Sunday, November 29, 2020
Film adaptation of Jonathan Coe's 1994 bestseller is a postmodern masterpiece
Classical murder mysteries end with a neat solution " and with the arrest of the perpetrator. Postmodern murder …
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 09:03PM[SHARE]Monday, November 2, 2020
Lillian Hellman meets a handful of other female greats in an imaginary dinner party
Feuds make good theatre. I mean, look at the furious 1970s spat between playwright Lillian Hellman and cri…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 09:18PM[SHARE]Sunday, October 11, 2020
Return of one-woman show about growing up is disappointingly thin
Success smells sweet. The Bridge Theatre's pioneering season of one-person plays continues with sell-out performances of Dav…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 10:48PM[SHARE]Friday, September 25, 2020
Masterly revival of Inua Ellams's 2016 autobiographical one-man show
When the history of British theatre's response to COVID-19 comes to be written, the names of two men will feature promine…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:06AM[SHARE]Sunday, August 9, 2020
Simon Stephens and Juliet Stevenson create the perfect installation for our times
Wowee! Twenty weeks after the last time I set foot in a theatre, I was able to visit a venue once more. Hell…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 10:18PM[SHARE]Monday, August 3, 2020
Athena Stevens's punchy account of how an airline trashed her wheelchair
During the current pandemic, stories about isolation have a particular resonance. Feelings of claustrophobia, lonelin…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:42PM[SHARE]Wednesday, July 22, 2020
A festival of responses to the Black Lives Matter campaign is personal, political and powerful
The strength of the response to the re-emergence of the Black Lives Matter campaign has provoke…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 04:32AM[SHARE]Thursday, July 2, 2020
NT archive recording of Lorraine Hansberry's last play is absolutely compelling
Lorraine Hansberry's debut, A Raisin in the Sun, was the first drama written by a black woman to be produced o…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 10:32PM[SHARE]Tuesday, June 9, 2020
Film version of a loud and proud 2017 tribute to Ian Dury and the Blockheads
If any musical can live up to this title in these troubled times, it must be this show from Graeae, a theatre co…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:42PM[SHARE]Thursday, May 21, 2020
NT Live recording of this classic Young Vic production is genuinely unmissable
The National Theatre's triumphant march through its archive of NT Live recordings continues this week with a gl…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 10:03PM[SHARE]Wednesday, May 13, 2020
Revival of 2011 HighTide hit reconceived for streaming stars Diana Quick
During lockdown, some of the best online theatre has been shows that are specially created for this digital format. M…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:36PM[SHARE]Friday, May 1, 2020
NT Live version of this iconic tale of creative hubris features a dynamic acting duo
So far, it could be said that the National Theatre is having a good lockdown. Every week, this flagship s…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:18PM[SHARE]Monday, April 27, 2020
Howard Brenton's docu-drama about the harassment of the Chinese artist is defiantly brilliant
London's Hampstead Theatre has recently been very successful in bringing some of its best shows …
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:54PM[SHARE]Monday, April 13, 2020
Emma Rice's version of Angela Carter's last novel is a celebration of alternative families
Reviewing theatre now means reviewing film. Knowing that Emma Rice's Old Vic 2018 production of Wis…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 04:24PM[SHARE]Wednesday, April 8, 2020
Gloriously surreal monologue about everyday anxieties in extraordinary circumstances
She's an ordinary young woman, and she really doesn't know what to think. After all, things are way out o…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 10:12PM[SHARE]Monday, April 6, 2020
BBC film version of a Renaissance rape trial is powerfully resonant and completely relevant
Artemisia Gentileschi has definitely had a hard time. Although she was an outstanding Renaissance …
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 12:03PM[SHARE]Saturday, April 4, 2020
NT Live version of this masterpiece of farce is now available for free
Armchair theatre-lovers rejoice. During the lockdown, the National Theatre is streaming a selection of its past hits fo…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 09:24AM[SHARE]Monday, March 30, 2020
Original Theatre's tartan gothic thriller is complex but also a bit overwrought
With everyone in lockdown, observing physical if not social distancing, a story about isolation can have a pa…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 02:36PM[SHARE]Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Brilliant lyrics from the young composer offer a definitive take on migration
Ever since I heard the quintessential prog rock group The Nice do a psychedelic instrumental version of "America…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 11:03PM[SHARE]Monday, March 23, 2020
Theatre Uncut's streamed play about social media and the woke generation is clear but slender
It's only been a week since London's West End went dark, and theatres closed all over the UK, bu…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:42PM[SHARE]Tuesday, March 10, 2020
Thoughtful revival of Coward classic has all the ingredients - except the laughs
Jennifer Saunders is a one-woman tickle machine. As her countless appearances in television shows such as Fre…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 11:18PM[SHARE]Monday, March 9, 2020
Slender new monologue about struggling middle-class womanhood
On my way to see this show, I see an urban fox. Before I can take a photo, it scrambles away. And I'm sure that, as it goes, it …
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 09:54PM[SHARE]Tuesday, March 3, 2020
Verbatim account of transatlantic deportation is an uneven mix of fact and farce
Since 2000, Esther Baker's Synergy Theatre Project has worked with prisoners, ex-offenders and young people a…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:18PM[SHARE]Wednesday, February 19, 2020
Waiting for Godot meets Exodus in American drama about Black Lives Matter
The Black Lives Matter movement is such an important international protest that it is odd how few contemporary plays…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:54PM[SHARE]Friday, February 14, 2020
New debut play is a heartfelt account of the black lesbian experience
Queer people of colour face a double discrimination: racism and homophobia. Against this sickness of negation and stupid…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:12PM[SHARE]Wednesday, February 12, 2020
Revival of Caryl Churchill's brief dystopic classic is vivid but unexceptional
Caryl Churchill, Britain's best living playwright, is enjoying a spate of high-profile revivals of her classic …
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:54PM[SHARE]Thursday, February 6, 2020
New monologue about rage, racism and national identity is simply magnificent
Is this an angry island? Although the British national character (if there is such a thing) has traditionally be…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:33PM[SHARE]Tuesday, January 28, 2020
Excellent revival of Lucy Prebble's disturbing debut play about illegal desire
Your sweet tooth can get you into trouble. Lots of trouble. In this revival of Lucy Prebble's provocative debut…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:42PM[SHARE]Thursday, January 23, 2020
Maxine Peake struggles to make the voice of reason heard in feminist history play
History plays should perform a delicate balancing act: they have to tell us something worth knowing about th…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 01:42AM[SHARE]Tuesday, January 21, 2020
New play about female friendship is refreshingly original and dazzlingly exciting
Tonight, I discovered the gasp index. Or maybe just re-dicovered. The what? The gasp index. It's when you se…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 05:54PM[SHARE]Thursday, January 16, 2020
New blood courses through the West End's longest-running musical
Do you hear the people sing? In recent months, you're more likely to have heard news stories about the longest running West …
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:54PM[SHARE] 
