Home, ManchesterAnu recreates the 1996 IRA attack in Manchester as promenade theatre relying on audience imagination to fill in the gapsOn the stage of the main auditorium is a lorry, hazard…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:34AMYork Minster, York Mike Poulton’s adaptation of the medieval plays, performed for only the second time inside the Minster, mixes the mundane and the divine to sparkling effect“Why pick o…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:51AMBirmingham Repertory theatreThe second play from Bruntwood prize winner Gareth Farr breaks the silence around the struggle to conceive in an affecting wayJess describes the silence of absenc…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:52AMCrucible, SheffieldAn improbable new musical about a postwar London charlady in love with haute couture works like a charm, with a transcendent performance from Clare BurtGive yourself whole…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:46AMRoyal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonThere is something of the Edinburgh fringe about this RSC production of one of Shakespeare’s most complex playsWhat have we left of Shakespear…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:26AMTheatre Royal, BrightonSpymonkey clown around in an inventive production that turns Shakespeare’s complete works into a fabulous bloodbathThe Complete Deaths is a new show created by the c…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:26AMNorthern Stage, Newcastle upon TyneImprobable’s adaptation of Lauren Slater’s study of psychological experiments doesn’t quite make it off the page“Popular science has an element of …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:10AMBirmingham Rep Tom Wells’s play about three very different characters coming together through music has freshness, charm and warmthWinnie likes a Guinness on a Friday night (she’s Irish,…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:31AMCurve, LeicesterIshy Din’s first world war drama adeptly tackles class, race and colonialism through the moving story of Khudadad KhanKhudadad Khan was the first Asian soldier to be awarde…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:14AMCraig Taylor’s snapshots of everyday situations shouldn’t work as drama but they do – and brilliantlyDid you ever have to do that experiment at school where you watched crystals form i…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:14AMRoyal & Derngate, Northampton; Royal Exchange, ManchesterMichael Pennington’s powerful performance isn’t helped by the period trappings, but Don Warrington’s flummoxed king is a Le…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:58AMTheatre by the Lake, KeswickThis adaptation of James Rebanks’s bestselling memoir conveys its central relationships powerfullyThe thing about nature in the UK is, most of it isn’t natura…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:33AMWhen Sir Alan Ayckbourn says that "about 50% of the laughs" in his hysterically funny, heart-wrenchingly painful How the Other Half Loves are thanks to its "superimposed composite set", he's…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:34AMScottish Storytelling Centre, EdinburghIgnorance of Gaelic proves no barrier to enjoying this fine adaptation of Tormod Caimbeul’s seminal novelHave you ever seen a seagull by a cliff fly …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:14AMDerby theatre; Octagon theatre, BoltonJohn Osborne’s working-class antihero struggles to find his target on the modern stage, but a female spin gives the character some fresh perspective�…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:20AMLiverpool PlayhouseThe fascinating story of Thomas Aikenhead – the last person in Britain to be executed for blasphemy – is marred by a mix of theatrical stylesYoung Thomas Aikenhead was…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:38AMCitizens, GlasgowDirector/designer Stewart Laing's production of The Maids is vividly theatrical (the stage curtain gets a round of applause). But its visual surprises and non-textual interv…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:52AMTheatre Royal, PlymouthThe extraordinary life of Screaming Lord Sutch told through music, comedy and drama sketches is highly entertaining – though ultimately a little too fragmentedScream…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:09AMCrucible, SheffieldLorraine Hansberry’s landmark play about the struggles of an African American family in a Chicago slum is as relevant today as it was half a century agoLorraine Hansberr…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:19AMRoyal Exchange, ManchesterMargaret Edson’s award-winning play about a professor with aggressive cancer is thought-provoking – and very funny“Whilst my physicians by their love are grow…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:39AMHome, Manchester; East Riding theatre, BeverleyA one-man exploration of crime caught the eye at Manchester’s celebration of low-budget new work, while dinner party guests went ape in Yorks…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:33AMRoyal Exchange, ManchesterSome ponderous writing fails to thwart a compelling vision of Stephen Sondheim’s interlacing fairytalesLines that rhyme are fine – for a time. But, after a bit,…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:28AMEveryman, LiverpoolThe long-running rock’n’roll panto delivers an inspiring heroine, magnificent mayhem and a soaking for the audienceSomeone is sitting in my place. He is smaller than m…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:49AMCrucible, Sheffield Daniel Evans’s production of the 20th-century musical classic is unmissableThe star of Show Boat is, surely, the Mississippi river, its rolling presence famously extoll…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:02AMOctagon, BoltonPuppets, shadows, human beans and of course giants combine in a fabulously inventive retelling of the Roald Dahl classic. But one thing is lacking…What makes a Christmas sho…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:37AMCurve, LeicesterA dynamic production full of contrast, strong performances and brisk musical direction polish the classic musical to a shinePaul Kerryson’s production cleverly plays with c…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:37AMUstinov Studio, BathThis elegant, high-energy production is always amusing, though should trust the laughs to come naturallyPicture a vase on the edge of a shelf. A gust of wind, a curtain b…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:10AMTheatr Clwyd, MoldA cast of six work wonders in this clever adaptation of Caradoc Evans’s caustic tales of life in rural Wales“The most hated man in Wales”; “the Welsh James Joyce”…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:12AMNottingham Playhouse Fiona Buffini’s production does justice to John Webster’s play – even if at times the sense of his words is lostTwo kinds of musicality can make or mar a productio…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:06AMHome, ManchesterAncient and modern clash in a production that juxtaposes a potent mythic past with a contemporary-styled and costumed presentHere is a space for Greek tragedy. Darkness is co…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:24AMRoyal & Derngate, NorthamptonPatrick Hamilton’s melodramatic play is superbly acted and grippingly directed Guardian theatre critic Michael Billington says stage programming seems to b…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:28AM
