All stories by Claire Armitstead on BroadwayStars

Sunday, July 21, 2024

The week in theatre: Echo; Visit From an Unknown Woman; The Baker’s Wife – review by Claire Armitstead

Royal Court; Hampstead; Menier Chocolate Factory, LondonFiona Shaw, Adrian Lester, Toby Jones and more explore the refugee experience in an intriguing multimedia show; Christopher Hampton pe…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:24AM
Sunday, July 14, 2024

‘Each time I read one of her books, I wanted to read more’: five actors on bringing Annie Ernaux’s memoir to the stage by Claire Armitstead

As a theatre production of the Nobel prize-winning writer’s acclaimed autobiography The Years opens in the UK, the actors playing her at different ages – including Deborah Findlay, Gina …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:32AM
Sunday, June 16, 2024

The week in theatre: A Child of Science; Wedding Band; No Love Songs – review by Claire Armitstead

Bristol Old Vic; Lyric Hammersmith; Southwark Playhouse, LondonThe moving story of the invention of IVF gives space to the women affected; Alice Childress’s 60s interracial romance proves …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:36AM
Sunday, June 9, 2024

‘White supremacy was never hidden from me’: Jeremy O Harris on bringing Broadway hit Slave Play to the UK by Claire Armitstead

With the London opening of his incendiary work set to be among the theatre events of the year, the dramatist, along with the show’s director and stars Kit Harington and Olivia Washington, …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:24AM
Monday, May 27, 2024

‘I was told I was stupid’: Peep Show’s Paterson Joseph on his debut novel – and writing three operas by Claire Armitstead

He starred in Peep Show, Green Wing and Wonka – and his first novel won an award. Now the star is making operas with 64 homeless people. Not bad going for someone who was written off by hi…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:54AM
Thursday, May 23, 2024

Pieces of a Woman review – shame runs riot after a home birth ends in disaster by Claire Armitstead

Battersea Arts Centre, LondonNetflix turned Kata Wéber and Kornél Mundruczó’s play into an Oscar-nominated film. Now a world-class ensemble from Poland’s TR Warszawa bring it out its …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:54AM
Sunday, May 12, 2024

Mary Said What She Said review – Isabelle Huppert dazzles in a one-woman tour de force by Claire Armitstead

Barbican, LondonThe final hours of Mary, Queen of Scots are enacted with hypnotic precision in Robert Wilson’s collaboration with Théâtre de la Ville–Paris In the grand soap opera of 1…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:24AM
Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Wuthering fights: the play that shows the Brontës were bigger backstabbers than the Kardashians by Claire Armitstead

Rivalries, putdowns, betrayals … director Natalie Ibu explains why she is thrilled to be making her National Theatre debut with an award-winning play about the famous writing sisters Natal…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:32PM
Tuesday, March 5, 2024

‘I have big ambitions’: Bridgerton’s Charithra Chandran on her West End shocker – and building solar-powered factories by Claire Armitstead

One minute, she decided to try acting. The next, she had a plum role in Netflix’s Regency hit. And now she’s blazing into the West End. But that’s not nearly enough for this unstoppabl…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:42PM

‘I have big ambitions’: Bridgerton’s Charitha Chandran on her West End shocker – and building solar-powered factories by Claire Armitstead

One minute, she decided to try acting. The next, she had a plum role in Netflix’s Regency hit. And now she’s blazing into the West End. But that’s not nearly enough for this unstoppabl…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:32PM

Edward Bond, blazingly original British playwright, dies aged 89 by Claire Armitstead

Death announced of writer whose searing and controversial plays included Saved and Early Morning Michael Billington on Edward Bond: a phenomenal talent who upturned theatre Edward Bond, the…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:06AM
Friday, January 26, 2024

Northanger Abbey review – Janeites, be warned! Austen gets a fanfic makeover by Claire Armitstead

Orange Tree theatre, LondonWriter Zoe Cooper and director Tessa Walker reignite Jane Austen’s early novel with hilarious physical storytelling and a fizzing cast, though the romance sputte…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:48AM
Wednesday, November 29, 2023

‘Is my play still relevant? I don’t care!’ Tom Stoppard on his Gaza quandary and reviving Rock ’n’ Roll by Claire Armitstead

As his Velvet Revolution drama returns, the great writer talks about his mounting Israel-Gaza uncertainties, the epiphanies he has in every hot shower – and our one-star ‘corker’ revie…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:36PM
Wednesday, October 18, 2023

‘My privacy is gone’: Brian Cox on Succession’s toll, spurning Game of Thrones – and his new role as Bach by Claire Armitstead

As he returns to the stage to play JS Bach, the actor sounds off about the mess Britain’s in, explains why he turned down Game of Thrones – and reveals the price he has paid for Successi…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:37AM
Tuesday, October 17, 2023

The Flea review – royal scandal becomes a satirical pantomime by Claire Armitstead

The Yard, LondonJames Fritz frames a Victorian story as folk tragedy and political interrogation – exuberant in its ambition, just occasionally not quite fulfilling its potential In July 1…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:13PM
Tuesday, October 3, 2023

Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends review – merrily they roll along by Claire Armitstead

Gielgud theatre, LondonA cleverly cast tribute, featuring Bernadette Peters, Lea Salonga and Bonnie Langford, reflects on the passing of time with comedy and melancholy For those who know al…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:19PM
Friday, June 16, 2023

The Crucible review – a witch hunt for truth-denying times by Claire Armitstead

Gielgud theatre, LondonHarnessing horror film conventions, Lyndsey Turner’s intelligent revival conjures places where truth is a political inconvenience Seventy years after its premiere, A…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:37AM
Thursday, June 15, 2023

Glenda Jackson, fearless actor and politician, dies aged 87 by Claire Armitstead

Her singular passion lit up performances from Women in Love to King Lear and drove her 23-year middle career as an MP Michael Billington: Glenda Jackson was piercingly intelligent and unafra…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:19AM
Wednesday, June 7, 2023

‘I do like a shock’: Martin McDonagh on why casting Lily Allen in The Pillowman makes it even more electrifying by Claire Armitstead

His 2003 play about child torture and freedom of speech became a global phenomenon. But will it offend today’s audiences? The writer-director explains why he won’t be changing a thing Ir…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:55PM
Friday, May 5, 2023

We Need New Names review – playful staging of NoViolet Bulawayo’s novel by Claire Armitstead

Brixton House, LondonDirector Monique Touko keeps the tone lively with this tough story of Mugabe’s Zimbabwe in which the actors switch race, age and gender with ease In a place called Par…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:48AM
Wednesday, April 19, 2023

Josie Lawrence: ‘As soon as I could speak, I was putting on shows’ by Claire Armitstead

The actor looks back over a four-decade career balancing ‘serious’ drama and improv comedy, describes the making of her wholly improvised new film, and explains why we don’t see her on…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:24PM
Sunday, April 2, 2023

Hamnet on stage: Maggie O’Farrell and Lolita Chakrabarti on adapting the hit novel for the RSC by Claire Armitstead

O’Farrell’s novel about Shakespeare losing his young son to the plague struck a powerful chord in lockdown. She and Chakrabarti discuss exploring class, place and creativity for a play t…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:48AM
Tuesday, February 21, 2023

Akedah review – sisters at sea in taut but frustrating Troubles drama by Claire Armitstead

Hampstead theatre, LondonTwo women disinter a trauma from their past in Michael John O’Neill’s allegorical play set in an evangelical church Two sisters circle each other in the antecham…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:57AM
Tuesday, February 7, 2023

Linck & Mülhahn review – queer costume drama echoes through the ages by Claire Armitstead

Hampstead theatre, LondonRuby Thomas’s play, based on a true story about a married couple in 18th-century Prussia who were tried for sodomy, is tender, musical and funny From Gentleman Jac…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:54AM
Thursday, February 2, 2023

Titus Andronicus review – a patriarchy hellbent on self-destruction by Claire Armitstead

Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, LondonHeirs and spares fight under a sleazeball Roman emperor and candles take a hammering in a brilliantly provocative show with an all-female ensemble What do you …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:49AM
Saturday, January 21, 2023

Director Simon Stone: ‘My heroes are women’ by Claire Armitstead

The innovative Australian director who gained acclaim for his version of Yerma starring Billie Piper is now reframing Phaedra as a postmenopausal love story with Janet McTeer Simon Stone doe…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:00PM
Wednesday, January 4, 2023

Fay Weldon obituary by Claire Armitstead

Novelist and screenwriter whose tales of women taking control of their own destinies included The Life and Loves of a She-Devil • Writer Fay Weldon dies aged 91 The novelist Fay Weldon, wh…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:06AM
Sunday, December 18, 2022

Hakawatis: Women of the Arabian Nights review – Scheherazade’s storytellers step out of the shadows by Claire Armitstead

Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, LondonThis co-production between the Globe and Tamasha gives voice to five fluent, witty and graceful women, allowing them to reshape the ancient tales as their own …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:42AM
Sunday, November 27, 2022

Liz Kingsman: ‘Who is this woman who feels she can go on stage and make people laugh?’ by Claire Armitstead

The comedian-writer’s One Woman Show takes hilarious issue with the Fleabag-style ‘messy woman’ trope. As it transfers to London’s West End, she says she feels ‘at odds’ with its…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:24PM
Tuesday, November 15, 2022

‘It’s relatable’ … The Crown’s Emma Corrin on playing gender-swapping, time-travelling Orlando by Claire Armitstead

The actor and the director Michael Grandage talk about how relevant their staging of Virginia Woolf’s classic work of gender fluidity feels – and remember their own queer battles Emma Co…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:32PM
Monday, October 24, 2022

Mud, murder and homemade schnapps: eco-thriller Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead roars back by Claire Armitstead

As Complicité’s Simon McBurney brings Olga Tokarczuk’s feminist detective story to the stage, the pair discuss its eccentric sleuth, isolated landscape and climate alarm Time feels out …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:49AM

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