All stories by Susannah Clapp on BroadwayStars

Sunday, June 26, 2016

Quills review – De Sade the surrealist by Susannah Clapp

Les Nuits de Fourvière, LyonRobert Lepage pulls no punches as he revisits the notorious marquis in the asylumRobert Lepage is the Marquis de Sade. In pigtailed perruque and high heels, turn…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:16AM
Sunday, June 19, 2016

Phaedra(s) review – three into one don’t go by Susannah Clapp

Barbican, LondonIsabelle Huppert sparkles intermittently in an incoherent attempt to yoke together different versions of the Greek mythAs a showcase for the translucent talent of Isabelle Hu…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:34AM

Richard III review – king of the car park by Susannah Clapp

Almeida theatre, London N1Ralph Fiennes is a masterly, transfixing Richard, while Vanessa Redgrave curses with quiet convictionHe seduces like a basilisk. Sheer force of self-belief concentr…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:34AM

Ross review – Terence on Arabia by Susannah Clapp

Chichester festival theatreA first-rate Joseph Fiennes saves the day in Terence Rattigan’s timid drama based on TE LawrenceThese days a theatre critic measures out her life in the Fiennes …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:34AM
Sunday, June 12, 2016

The Spoils review – a superior, sneering soap by Susannah Clapp

Trafalgar Studios, LondonActor/playwright Jesse Eisenberg is terrific as the rich narcissist in a witty and constantly surprising pieceJesse Eisenberg’s The Spoils has some of the ingredie…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:51AM

The Deep Blue Sea review – an explosive revival by Susannah Clapp

Lyttelton, LondonHelen McCrory brings steel and gusto to the role of Terence Rattigan’s scorned 1950s loverAfter the whirling excitement of her production of A Doll’s House, I half-expec…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:51AM
Sunday, June 5, 2016

Sunset at the Villa Thalia review – overstuffed and underheated by Susannah Clapp

Dorfman, LondonAlexi Kaye Campbell’s new work has plenty of political comment but little to say on the state of present-day GreeceThe theatre, one character proclaims in Alexi Kaye Campbel…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:52AM

Blue/Orange review – an argument still worth hearing by Susannah Clapp

Young Vic, LondonJoe Penhall’s dissection of racism and mental health in modern Britain is still compelling, thanks in part to an outstanding central performanceBlue/Orange does not startl…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:52AM

The Threepenny Opera review – cartoon counterfeit runs out of juice by Susannah Clapp

Olivier, LondonA new translation of Brecht and Weill’s dark comedy fails to hit its satirical targets but still makes for a good musical“Fake it to seem real,” a would-be beggar is adv…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:52AM

The Forbidden Zone review – poisoned by a ‘higher form of killing’ by Susannah Clapp

Barbican, LondonA mesmerising production from Katie Mitchell recounts the harrowing legacy of German chemist Fritz Haber as seen by his wife and granddaughterOne of the best things the theat…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:52AM
Monday, May 30, 2016

Sunset Boulevard review – sandblasting panache from Glenn Close by Susannah Clapp

Coliseum, LondonA glittering Glenn Close is ready once again for her close-up as Norma DesmondIt is more than 20 years since Glenn Close first starred in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boule…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:45AM
Sunday, May 29, 2016

The Night Watch review – the swish of the blackout curtain by Susannah Clapp

Royal Exchange, ManchesterHattie Naylor’s beautifully deft adaptation springs Sarah Waters’s bestseller on to the stage in a pitch-perfect productionWhat a haunting, unusual thing Hattie…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:46AM

Romeo and Juliet review – Branagh’s star-crossed lovers fail to soar by Susannah Clapp

Garrick, LondonLily James and Richard Madden certainly look the part, but are doomed by their dictionIt’s easy to think the famous golden lines, the swift, sad arc of Romeo and Juliet will…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:46AM
Wednesday, May 25, 2016

A Streetcar Named Desire review – Gillian Anderson is utterly compelling by Susannah Clapp

Young Vic, LondonBenedict Andrews's revival of the Tennessee Williams classic steams off the revolving set of the Young Vic• Gillian Anderson in Streetcar – in pictures• From Anderson …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:14AM
Sunday, May 22, 2016

The Philanderer review – tribute to the modern woman by Susannah Clapp

Orange Tree, LondonGeorge Bernard Shaw’s satirical attack on the divorce laws (and the medical profession) rather outstays its welcomeThe Philanderer, written in 1893, is a prescient play.…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:21AM

