Stage performances have been disrupted this summer by last-minute delays, cancellations and postponements. Is it just a run of bad luck – or a cultural shift? One theatre audience, already…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:06AMWith subjects ranging from the deadly serious to the downright silly, this year’s shows include plays about addiction, politics, funk and Come Dine With Me “To be or not to be” … tha…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:54PMDorfman theatre, LondonThis Pulitzer-winning play delicately explores issues of race, sexuality and masculinity with humour as the main ingredient A group of Black American men have convened…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:02PMPalladium, London For all its Broadway dazzle and gags, this musical’s story of midlife bereavement and a second chance at love carries intense feeling How often do you see an old-style mu…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:24PMHampstead theatre, LondonChristopher Hampton’s sleek adaptation of Stefan Zweig’s 1922 novella adds elements of the Austrian writer’s own life Letter from an Unknown Woman is perhaps S…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:48AMWatermill theatre, NewburyThe story is thin and slow to emerge but the actor-musicians and acrobats deliver the 1980 circus musical with gusto The circus begins outside with fire-eating, jug…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:02AMNoël Coward theatre, LondonKit Harington and Olivia Washington star in a charged, often comical drama about the legacy of historical racial violence in three couples’ sexual dynamics What…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:48PMRoyal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonThe hot pink shoes, tights and feathers are wonderful, but this update of the 1777 comedy has no satirical bite beneath its enormous wigs The ca…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:54AMDonmar Warehouse, LondonAn infectious soundtrack and a bubbling script boost Dominique Morisseau’s drama as the spectre of closure looms over the lives of four assembly-line workers When i…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:48PMHarold Pinter theatre, LondonThe sad love story between bereaved piano prodigy Kōsei and free-spirit Kaori is played with verve – but what worked on paper and as an anime TV series stutte…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:42AMOlivier theatre, LondonSimon McBurney returns to direct his 1999 drama and it still fizzes, even if some of the images are more rewarding than the ideas Remembering is not a neutral function…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:02AMTroubadour Wembley Park theatre, LondonUpdated with references to net zero, the 1984 musical is back on track in all its outlandish glory What bald-faced audacity led Andrew Lloyd Webber to …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:48PMRegent’s Park Open Air Theatre, LondonThis magical production sets the drama against the backdrop of Indian partition, allowing a deft exploration of dual heritage and cultural displacemen…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:54AMPolitical art helps us debate and confront the challenges in our lives. It is also a record we must return to again and again ‘A play should be an act of moral imagination,” said the la…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:42AMPark theatre, London A doctor, a therapist and the Kennedy brothers are among the characters in this cocktail of facts and fiction Marilyn Monroe died on 4 August 1962 from a “probable sui…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:32PMAnna Maxwell Martin excels as a good MP, while James Corden’s ex-soldier shows he can be dark as well as funny A drama featuring a face-off between an MP and a constituent outraged by the …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:32PMCoronet theatre, LondonThis gnomic production of Churchill’s 1997 play, about a couple awaiting their daughter’s return, is packed with confusions and curveballs In Blue Heart, a pair of…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:36AMRoyal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon Blanche McIntyre’s Midas-touched production is set in the present day and finds delirious comedy in its class divisions This lesser-staged Sh…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:36AMJermyn Street theatre, London Adrian Lukis’s self-penned one-man show revisits the character he played in Pride and Prejudice on TV in 1995, but doesn’t discover much Those who …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:54AMCharing Cross theatre, LondonThis fast and furious Korean show has high-voltage tunes, but suffers from schmaltz and a breathlessly hectic pace Two women meet on a train, in a flashback to M…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:36AMLyric Hammersmith, LondonAlice Childress’s powerful story of a biracial couple is set in South Carolina in 1918, but burns with the heat of the civil rights era when it was written ‘It�…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:06AMOrange Tree theatre, LondonTara Fitzgerald, Emma Fielding and Stephen Boxer deftly juggle roles in this marathon of marital malaise This 1965 trilogy of late works by Noël Coward has all hi…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:54AMTheatre Royal Haymarket, LondonArthur Miller’s story of family, masculinity and immigrant struggles could seem dated but a brilliant cast bring out uncomfortably modern resonances This rev…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:48PMOne Cartridge Place, LondonHelena Bonham Carter narrates as a bare-footed audience explore exquisite rooms in this unsettling, grief-soaked journey into the night The immersive adventure beg…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:24PMChichester Festival theatreThe performances are strong and the music is beautiful, but they cannot rescue this convoluted adaptation of Jamila Gavin’s award-winning children’s novel This…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:42AMA marathon achievement for its feat of memory, this performance feels like avant-garde cabaret at times Has the solo star-vehicle as epic monologue theatre reached its peak with Eddie Izzard…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:12PMJazz hands and big ballads are out and ‘writing about real emotions’ is in, as a new wave of musicals exploring body issues, bullying and queer identity hits the capital’s biggest stag…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:36AMRoyal Court, London Emma D’Arcy, Ben Whishaw and Kayla Meikle narrate and act out Nelson’s dark meditations from their own film-making booths in Katie Mitchell’s intriguing experiment …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:02PMDuke of York’s theatre, LondonThe Spider-Man star and his spikily charismatic Juliet, giving a heroic performance after all the abuse she faced, are perfectly cast in Jamie Lloyd’s turbo…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:32PMMichelle Terry plays the king as a playfully antic sociopath in a lively production full of effective performances Has there ever been a more contested Richard III? Michelle Terry’s self-…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:12PMThe case of a German ballet director who attacked a critic with faeces has loosely inspired a satire about the relationships between creators and critics Among the spikier offerings at this …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:06AM