York Theatre RoyalNorthern Broadsides offer a surprisingly genial take on the tale of three couples whose silver wedding party descends into confusion When Barrie Rutter launched Northern Br…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:50AMStephen Joseph theatre, ScarboroughNow three decades old, this play about a desperate father in a voyeuristic world may have lost some of its cutting edge, but its wistful tone is as strong …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:03AMCrucible, SheffieldThe cast offer a high-spirited depiction of male camaraderie in this play about the Sheffield blitz of 1940, but the show most impresses as a portrait of a cityKieran Know…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:24PMTheatre-by-the-Lake, KeswickJez Butterworth followed the advice of his hero in writing this curio, which is ultimately just a step on the road to JerusalemJez Butterworth credited Harold Pin…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:30PMAs she stars in her second revival of A Taste of Honey, Rebecca Ryan talks about the enduring appeal of Delaney's contradictory Jo – and how growing up on Manchester's Chatsworth estate as…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:30PMStephen Joseph theatre, ScarboroughMelanie witnesses a murder plot over dinner – or is she hallucinating? Audiences enjoying a light meal enter the twilight zone in this appetising two-par…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:40AMGrosvenor Park theatre, Chester Proteus and Valentine are demob-happy backpackers swapping sleepy Verona for metropolitan Milan in Alex Clifton’s spirited open-air productionIn Tom Stoppar…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:42AMYork Theatre Royal Conan Doyle’s hero stalks the moors in the company of travelling music-hall turns in an appealing family show that requires deductive powers to keep track of who’s who…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:06AMThe Royle Family star was jailed after the national construction workers’ strike of 1972. As a satirical show about the ‘Shrewsbury 24’ arrives in Shropshire, he looks back on the cont…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:27AMStephen Joseph theatre, Scarborough The musicals of John Kander and Fred Ebb have brought us showstopping songs and great characters, from bored housewives to ageing shoplifters – all of w…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:22AMGrosvenor Park Open Air theatre, Chester A spirited ensemble make Shakespeare’s comic journey into the forest a gleeful enterprise, even in the company of his least funny foolTouchstone mu…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:24AMStephen Joseph theatre, ScarboroughRudyard Kipling’s famous bedtime tales are brought to life with a sink plunger, vacuum cleaner and, apparently, no actorsRudyard Kipling dreamed up the f…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:46AMGrosvenor Park theatre, Chester Clive King’s classic tale of a boy’s friendship with a mysterious caveman is retold with panache, poignancy and rousing percussion in this absorbing adapt…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:20AMStephen Joseph theatre, ScarboroughA seemingly second-rate improv troupe zips through dated scenarios – expecting full audience participation – in Ayckbourn’s ridiculously funny spoof …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:32AMLive Theatre, Newcastle upon TyneDavid Almond’s story of a teenager encouraged to write about his troubled thoughts is a darkly compelling triumphNewcastle’s most enterprising theatre ha…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:37AMRoyal Exchange, ManchesterElliot Levey and Tracy-Ann Oberman star in an adaptation of Howard Jacobson’s rollicking novel about table tennis and onanismLike all great comic novels, Howard J…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:49AMCrucible, SheffieldHow far would you go to keep your job? An employee finds her sex life is a matter for the HR department in this sleek-looking dramaMike Bartlett’s play, which began life…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:58AMTheatr Clwyd, Mold With a chequerboard lawn, Italianate follies and an audience on garden chairs, Shakespeare’s play is given a Portmeirion-style designTamara Harvey has stated that she wa…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:22AMJonathan Miller is notching up his eighth Lear. How did he persuade Barrie Rutter to play the king? By telling him it’s a comedyShortly before rehearsals commence on King Lear, Jonathan Mi…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:38AMStephen Joseph theatre, ScarboroughThe satire is a little shaky but this neatly acted production finds Torben Betts once more smuggling left-leaning, state-of-the-nation analysis into his co…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:03AMTwenty years after the Manchester bombing, the immersive theatre show On Corporation Street looks at those caught in the chaos – from the man having a haircut to the couple getting married…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:21PMWest Yorkshire Playhouse, LeedsThe puppetry alone is enough to recommend this magical take on Stephen Sondheim’s musical, but Opera North choristers are the real ace up the sleeveThe West …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:10AMScarcroft Allotments, YorkMikron have concocted a jolly tribute to the Quaker families who changed society with cocoa – and a satire acknowleding the crusade’s corporate endIf ever you s…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:32AMYork MinsterPhilip McGinley stands out as a soulful, tormented Christ in this staging of the 13th-century pageant that makes its ecological prophecy harrowingly clearIn the year 2000, the Yo…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:10AMWest Yorkshire Playhouse, LeedsFeaturing just a pair of characters, the teenage and adult Billy, this is one of the most modest – but best – stagings of the novelAmong the tributes follo…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:44AMRoyal Exchange, ManchesterTime runs backwards in Hattie Naylor’s exceptional adaptation of the best-selling novel about women condemned to their own personal circles of hell in 1940s Londo…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:33AMCrucible, SheffieldWith its ravishing sets and fine comic performances, the story of a charlady’s quest to acquire a frock is a perfect fillip for a new age of austerityMrs ’Arris Goes t…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:40AMTheatre Royal, YorkHumans are reliant on a vast video-conferencing network in an uncanny tale featuring aerial contortions and a score by Ultravox founder John FoxxFor a writer associated wi…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:44AMBirmingham RepA film star and her make-up artist debate nude scenes, paparazzi and awards ceremonies in this revealing play from Stan’s CafeIt is a well-established fact that if you want t…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:46AMManchester ArenaFeaturing a musical mashup of Gary Glitter, Rolf Harris and Jim’ll Fix It, this show finds Peter Kay and co as off-colour as everPhoenix Nights fans have been waiting since…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:22PMNew Vic, Newcastle-under-LymeThis revival of Cicely Hamilton’s 1908 play about a downtrodden shopworker has an admirable lightness of touch An actor, activist and contemporary of George Be…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:52AM
