Saturday, July 12, 2014
Trafalgar Studios, LondonThe long reach of the play's wildness is diminished in its 1979 office settingThe warnings about Richard III were misleading. The only sonic disturbance I was aware …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:09PMOld Vic, LondonArthur Miller's play resonates without any updating in Yael Farber's powerful stagingI went to The Crucible half-expecting the director Yael Farber to have shifted the action …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:07PMSaturday, July 5, 2014
Lyttelton, LondonBillie Piper excels in Richard Bean's hot-off-the-press satire on greedy MPs, foul-mouthed journalists and sleazy coppersThe really good thing is that it's here. Rat-a-tat s…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:07PMSaturday, June 21, 2014
Wyndham's theatre, LondonRemarkable performances from Carey Mulligan and Bill Nighy imbue David Hare's 1990s-set drama with fresh resonanceFor nearly 20 years, I have been arguing with Skyli…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, June 14, 2014
Almeida; Donmar Warehouse, LondonMr Burns fails to ignite at the Almeida, but Turgenev and Brian Friel prove a dream team at the DonmarWhen it comes to The Simpsons, I have the enthusiasm of…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, June 7, 2014
Shed, London; Barbican, LondonPolly Stenham brings vicious violence to the Shed, while the persecution of Soviet Jewry is remembered at the Barbican Susannah Clapp gives five stars to Intima…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMUstinov Studio, Theatre Royal, BathThe British premiere of Lynn Nottage's 2003 subtle play is marvellous, examining what intimacy really isThe Ustinov Studio is making history. Lynn Nottage …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:04PMSaturday, May 24, 2014
A week in which male reviewers provoked a storm by calling opera singer Tara Erraught 'unsightly' has provoked a much-needed debate on sexist attitudes in arts criticismBelow, women in the a…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMRegent's Park Open Air theatre, LondonTimothy Sheader's revival of Arthur Miller's postwar shot at the American Dream struggles to recover from a sluggish first halfWith Miss Saigon playing …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMPrince Edward, LondonThe hugely popular musical is back with its blaring, terrible songsNot so much a musical as an applausathon. Here is a famous duet: much clapping. Here is a swanky Ameri…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:04PMSaturday, May 17, 2014
Everyman, Liverpool; Royal Exchange, ManchesterFour bereaved siblings wallow in the past in the terrific Hope Place, while Lily Cole is a graceful if small-voiced Helen in Simon Armitage's d…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, May 10, 2014
Laugharne, CarmarthenshireThe small community that inspired Under Milk Wood hosts an intriguing but whimsical tribute to the wayward Welsh bardTo begin at the end. In the graveyard at Laugha…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06PMSaturday, May 3, 2014
Hampstead; Southwark Playhouse, LondonThe Kinks musical Sunny Afternoon is a triumph for Ray Davies and Joe Penhall. And orphans bring snot and fury to SouthwarkSunny Afternoon rocks Hampste…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:07PMSaturday, April 26, 2014
Donmar Warehouse; Lyttelton, London; Watford PalaceJames Graham's electrifying new play, Privacy, could change your online lifeThere is no need to keep this a secret. Privacy is electrifying…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:07PMSaturday, April 19, 2014
Dekker and Middleton's Roaring Girl fails to hold her own at the RSC against two of Shakespeare's most thoroughly male dynastic dramasThe RSC is no longer alone with Shakespeare. The Globe i…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:07PMSaturday, April 12, 2014
In Mike Bartlett's fine new play at the Almeida, the Windsors acquire Shakespearean depths, while the ravages of a rock-star life dazzle at the Royal CourtThe Queen is dead; Charles is about…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:07PMSaturday, April 5, 2014
Shed; Theatre Royal, both London; Tobacco Factory, BristolPoor lives make for rich drama at the Shed, while Goldie excels as a Jamaican gang leader at Stratford EastSome of the most striking…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:04PMSaturday, March 22, 2014
Gielgud, LondonThe Broadway veteran plays a magnificently dotty Madame Arcati in this remarkable production of Coward's glacial comedyShe strides on in plaid tweeds, and shimmies around in a…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:05PMSaturday, March 15, 2014
Everyman, Liverpool; West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds Twelfth Night doesn't quite echo the newly revamped Everyman's sense of swagger. In Leeds, Anya Reiss's updating of Wedekind is a winnerR…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:00AMSaturday, March 8, 2014
Hampstead; Donmar, London; Royal Exchange, ManchesterImelda Staunton is whip-sharp in a great new US play about class. Peter Gill roots his drama in argument. And Orlando fliesThere are no s…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:07PMSaturday, February 15, 2014
Almeida; Theatre Royal Stratford East, LondonOrwell's 1984 comes to tremendous, hellish life. And Joan Littlewood's satire still bitesIt is hugely ambitious to put this dystopia on stage. Ha…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:04PMSunday, February 9, 2014
Royal Court; Young Vic; Vaults, LondonFeminism and its absence play a part in Abi Morgan's latest, one of Beckett's best and Ian McEwan's Cement GardenSamuel Butler said it was very good of …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:30AMSunday, February 2, 2014
Royal Exchange, Manchester; Royal Court; Gate, LondonThieving lovers of the Thatcher era, football homophobia and a haunting war photograph make for a trio of striking new dramasSimon Stephe…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:05AMSunday, January 26, 2014
Olivier; Shed, LondonSimon Russell Beale is magnetic as Lear in Sam Mendes's production, which traces 'an unravelling that is political, cosmic and personal'It would be worth it for the stor…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AMSaturday, January 18, 2014
Sam Wanamaker Playhouse; Royal Court, LondonThe Globe's new indoor stage is the ideal setting for Webster's macabre tragedy, while Beckett engenders awe not shockUsually Gemma Arterton …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:07PMSaturday, January 11, 2014
Swan, Stratford-upon-AvonBen Miles as Thomas Cromwell leads the way in compelling stage versions of Hilary Mantel's great Tudor novelsThese are near-perfect adaptations. That's to say, imper…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:07PMSaturday, December 28, 2013
Egg, Bath; BAC, Little Angel, LondonTove Jansson's lovably eccentric characters make their UK stage debut. And there's more magic down the corridors at BACThey are onstage at last. My heroes…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, December 21, 2013
Donmar; Aldwych, London; Crucible, SheffieldTom Hiddleston's Coriolanus is blazing but bleak, and there's as little love in a 60s sex scandal as there was in Dickens's LondonThe first time I…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:07PMShakespeare, Ibsen and Pinter were among the highlights in a year notable for rediscovery and reinventionRead the Observer critics' reviews of the year in full hereThis was a pivotal theatri…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMTuesday, December 17, 2013
Changes in the voting system and a lack of open debate left judges feeling like children, and irrevocably damaged the awardsI have been a judge for the Evening Standard Theatre awards for 14…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:55AMSaturday, December 14, 2013
Almeida, Lyttelton, London; Bristol Old VicMatt Smith brings a deadly vacancy to Easton Ellis's antihero in a musical with sharp instincts and a hollow heartAmerican Psycho will be a big hit…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:07PM 
