings the big top to fire-eating life, if not the showman himself“Humbug” at this time …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:48AM

Susannah Clapp’s best theatre of 2017 by Susannah Clapp

Hot-off-the-press plays thrust the personal and the political centre stage, while Bob Dylan had a moment• Observer critics’ reviews of the year in fullWhat a terrific turnaround year. At…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:42AM
Sunday, November 26, 2017

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie review – a fizzing, feeling instant hit by Susannah Clapp

Apollo, LondonThere’s wit and heart galore in Tom Macrae and Dan Gillespie’s musical inspired by a teenage boy who wanted to dress in girls’ clothesWho could resist Everybody’s Talki…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:18AM

The Suppliant Women review – an astonishing Greek chorus finds its voice by Susannah Clapp

Young Vic, LondonAeschylus speaks directly to us in David Greig’s electrifying adaptationFierce and crystal-clear, The Suppliant Women arrives in London like an arrow shot into the he…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:18AM
Sunday, November 19, 2017

Tiger Bay the Musical review – all-singing, all-dancing hard times by Susannah Clapp

Wales Millennium Centre, CardiffCardiff’s fabled docks are given the Les Mis treatment in a hulking, lacklustre new musical graced by some exceptional voicesIt is my favourite place name. …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:33AM