Sunday, October 8, 2023
Nottingham PlayhouseThis ‘theatre poem’ by the Australian dramatist Tom Wright lacks drama under Stephen Bailey’s direction
An electric-guitar wielding narrator, dressed in black leath…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:55AMSunday, October 1, 2023
Pitlochry Festival theatreAn impressive ensemble makes the most of Peter Arnott’s new country house play, set during Scotland’s 2014 independence vote
Adaptations of the plays of the pre…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:55AMSunday, September 24, 2023
Theatre by the Lake, KeswickThe audience takes on a supporting role to Andrew Turner’s solo turn in this moving paean to what makes life worth living
This is not a play, but it is playful;…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:25AMSunday, September 17, 2023
His Majesty’s theatre, AberdeenStrong performances are the lifeblood of Morna Pearson’s new adaptation of Bram Stoker’s classic tale for the National Theatre of Scotland and Aberdeen P…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:07AMSunday, July 30, 2023
Town Hall theatre, GalwayO’Casey’s three plays of working-class Dublin life encompass conflict, grief and the human spirit in Garry Hynes’s fine production
A highlight of this year’s…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:07AMSunday, July 16, 2023
Leeds PlayhouseThe songs of the big O are used in crafty ways in David West Read’s moving, celebratory story about getting a band back together
David West Read (writer) and Luke Sheppard (…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:43AMSunday, July 2, 2023
Minerva, ChichesterRakie Ayola excels as Adrienne Kennedy, whose John Lennon play was taken up by Laurence Olivier’s National Theatre while she was sidelined, in this crystal-clear product…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:33AMSunday, June 25, 2023
Octagon theatre, BoltonA group of hastily recruited ‘sisters’ achieve harmony in Alan Plater’s charming play about music and laughter as a relief from war
“It’s a day-in-the-life p…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:43AMSunday, June 11, 2023
Northern Stage, Newcastle; and touringDave Johns, who played Daniel Blake in the Ken Loach film, brings this chilling drama of life on benefits to new audiences
“It is a work of fiction……
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:43AMSunday, June 4, 2023
New Vic theatre, Newcastle-under-LymeConrad Nelson’s fast-flowing production, which races through time and space, exemplifies the ingenuity of regional theatre
In a recent article for the …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:36AMSunday, May 28, 2023
Royal Exchange, ManchesterDario Fo and Franca Rama’s bitterly comic 1974 satire is a timely fit for today’s cost of living crisis, here impeded by a cartoonishly bright set
An everyday s…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06AMSunday, May 21, 2023
Old Laundry theatre, Bowness-on WindermereThe playwright’s latest comedy boasts some fine acting, and touches on big themes, but fails to engage emotionally
Alan Ayckbourn is a consummate …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:54AMSunday, May 14, 2023
Hull Truck theatreThis engaging production makes the most of a small cast and minimal staging, but needs more urgency early on
The plot of Jules Verne’s 1872 novel is well known. Phileas …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:02AMSunday, May 7, 2023
Royal & Derngate, Northampton, and touringThe classic novel reimagined as a sort of police procedural becomes a storm of ideas struggling to find definition
A barrage of sound mixes rain…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:36AMSunday, April 30, 2023
New Vic, Newcastle-under-LymeFrank Marcus’s 60s black comedy, about a radio soap star whose character has been axed, suffers from a rather two-dimensional makeover
“It’s BBC policy to …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:24AMSunday, April 16, 2023
Royal Lyceum theatre, Edinburgh, and touringOlder, American and previously divorced, Frances Stevenson frames the National Theatre of Scotland’s pantomime-inspired recasting of the novelis…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:54AMSunday, April 9, 2023
Royal Exchange, ManchesterA mainly black cast and modern setting inject this new production with a dose of symbolic power
Two sides of a family battle over land in Tennessee Williams’s 195…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:02AMGuildhall, DerryThis musical drama about the lives of Northern Ireland peacemakers gives a familiar story a new dimension
Beyond Belief, written by Damian Gorman and composed by Brian O’Do…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:03AMSunday, March 19, 2023
York Theatre Royal, and touringJessica Kaur captivates as a talented teenage runner trying to escape her father’s expectations and violence in a vivid, if overlong production
Run, Rebel is…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:30AMSunday, March 12, 2023
Shakespeare North Playhouse, PrescotPrescot is pitted against Scarborough – and women get their fair share of the limelight – in this engaging rewrite of Shakespeare’s comedy
When this…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:30AMSunday, March 5, 2023
Harrogate theatre, and touringImitating the Dog’s exciting live action-video fusion, which sets the Scottish play in a modern-day crime syndicate, leaves Lady Macbeth out in the cold
In tu…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:30AMSunday, February 19, 2023
Royal Lyceum, EdinburghThe concept is promising, and it’s acted with panache, yet Zinnie Harris’s Shakespeare adaptation falls flat
An essay accompanying the programme of Zinnie Harris�…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:30AMSunday, February 12, 2023
Nottingham Playhouse, and touringAn at times arresting production of Christy Lefteri’s bestseller is let down by its didactic structure
Nuri is the beekeeper of Aleppo, or he was, until hi…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:30AMSunday, February 5, 2023
Hope Mill theatre, ManchesterThis improbable mashup of Philip Sidney’s Arcadia and the pioneering LA rock band has plenty of rhythm but little dramatic jeopardy
Sir Philip Sidney’s 1590 …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:30AMThursday, January 26, 2023
Jacksons Lane, London Glass’s latest collaboration cites female power but suggests the opposite, and comes as London’s influential mime festival prepares to disperse
After 47 appearances…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:30AMSunday, January 22, 2023
Ustinov Studio, Theatre Royal BathThe Hollywood star is on top form opposite Dougray Scott in Edward Albee’s classic tale of a marriage gone sour
Edward Albee’s first short play, The Zoo…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:30AMSunday, December 18, 2022
Royal Exchange, ManchesterCo-writer Maxine Peake stars as an am-dram actor playing the former Commons speaker in Sarah Frankcom’s end-of-the-pier-style production
“But this isn’t histo…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:42AMSunday, December 11, 2022
New Vic, Newcastle-under-LymeAn underprivileged Alice fights for the wonder of book-learning in Theresa Heskin’s transformative take on Carroll’s classic tale
A stubby barge manoeuvres t…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:48AMSunday, December 4, 2022
Bristol Old VicThe final production from outgoing artistic director Tom Morris draws fresh weirdness from ETA Hoffmann’s source story
Tom Morris takes his last bow as the Bristol Old Vic�…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:06AMSunday, November 13, 2022
Taunton Brewhouse, and touringTangle Theatre’s dynamic five-actor staging features a dazzling debut from Daniel Rock
Founded in 2009, Tangle Theatre Company’s aim is to champion African …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:06AMSunday, November 6, 2022
York Theatre RoyalDespite some witty twists, the stage version of David Reed’s tragi-comic radio play is, well, a bit of a damp squib
By the end of the performance, a tang of pyrotechnics …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:24AM 
