Sunday, July 17, 2022
Johnstone town hallThe Paisley-born playwright and artist pays tribute to hometown hero Gerry Rafferty in a coming-of-age musical amplified by 60s pop hits
In interviews, playwright and arti…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:03AMSunday, July 10, 2022
Theatre by the Lake, KeswickThe opening is great, but with characters as thin as the air at high altitude, Carmen Nasr’s new mountaineering drama is downhill from there
The location is per…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:42AMSunday, June 26, 2022
New Vic, Newcastle-under-LymeClowning and humour are brilliantly woven into the darkness and danger of this prisoner-of-war story, best known from the 1963 film
Tom, Dick and Harry are the t…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:07AMSunday, June 19, 2022
Birmingham RepThis attempt to make Mustapha Matura’s adaptation of the classic drama into a calypso-laced entertainment has lost something in translation
Something’s not quite right. The…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:06AMSunday, June 5, 2022
Ustinov Studio, Theatre Royal Bath; and touringRebecca Lenkiewicz’s version of this 1900 play loses the high stakes of the influential original
August Strindberg is probably best known in …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06AMSunday, May 29, 2022
Everyman theatre, LiverpoolChloë Moss’s well-intentioned new play can’t quite navigate the choppy waters of sex and race among the crew of a cargo ship
This ambitious new play by Chloë…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:54AMSunday, May 22, 2022
Storyhouse, ChesterTim Firth’s touching show about a father and son converting a bank into a home is perfectly constructed and performed
This father-and-son love story is unabashedly senti…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:37PMSunday, May 15, 2022
Nottingham PlayhouseA young footballer is groomed by his coach in a new play lacking the intensity and drama of the beautiful game at its best
“If your first touch is good, life is easy. I…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:24AMSunday, May 8, 2022
Northern Stage, NewcastleA strong cast makes Claudia Rankine’s exploration of the ‘invisibility of whiteness’ compelling
Alex tells Charlotte he is angry that “your people” are bei…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:12AMSunday, May 1, 2022
Octagon, BoltonAn Egyptian-British father and daughter tussle over culture clashes in an underpowered Wigan-set drama saved by its smart design
Ashraf (Dana Haqjoo), born in Egypt, longtime …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:03PMSunday, April 24, 2022
Royal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonThe consummate stagecraft of the RSC evokes the chaos of warfare, but the characterisation gets lost in the tumult
Opposing leaders, each assert…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:36AMSunday, April 17, 2022
Nottingham PlayhouseCaroline Bird’s drama about the Labour MP Ellen Wilkinson gives us the bullet points of an extraordinary life but slips into melodrama
The Red Ellen of the title was El…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:33AMSunday, April 10, 2022
Comédie-Française, ParisIn an innovative and risk-taking 400th anniversary season, Ivo van Hove and others explore the comic master’s endless variety
In the foyer of the Comédie-França…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:42AMSunday, April 3, 2022
Perth theatreA talented cast and inventive creatives adapt a classic story of transformation into youth theatre at its best
Earlier this year, a number of theatre professionals shared, via …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:33AMSunday, March 27, 2022
Sherman Theatre, CardiffThe action may be absurd but the trauma and confusion of growing up are totally realistic
Pwdin is 12 years old. He thinks he’s fat (“You’re not fat!” exclaim…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:18AMSunday, March 20, 2022
Bristol Old VicA schoolboy overcomes his stammer in an energising paean to the power of language marked by fine performances
Writer Ross Willis has a terrific feel for words, their sounds, t…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:33AMSunday, March 13, 2022
Leeds PlayhouseEfforts to make Shakespeare accessible to all rub against confused staging and wayward delivery in Amy Leach’s ambitious production
Cacophonous crashes signal the opening. S…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:03PMSunday, March 6, 2022
York Theatre RoyalA Rohingya refugee boy in an Australian detention centre befriends a local girl in a moving adaptation of Zana Fraillon’s novel
In staging Zana Fraillon’s 2016 novel, Y…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:18AMSunday, February 27, 2022
Lantern theatre, SheffieldClyde dockworkers take a stand in 1970s Scotland, in an affecting new play by Townsend Productions
The letters UCS, so firmly affirmed in the title, stand for Upper…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:48AMSunday, February 20, 2022
Crucible, SheffieldThough well acted, this revival of Helen Edmundson’s 1992 adaptation doesn’t feel ready for the big stage
“All ideas are good,” according to the great theatre tea…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:54AMSunday, February 13, 2022
Northern Stage, NewcastleDespite clever stagecraft and the best efforts of four committed young actors, the drama and bite of Philip Correia’s new adaptation is muffled
The staging is witt…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:03AMSunday, February 6, 2022
Guildhall, DerryDrama, music and movement are combined to potent effect in this new play depicting the tragic events of 30 January 1972
Iconic photographs give this new musical play its titl…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:03PMSunday, January 23, 2022
The Place, LondonBroussé brings a tale of baking and suffering to glorious life in this much-kneeded autobiographical show
The title of Jean-Daniel Broussé’s solo show is a pun on the Fr…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:48AMSunday, January 16, 2022
Leeds PlayhouseDeveloped between teams in Leeds and Tokyo, this spectacular reimagining brings new complexity to JM Barrie’s story
Ella Hickson’s adaptation of JM Barrie’s world-famous…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:33AMSunday, December 19, 2021
Birmingham Rep This 20-year-old comedy with the nightly surprise guest works its magic in a superb revival directed by its co-writer, the Rep’s artistic director, Sean Foley
As the title s…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:42AMSunday, December 12, 2021
Curve, LeicesterThe 70s musical centred on a group of Broadway musical auditionees is all about the ensemble in Nikolai Foster’s winning revival
It’s not difficult to see why Nikolai Fos…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:24AMSunday, December 5, 2021
Hull Truck; Hope Mill, Manchester; Barn, Cirencester; New Vic, Newcastle-under-Lyme; Watermill, NewburyThe Railway Children reduces our critic to tears, and a topical take on The Wizard of O…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:36AMSunday, November 21, 2021
Leeds Playhouse and touringThe arrest of a man outside a shop provides the framework for a dramatic investigation of black people’s experiences
Nana-Kofi Kufuor’s new two-hander opens wi…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:18PMSunday, November 7, 2021
Royal Lyceum theatre, EdinburghWils Wilson delivers a high-energy version of the 17th-century play about a monstrous prince faced with the ultimate question
Edinburgh’s Lyceum has reopened…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:12AMSunday, October 31, 2021
Leeds PlayhouseA strong cast and the world-weary Pittsburgh cab drivers they portray are all battling circumstances beyond their control in this overly busy production of Wilson’s 1982 pla…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:24AMSunday, October 24, 2021
Salisbury Playhouse and touringIan McDiarmid wryly contemplates mortality in his engaging new adaptation of two Julian Barnes short stories
“Among the Chinese, the lemon is the symbol of d…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:48AM 
