Saturday, 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 07:07PMSaturday, December 7, 2013
Royal Court; Noel Coward; Olivier, LondonA National Theatre of Scotland tour de force comes south in full-blooded fashion. And Jude Law means business as Henry VThis June I came away from Du…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:07PMSaturday, November 30, 2013
St James; Royal Court; Covent Garden, LondonPeople are whooping at Sarah Ruhl's play. Well, of course: at the centre of the plot is a vibrator. Set in New York in the 1880s, In the Next Room…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06PMSaturday, November 23, 2013
Young Vic; Gielgud, LondonTheatre Uncut's visionary series of political plays appeal as much for the ideas as the drama. And Strangers on a Train runs out of steamWhat began as a hand grenad…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06PMSaturday, November 16, 2013
Harold Pinter, London; Minerva, Chichester; Duke of York's, LondonJez Butterworth's Mojo returns in style, King Lear has never been less mad, and Jeeves and Wooster fizz in the West EndBefor…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:07PMSaturday, November 9, 2013
Shed; Charing Cross theatre, LondonDebbie Tucker Green captures the pain and poetry of everyday speech in her powerful new playIt's a long time since I've seen such ecstatic smoking on stage…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06PMSaturday, October 26, 2013
Royal Court; Young Vic; Shaftesbury, LondonThe terrors of war-torn Kashmir are brought to spirited life, while an intriguing musical explores the Anders Breivik killingsMuch has been said a…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:07PMSaturday, October 19, 2013
Royal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon; Little Angel, LondonDavid Tennant isn't the only reason to rush to Greg Doran's exceptional production of Richard IIIt has been promoted as Da…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:09PMThe National Theatre showcases what is going on – and what should be going on – in theatres across the countrySusannah Clapp is the Observer's theatre critic.The National is the answer t…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, October 12, 2013
Donmar Warehouse; Lyttelton, London; Nottingham PlayhouseJessica Raine and Linda Bassett captivate in an essential Wesker revival. And The Light Princess needs to be darkerJames Macdonald's …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06PMSaturday, October 5, 2013
Almeida, London; Watford Palace; Menier, LondonRichard Eyre's powerfully intimate version of Ibsen's Ghosts is a triumph. And can you still make real drama out of the internet?Richard Eyre's…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:07PMSaturday, September 28, 2013
Royal Court; Arts; Print Room, LondonRachel De-lahay returns with spiky tales of immigration and exile, while society florist Constance Spry blossoms anewIt's two years since Rachel De-lahay…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, September 21, 2013
Old Vic; Noël Coward; Bush, LondonMark Rylance's Much Ado About Nothing positively creaks, while Rory Kinnear makes a promising debut as a playwrightIt's hard to believe that Mark Rylance d…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:07PMSaturday, September 14, 2013
Royal Court; Hampstead; Tricycle, London There's a surprising start for Vicky Featherstone's first season at the Royal CourtVicky Featherstone has started her reign as artistic director of t…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06PMSaturday, August 24, 2013
Trafalgar Studios, London; Theatre Royal, BathA drama about sexual liberation since the 50s leaves theatregoers giggling and wriggling"To Russia with Love", say the placards carried by the c…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06PMSaturday, August 17, 2013
International Climbing Arena, Ratho; Royal Lyceum; King's, EdinburghTechnology has been the watchword at Edinburgh, with varying fortunes for a large-scale sci-fi adventure, a hi-t…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, August 10, 2013
Donmar; Lyttelton; Regent's Park Open Air, LondonNick Payne's insurance-fraud drama doesn't quite add up. And Pirandello in Irish guise can't compete with al fresco Von TrappsIs this the sta…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:07PMSaturday, August 3, 2013
Theatre Royal, Bath; Southwark Playhouse; Welsh Centre, LondonIt does make sense. It doesn't make enough nonsense. Lucy Bailey's production of King Lear, set mostly in the 1960s – cocktail…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, July 20, 2013
Temple Studios, 31 London Street, London; Campfield Market Hall; Albert Hall, ManchesterI find it hard now to imagine the theatrical landscape without Punchdrunk. Stumbling upon The Firebird…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06PMSaturday, July 13, 2013
St Peter's church, Manchester; Rose Lipman Building; Corner of Leytonstone library, LondonMired in mud, smeared with blood, witchily gibbering and fighting so close to the audience that spec…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, July 6, 2013
Palace, Manchester; Globe; Rose Lipman Building, LondonManchester international festival has always been theatrically lively. This year's programme looks the strongest yet. It opens with a c…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:07PM 
