Sunday, July 19, 2015
Grosvenor Park Open Air theatre, ChesterThese versatile actors move seamlessly from Toad Hall to tragedyIn theatre, what you see is seldom what you get. For instance, just now, what we see i…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:24AMSunday, July 12, 2015
RSC, Stratford-upon-AvonTrevor Nunn’s tech-savvy update reduces this vicious comedy to a slight entertainmentNeon lights, glass-panelled walls, information flashing along an LED strip, mob…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:54AMSunday, July 5, 2015
New Vic theatre, Newcastle-under-LymeAn event inspired by a hoard of Anglo-Saxon treasure opens with a couple of gemsAt first, I didn’t quite get the makeup of this five-week festival. My …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:15AMSunday, June 21, 2015
The Octagon, BoltonThe Octagon’s artistic director says goodbye with a fine production of Michael Frayn’s side-splitting farce-within-a-farceIn Russia in 1906, Vsevolod Meyerhold directe…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:42AMRoyal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonIqbal Khan’s modern-dress production takes its time but finally delivers a powerful punch, with Iago as its pivot“Your words and performance…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:42AMSunday, June 14, 2015
Royal & Derngate, NorthamptonThis version of the screenplay that was never made is atmospheric but shows its ageThe idea of the “common man” as tragic hero is central to Arthur Mille…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:36AMSunday, June 7, 2015
King’s theatre, EdinburghGregor Fisher is the picture of conspicuous consumption in Douglas Maxwell’s hilarious reworking of Roberto Cossa’s playThe small flat above the chip shop is a…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:03AMSunday, May 31, 2015
Ustinov Studio, Theatre Royal BathA mesmerising Gina McKee in the title role helps salvage Florian Zeller’s misogynistic family drama Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:40AMRegent’s Park Open Air theatre, LondonSetting Peter Pan in the Somme combines fantasy and wartime horror to powerful effectWhat’s to be gained by reframing JM Barrie’s classic story �…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:45AMSunday, May 24, 2015
Crucible theatre, Sheffield; until 6 JuneSimon Reade’s broad-stroke reworking of Jane Austen is watchable if lacking in any real depthExam season is upon us, so here’s a question. One cr…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AMSunday, May 17, 2015
Wetherby Whaler, York, and touring until 9 SeptemberMikron’s minimalist study of a British dietary staple is a joy Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AMSunday, May 3, 2015
East Riding theatre, BeverleyJohn Godber and his wife, Jane Thornton, convince in his powerful two-hander about a couple’s struggle with unemployment following the 1984 miners’ strike Co…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AMChurch of the Holy Sepulchre, NorthamptonWhat James Dacre’s sweeping retelling of Shakespeare lacks in drama it makes up for in spectacle Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AMEast Riding theatre, BeverleyJohn Godber and his wife, Jane Thornton, convince in his powerful two-hander about a couple’s struggle with unemployment following the 1984 miners’ strikeJoh…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AMSunday, April 26, 2015
Watermill, NewburyAn atmospheric adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s tortured romance stumbles in its race to the finish Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AMSunday, April 19, 2015
Òran Mór, Glasgow Iain Finlay Macleod’s Gaelic updating of Compton Mackenzie’s classic is funny but loses something on the way Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AMSunday, April 12, 2015
Tricycle, LondonAn intriguing premise fails to find its form in April De Angelis’s play about an artist who would like her 81st birthday to be her last Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AMRoyal and Derngate, Northampton Nigel Barrett’s powerful swordsman-poet leads a fine cast in this nuanced yet highly theatrical co-productionCyrano de Bergerac is drawing to the end. What …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AMOctagon, BoltonUnder Elizabeth Newman’s fine direction, Noël Coward’s caustic wit is balanced by real feeling Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:00AMSunday, April 5, 2015
Ustinov Studio, Theatre Royal BathPavel Pryazhko’s deceptive comedy doesn’t quite reach the semi-satirical heights it aspires to Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AMThe Egg, Theatre Royal BathVerity Kirk hits the bullseye as wild west sharp-shooter Annie Oakley in this musical biographyIn Little Sure Shot, writer and composer Lucy Rivers delivers a clas…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AMSunday, March 29, 2015
Royal Exchange, ManchesterTolstoy’s passionate epic feels more like a soap opera in this clinical adaptation Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AMSunday, March 22, 2015
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…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:00AMLyric, BelfastFrank O’Connor’s hilarious childhood tales are beautifully adapted for the stage Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:00AMSunday, March 8, 2015
Viaduct theatre, HalifaxNorthern Broadsides open up a whole new way of looking at Shakespeare’s tragedy through seemingly straightforward, at times rough-hewn performancesFollowers of No…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:00AMSaturday, February 28, 2015
Clwyd Theatr Cymru, MoldArtistic director Terry Hands’s farewell is an extravagant, bravura production Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSherman Cymru, CardiffThe contrasting fortunes of Welsh rugby player Gareth Thomas and two struggling Bridgend teenagers are handled boldly Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSunday, February 22, 2015
Royal Exchange, ManchesterRona Munro’s engaging story of 19th-century Manchester mill workers is powerfully produced, though dramatically a little formulaicA sole musician sits up in the g…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AMWest Yorkshire Playhouse, LeedsZodwa Nyoni’s jazz-inflected African village drama is gripping, humorous, poetic and finely acted Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AMSunday, February 15, 2015
Sheffield Theatres Studio Richard Wilson directs Sarah Kane’s first play with searing clarity and precision as part of the Crucible’s season of her work Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AMSunday, February 8, 2015
The Drum, Theatre Royal, PlymouthA mother and daughter fall out over an employer’s motive in a shapeless play set in austerity-era Spain Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:01AM 
