Sunday, March 24, 2024
Traverse theatre, EdinburghA former police officer with muscular dystrophy fights a grotesquely bureaucratic system in this subversive satirical broadside
It is 2037 and the government has i…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:36PMFriday, March 15, 2024
Theatre by the Lake, KeswickSeán Aydon’s laboured attempts to shriek the play into life with overstated and almost unintelligible clowning only serves to flatten Richard Brinsley Sheridan…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:24AMThursday, March 14, 2024
Shakespeare North Playhouse, Prescot In novelist Philippa Gregory’s telling, the much maligned king reveals a more human side amid rather too much exposition
If you wanted to invent a fun…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:24AMWednesday, March 13, 2024
New Vic, Newcastle-under-Lyme Amanda Whittington’s sequel to Ladies’ Day sends her characters off to Australia for an enjoyable range of epiphanies
It is 2007 and the four women who stru…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:12AMThursday, March 7, 2024
Marianne Faithfull, Simon Callow, Tanya Moodie, Richard McCabe and Sean Holmes remember working with the remarkable British playwright who died on Sunday
Sean Holmes, director, The Sea (2000…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:32AMWednesday, February 21, 2024
Lawrence Batley theatre, HuddersfieldA superb Meg Lewis plays three characters losing touch with reality in Billie Collins’s play about a market-driven world
When ThickSkin announced this …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:18AMMonday, February 19, 2024
Royal Lyceum, EdinburghDavid Greig’s entertaining and immaculately performed new play is about adults seduced by memories of their own emotionally heightened teenage pasts
Two Sisters smel…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:06AMSunday, February 18, 2024
Royal Exchange, ManchesterPhoebe Eclair-Powell’s prize-winning play is about three related relationships which seem increasingly characterised by powerlessness, menace and dislocation
Phoe…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:12PMThursday, February 15, 2024
Hope Mill theatre, ManchesterJim Cartwright’s riches-to-rags comedy reunites an abrasive northern couple who turned to sex work for survival in a hedonistic London adventure
The lust for l…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:54AMWednesday, February 14, 2024
New Vic, Newcastle-under-LymeRon Hutchinson’s comedy marks 100 years since the first radio play but succumbs to cliches and jarring humour
Playwright Ron Hutchinson sets his tribute to the…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:42AMOctagon, BoltonIqbal Khan’s production lays bare the uncomfortable parallels between a mid-20th century Soviet Union and today’s marauding politicians
How George Orwell would despair at …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:42AMSunday, February 11, 2024
Northern Stage, Newcastle upon Tyne David Almond’s young adult novel is brought to life in a soulful production that weaves its mythical elements with imagination
There are three intangibl…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:42AMMonday, February 5, 2024
The annual festival of visual theatre delivers an inventive mix of wry commentary, daft puppetry and high-precision performance
You can rely on Edinburgh’s Manipulate festival to give you …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:42AMSunday, February 4, 2024
Theatre Royal, DumfriesThe well-crafted jokes are a cover for reflections on sectarianism, asylum seekers, Scottish independence, inequality, Covid conspiracy theories and pandemic isolation…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:06AMThursday, January 4, 2024
Playwright and radio dramatist whose imaginative productions explored grief and lossOliver Emanuel, who has died aged 43 from brain cancer, was a playwright, teacher and radio dramatist who …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:48AMWednesday, December 13, 2023
Traverse, EdinburghRobbie Gordon and Jack Nurse’s tale follows a team of Scots women’s footballers, but its most powerful scenes move well beyond the game
There is plenty of talent on th…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:36PMMonday, December 11, 2023
Stephen Joseph theatre, ScarboroughNick Lane’s witty and rounded adaptation stars a no-nonsense Rosabelle, and manages to convey fear and fun with pop hits
If ever you find yourself in a s…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:02PMSunday, December 10, 2023
Northern Stage, NewcastleThis production rows back on panto excess, but boisterous audience interaction and bright songs keep it lively
Directors Katy Weir and Jake Smith think it is time to…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:24AMFriday, December 8, 2023
Live theatre, NewcastleThese one-act plays covering passion, acceptance and obsession are connected by a seasonally warming theme about community
In their trilogy of one-act plays, Laura Lin…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:12PMFriday, December 1, 2023
Byrne, who has died aged 83, used his life as a constant source of inspiration for exuberant plays and paintings
If John Byrne had been known only for The Slab Boys, he would be considered o…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:18AMWednesday, November 29, 2023
Hull TruckEliza Blair plays the puppet-child on an adventure of self-discovery in this slightly muddled yet well-performed version
When Ivor MacAskill and Rosana Cade staged The Making of Pi…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06AMMonday, November 27, 2023
Royal Lyceum, EdinburghYoung Gerda is sent on an epic quest across mythical Scotland by steam train, cross-country skis, fishing boat and unicorn in Morna Young’s version
When the curtain …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:03AMWednesday, November 22, 2023
Theatre by the Lake, KeswickRiches-to-rags tale is set against the backdrop of Indian independence, amplifying the injustice and adding extra texture to this rewarding show
‘I didn’t pro…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:02AMThursday, November 16, 2023
Royal Court, Liverpool Traditional tale is recast as a daft quest across Europe, built on a giddy score powering through hits from Bon Jovi to Kraftwerk
The dick jokes are, of course, inevit…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:32AMTuesday, November 14, 2023
She cast an armchair as Mr Bennet in a Pride and Prejudice reboot. Now Isobel McArthur’s been let loose on lusty romp The Fair Maid of the West. So is she worried about outraging mothbally…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:02PMThursday, November 9, 2023
New version of the Anglo-Saxon epic features a massive cast of singers, actors and members of the community
Ian McMillan is contemplating the greats who have gone before him. He is one of fi…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:48AMWednesday, October 18, 2023
As he stages Gary McNair’s twist on the tale of Pip, the director reflects on 16 years of spotting and developing raw talent while running the Tron
Andy Arnold is a director with staying p…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:49PMSunday, October 15, 2023
Queen’s Hall arts centre, HexhamAn 83-year-old resident rails against the lack of liberty, settling herself on a bench outside and refusing to return despite legal threats and offers of ho…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:33AMFriday, September 22, 2023
Royal Court, LiverpoolJames Graham’s funny and violent TV adaptation belies a sensitive study of male mental health, as right-wing economics hits a group of road layers’ lives
The emotio…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:37AMThursday, September 21, 2023
Nottingham PlayhouseWith excellent performances, Tom Wright’s play about the man who became a Victorian freakshow attraction is an at times uneasy mix of circus and polemic
Entrances don�…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:49AMCurve, LeicesterThis staging of Kafka’s story is physically exciting, even tireless, but it hits an early peak of terror then has nowhere to go for two hours
It is linguistically playful, …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:33AM 