The Machine Stops review – EM Forster’s chilling vision by Susannah Clapp

York Theatre RoyalThis adaptation of the novelist’s prescient 1909 short story is impressively nimbleA woman looks into a screen showing the face of her faraway son. Electronic music ping …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:21AM
Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Amadeus review – Rupert Everett impresses as the seething Salieri by Susannah Clapp

Chichester Festival theatre, West SussexA vivid revival of Peter Shaffer's Amadeus christens a newly refashioned Chichester Festival theatreChichester Festival theatre reopens this summer, n…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:56AM
Sunday, May 15, 2016

Theatre review: Jerusalem / Royal Court, London by Susannah Clapp

Royal Court, LondonAbout half a mile down from the Little Chef on the A14, a giant chats about building Stonehenge. In a Wiltshire glade at dawn, teenage girls tumble bug-eyed and doped-up f…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:21AM
Friday, May 13, 2016

Cats review – none of it is very catlike by Susannah Clapp

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s resurrected musical features terrific dancing and some truly hideous moggiesThere is nothing subdued and nothing rough about Cats. Nor is there much that looks theatr…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:10PM
Sunday, May 8, 2016

An Enemy of the People review – all society on a stage by Susannah Clapp

Chichester Festival theatreHugh Bonneville as a whistleblower driven by sibling rivalry shows how Ibsen’s play switches emphasis with every stagingHere is Hugh Bonneville, the amiably stuf…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:44AM

A Midsummer Night’s Dream review – the wildest of dreams by Susannah Clapp

Shakespeare’s Globe, LondonEmma Rice’s first production as artistic director at Shakespeare’s Globe is a glittering, unnerving comic triumphA sitar player sends music pulsing through t…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:44AM
Sunday, May 1, 2016

Doctor Faustus review – where’s the soul? by Susannah Clapp

Duke of York’s, London Kit Harington gets his kit off and Jenna Russell sings Bat out of Hell… but no one profits from this deal with the devilEveryone applauds Jamie Lloyd’s determina…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:15AM

Elegy review – a fine dilemma by Susannah Clapp

Donmar, London Zoë Wanamaker must choose whether to lose her life or her lover in Nick Payne’s thought-provoking follow-up to ConstellationsFour years ago Nick Payne shone new light on th…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:15AM

Kings of War review – Shakespeare to the power of three by Susannah Clapp

Barbican, LondonIvo van Hove takes Henry V, Henry VI and Richard II and mashes them up into a wonderful study of the modern ruling classThe most immediately surprising feature of Kings of Wa…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:15AM
Sunday, April 24, 2016

The Flick; Another World: Losing Our Children to Islamic State; The Suicide – review by Susannah Clapp

Dorfman; Temporary theatre; Lyttelton; all LondonRufus Norris’s National Theatre is in rude health, with Annie Baker’s remarkable The Flick and a verbatim drama about why children join I…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:25AM
Sunday, April 17, 2016

Boy review – see the city in a different light by Susannah Clapp

Almeida, LondonLeo Butler’s fine new play brings teeming London on to the stage, with help from a set design that’s practically installation artLondon in 2016 has made it on to the stage…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:14AM

Cyprus Avenue review – bigotry laid absurdly bare by Susannah Clapp

Royal Court theatre, LondonDavid Ireland’s shocking new play balances humour and horror, with Stephen Rea superb as an Ulster loyalist suspicious of his ‘Fenian’ baby granddaughterSome…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:14AM

Appreciation: Arnold Wesker, 1932-2016 by Susannah Clapp

The Observer’s theatre critic remembers one of Britain’s most influential playwrights of the postwar yearsArnold Wesker, who died on 12 April at the age of 83, was one of the male playwr…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:14AM
Sunday, April 10, 2016

Sunset Boulevard review – ready again for her close-up by Susannah Clapp

Coliseum, LondonGlenn Close plays Norma Desmond with as much panache as she did more than 20 years agoIt is more than 20 years since Glenn Close first starred in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Suns…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:58AM

The Caretaker review – star turns but no terror by Susannah Clapp

Old Vic, LondonCompelling performances from Timothy Spall, Daniel Mays and George MacKay fail to elevate Matthew Warchus’s production of the Pinter classicHere is an idea about The Caretak…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:58AM

X review – a jittery dystopia by Susannah Clapp

Royal Court, LondonJessica Raine proves herself a stage natural in Alistair McDowall’s ingenious but taxing tale of future humanity adrift in despairX is another of Alistair McDowall’s d…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:58AM