Saturday, May 24, 2014
West Yorkshire Playhouse, LeedsPanned on its release in 1980, this comedy of working-class northern life remains unconvincingAlan Bennett's play about a family in an about to be demolished b…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, May 17, 2014
Royal Lyceum, EdinburghDavid Haig's play about wartime meteorologists studying the weather for D-day is witty and affectingAn enormous chart dominates the makeshift weather centre (design by…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMTron, GlasgowTimberlake Wertenbaker's exploration of oppression is full of good intentions but short on craftThis year, Mayfesto examines colonialism through a mixture of performances readin…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, May 10, 2014
Curve, LeicesterBuoyant performances if not Richard E Grant's hologram brighten a messy remake of a favourite Victorian classicYou wouldn't expect a 21st-century adaptation of a 19th-centu…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, April 26, 2014
Tamsin Oglesby reworks a classic farce into a loosely connected sequence of gagsGeorges Feydeau (1862-1921) has been described as "perhaps the most brilliantly adroit of all devisers of…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, April 5, 2014
Crucible, SheffieldBarry Hines's classic Barnsley story gets an impressive makeover as part of the Yorkshire festivalYorkshire festival 2014 celebrates the arrival of the Grand Départ…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, March 22, 2014
Royal Exchange, ManchesterThe language is sizzling and the performances scorching, yet Vivienne Franzmann's tale of two trapped sisters has fatal flaws in the scriptJoanna Scotcher's forcefu…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:05PMSaturday, March 8, 2014
This storming new production of John Waters' musical comedy has audiences at Leicester's Curve battling to stay stillIt's Baltimore, 1962. Penny Pingleton's mother (Sorelle Marsh – all ang…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, March 1, 2014
Anya Reiss overlooks the wider context in her vivid reimagining of Chekhov at the LowryAnton Chekhov's plays are sometimes treated with an over-earnestness that turns them into museum pieces…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06PMInnovative design and a ponderous script are at odds in The Believers at Plymouth's Theatre RoyalIf looks were everything, what a great production this would be. Jon Bauser is a super-whiz a…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, February 22, 2014
New Vic, Newcastle-under-Lyme; Crucible, Sheffield; Lyttelton, LondonDramatic irony proves deeply affecting as the domestic and the epic meet in the lives of Lancashire folk in August 1914An…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:07PMYork Theatre Royal This gutsy production reminds us why, 30 years after the miners' strike, being poor in Britain is still the pits"Over the last 10 years this bloody government has systemat…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, February 8, 2014
Nottingham PlayhouseSally Ann-Triplett's heartstopping Judy overcomes any script shortcomings in this tale of fan and heroineWhen you read a book, you see through the eyes of the author. Whe…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, February 1, 2014
Kilmardinny House Arts Centre, Bearsden, GlasgowThis bitty co-production exploring what it means to be Scottish is a missed opportunityRantin, we are told in the course of the performance, i…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMRoyal Lyceum, Edinburgh; until SatPowerful performances enrich this reading of Eugene O'Neill's classic family dramaAt first this could almost be a TV commercial for something solid, secure …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, January 18, 2014
Lowry Studio, Salford; and touringOne woman's journey from Lancashire mill lass to brick-throwing suffragette makes for a sharp and intelligent musical"Suddenly, something distantly historic…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, December 28, 2013
RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon; York Theatre Royal; Hull TruckPeter Pan has plenty of magic in spite of a dragging plot while Aladdin is better than ever at York Theatre RoyalJM Barrie's story of …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:04PMSaturday, December 14, 2013
West Yorkshire Playhouse, LeedsNotions of identity and belonging make for a spellbinding adaptation of the Kipling classic, while Father Christmas keeps things endearingly simpleMowgli brand…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06PMSaturday, December 7, 2013
Curve, LeicesterPaul Kerryson's production of Chicago can be summed up in one word: brilliantFormer Chicago Tribune reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins wrote the play Chicago is based on in 1926…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, November 23, 2013
Theatre Royal, YorkA bold staging, and an impressive lead, but sound and fury are no substitute for emotional intensityThe curtain call is interrupted by Ian Bartholomew, who has just played…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06PMSaturday, November 16, 2013
Paragon Interchange, Hull; and touringA railway station near you is the setting for this moving tribute to the children of the Kindertransport and those who helped themOperating on levels pe…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, November 9, 2013
Birmingham RepThe transformation of Molière's play into a knockabout farce blunts the original's menaceChristmas has come early to Birmingham this year with the transformation of this great…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, November 2, 2013
Traverse, EdinburghA teenage boy slays his dragons following the death of his mother in this unforgettable theatrical tour de forceThe opening 20 minutes of this touring show offer one of th…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:06PMSaturday, October 26, 2013
Octagon, BoltonA sensitive ensemble and a sharp production do justice to Eugene O'Neill's astonishing family dramaEugene O'Neill (1888-1953) gave instructions that this 1941 work should not …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:04PMSaturday, October 19, 2013
Crucible, SheffieldPaul Miller's effective, uncluttered production runs out of steam in the final actThe opening scenes of Paul Miller's production of this late Shakespeare play are as stark…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, October 12, 2013
York city centreA drama about the outbreak of the first world war staged in the streets of York offers an entrancing, immersive experienceIt's 1914. War is declared. The first volunteers mar…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06PMSaturday, October 5, 2013
Royal Exchange, ManchesterA small businessman is forced to engage with society in a passionate version of Arthur Miller's playIt hadn't occurred to me that there might be any issues attached…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, September 28, 2013
Birmingham RepA troubled woman finds redemption in a lively play about female prisonersRapper, poet, writer Kate Tempest's new play for Paines Plough and Birmingham Rep follows a familiar pl…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, September 21, 2013
Flag Fen, PeterboroughLocals and landowners are at war in Forbes Bramble's impressive play set in the Fens 300 years agoThe performance takes place in a marquee, but the surrounding site add…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, September 14, 2013
Harrogate theatreA banned Russian play from the 1920s is given a northern spin in this powerful adaptationA hungry man goes into the kitchen to snaffle a midnight sausage. His family and nei…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06PMSaturday, August 31, 2013
The second Samuel Beckett festival was a memorable five-day celebration of the great man's visionIt's eight o'clock in the morning. We stand on the island of Devenish, in what remains of a 1…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06PM 
