Sunday, December 10, 2017
Royal Exchange, ManchesterRelocated to Harlem, this fine new production of Frank Loesser's classic musical retains a threat of violence under a cartoon-bright exteriorLike the fantastical, h…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:48AM[SHARE]Sunday, December 3, 2017
Royal Lyceum Theatre, EdinburghA thrilling script and clever set give these ancient tales a dazzling new charmA rustle of sweet papers and expectation in the auditorium. House lights dim. "H…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:33AM[SHARE]Tuesday, November 28, 2017
Curve, LeicesterPaul Kerryson's final show combines picture-book wholesomeness with a message for the darkest of timesIt came as a shock. Maybe it shouldn't have, but it did. After all, The …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:12AM[SHARE]Sunday, November 26, 2017
Octagon theatre, Bolton A new adaptation and a fresh young cast bring Dickens's classic tale to vivid, chorusing lifeThe set is a simple, timeless cobbled street; costumes indicate the 19th …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:18AM[SHARE]Sunday, November 19, 2017
The story of Jayaben Desai, heroine of the notorious Grunwick strike in the 70s makes you laugh, feel and thinkAcross the walls of the simple office set runs stencilled lettering: "Grunwick …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:33AM[SHARE]Sunday, November 12, 2017
The Guildhall, HullPeake's rich new play, with music by the Unthanks, tells the story of the Hull women who fought the government on fishermen's safety and wonIn 1968, extraordinary storms l…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:48AM[SHARE]Sunday, November 5, 2017
Watermill theatre, NewburySix actors play 37 roles in a beautifully balanced production of Dylan Thomas's classic play for voicesBy 1953, the poet Dylan Thomas was ready to turn to writing l…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:24AM[SHARE]Sunday, October 22, 2017
Sherman theatre, CardiffDenise Black stars as a hard-drinking matriarch in this slimmed-down reimagining of the Russian's play, relocated to Pembrokeshire in 1982In his new play, Gary Owen "…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:06AM[SHARE]Sunday, October 15, 2017
Spode Works, Stoke-on-TrentA young woman comes to fear that her dying father is harbouring a grim secret in this powerful domestic thrillerThe title of Deborah McAndrew's new play for Claybo…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:18AM[SHARE]Sunday, October 8, 2017
West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds Needlessly fleshed out and lacking focus, this Ibsen adaptation feels sadly jerry-builtZinnie Harris has previously adapted classic texts to great acclaim. He…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:54AM[SHARE]Sunday, October 1, 2017
Victoria Dock, HullSlung Low's four-part floating spectacle is not as immersive as it thinks it isBack in the early 20th century, when a theatre wanted spectacle, it would flood an auditori…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:33AM[SHARE]Sunday, September 24, 2017
Dean Clough Mill, HalifaxA fast-paced adaptation of the 18th-century French satire sees Northern Broadsides director/performer Barrie Rutter bow out in style"He's a guggling midden-daup"; "A…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:18AM[SHARE]Sunday, September 17, 2017
Belgrade theatre, CoventryThis tale of a guard dog in Stalin's Russia captures the essence of the gulags only too wellAll is grey, wind howls, light is dim: design, sound and music suggest b…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:24AM[SHARE]Sunday, September 10, 2017
Hull Truck theatre, HullJohannesburg company Market Theatre delivers a universal message about prejudice from the story of a couple fleeing their village for the cityIt's appropriate that Jo…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:18AM[SHARE]Sunday, September 3, 2017
Theatre By the Lake, KeswickHigh-flying writer Laura Eason's latest drama doesn't quite hit the markBrooklyn-based Laura Eason is an acclaimed writer with notable hits to her credit, includi…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:24AM[SHARE]Stephen Joseph theatre, ScarboroughThe audience is in on the joke in the playwright's own production of his comedyHow do you make a farce with no doors? This was the challenge Alan Ayckbourn…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:24AM[SHARE]Park theatre, LondonA classy cast ground Joe Orton's comedy, despite a distractingly fabulous setGabriella Slade's design looks fabulous but it very nearly mutes Loot's thunder. Half the fun…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:24AM[SHARE]Sunday, August 20, 2017
Ustinov Studio, Theatre Royal BathHenry Goodman's powerful performance fills out a sometimes superficial portrait of Lucian Freud as an older manWe are looking at the older Lucian Freud (192…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:04AM[SHARE]Sunday, August 13, 2017
From Palestine to Aberfan, identity and belonging dominate " alongside Fritz Lang at the circus, existential football and a song for beached whales"That's not right…" The taxi driver and I…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:24AM[SHARE]Sunday, August 6, 2017
Williamson Park, LancasterThe setting is inspired, but the adventure has been reduced to a domestic fableNight has fallen. We walk through a wooded glen. Music and birdsong fill the air. Lea…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:12AM[SHARE]Thursday, July 27, 2017
Curve, LeicesterSue Townsend's sly writing is pummelled to fit narrative arcs of love triumphant and ambition realised in this musical adaptationWhat do you ask of a new musical? Attention-g…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:36AM[SHARE]Sunday, July 23, 2017
Mick Lally theatre, GalwayA strong three-woman cast struggle to redeem this often bizarre evocation of impoverished Irish lives"Everyone rose to their feet... to applaud... But I could not h…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:54AM[SHARE]Sunday, July 16, 2017
Upper Campfield Market Hall, ManchesterJane Horrocks stars in a collage of song, history and drama whose most powerful presences are its stage projections"Can you help me a bit?" A spotlit J…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:12AM[SHARE]Sunday, July 9, 2017
Theatre by the Lake, KeswickStrindberg's passion play remains as resonant today in Howard Brenton's new translation as it was when first performed in the Paris of 189Times and theatrical fas…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:42AM[SHARE]Sunday, July 2, 2017
New Vic, Newcastle-under-LymeA cast of eight deftly play a globe's worth of characters in Laura Eason's rollicking Jules Verne adaptationLaura Eason's 2013 adaptation of Around the World in …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:24AM[SHARE]Sunday, June 25, 2017
Theatre Royal, YorkBridget Foreman's moving, resonant play combines outdoor performance, newsreel footage and a huge local cast to memorable effectOutside York Minster, a pro-democracy demon…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:12AM[SHARE]Sunday, June 18, 2017
West Yorkshire Playhouse, LeedsA compelling coming-of-age story about five hopefuls set to compete in a poetry 'slam' competitionSmoke hazes the stage. Close to the audience, five microphone…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:48AM[SHARE]Sunday, June 11, 2017
Private homes in Toxteth, LiverpoolKeith Saha's drama for the Sgt Pepper anniversary expands on its domestic setting with puppetry and magical realismThe Beatles didn't just come from Liverp…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:04AM[SHARE]Manchester Royal ExchangeAn irreverent adaptation of Jane Austen's last novel puts a fun spin on the source material, but fails to honour her characters' complexitiesTo describe this as a fr…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:04AM[SHARE]Sunday, June 4, 2017
Moesgaard Museum, Aarhus, Denmark With its rooftop setting, clashing of swords and larger-than-life characters, this Viking epic is a fitting centrepiece to Aarhus's European capital of cult…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:54AM[SHARE]Crucible, SheffieldShakespeare is rooted in our era of fake news in artistic director Robert Hastie's outstanding first production for the CrucibleIf Robert Hastie's first production as arti…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:54AM[SHARE] 
