All stories by Mark Kidel on BroadwayStars

Sunday, April 17, 2016

All's Well That Ends Well, Tobacco Factory, Bristol by Mark Kidel

Andrew Hilton’s new production of “All’s Well The Ends Well” makes the most of the complexities of this ‘problem play’, neither comedy nor tragedy, and navigates this startling m…

SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:27PM
Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Long Day's Journey Into Night, Bristol Old Vic by Mark Kidel

Lesley Manville’s performance as Mary (pictured below), the tortured morphine addict, wife and mother in Eugene O’Neill’s dark masterpiece “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” at the …

SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:25PM
Thursday, February 25, 2016

Hamlet, Tobacco Factory, Bristol by Mark Kidel

Paul Mahon’s Hamlet in Andrew Hilton’s production for Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory bristles with teen spirit and this is no bad thing. The Prince of Denmark, even before his father…

SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:04PM
Monday, December 14, 2015

Sleeping Beauty, Bristol Old Vic by Mark Kidel

Christmas pantomime is all about letting go, and being carried away on a wave of communal jollity. The genre also delights in carnivalesque gender-bending, the anarchic undermining of author…

SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:51PM
Thursday, October 15, 2015

The Crucible, Bristol Old Vic by Mark Kidel

Tom Morris has a strong feel for drama that explores the personal implications of fanaticism: his production of John Adams’s powerful opera The Death of Klinghoffer for New York's Met and …

SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:17PM
Friday, September 25, 2015

Living Quarters, Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol by Mark Kidel

Brian Friel’s Living Quarters ranks with his best plays but isn’t as well known. This powerful story of family dysfunction was first performed in the UK in 1991, directed by Andrew Hilto…

SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 03:47AM
Monday, September 21, 2015

The Encounter, Bristol Old Vic by Mark Kidel

Complicité have, for several decades, been Britain’s most consistently adventurous theatre company. The term ‘physical theatre’ sells them short, for the intelligence of their shows, …

SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 03:27AM
Wednesday, April 15, 2015

The School for Scandal, Tobacco Factory, Bristol by Mark Kidel

Andrew Hilton’s immensely enjoyable Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory production of the Sheridan classic opens with a display of hilarious brio from Byron Mondahl, who steps into the inti…

SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:00PM
Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Romeo and Juliet: Tobbaco Factory Theatres, Bristol by Mark Kidel

Teen spirit explodes time and time again in the intimate space of Bristol’s Tobacco Factory, with piercing electronic sounds, fierce lighting and a torrent of high-energy movement. The fre…

SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:00PM
Thursday, February 12, 2015

The Life and Times of Fanny Hill, Bristol Old Vic by Mark Kidel

Turning John Cleland’s 18th century erotic classic “Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure” into a convincing stage play is a tall order. The book, a product of male fantasy, is a catalogue of…

SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:00PM
Saturday, April 5, 2014

Arcadia, Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol by Mark Kidel

The popularity of Tom Stoppard’s “Arcadia” owes a great deal to the play’s brilliant weave of themes and ideas, declined through characters from two different historical periods – …

SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:00PM
Wednesday, February 19, 2014

As You Like It, Tobacco Factory, Bristol by Mark Kidel

Andrew Hilton, the creative force that drives the consistently excellent Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory, might be playing safe by returning to a play he put originally put on in 2003.&nb…

SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:52AM
Friday, February 7, 2014

Infinite Lives, Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol by Mark Kidel

Plunging into the lonely vortex of the long distance web wanker isn’t obviously gripping theatre, but Chris Goode’s seventy-minute descent into tawdry solitude and digital fantasy doesn�…

SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:21AM
Saturday, December 28, 2013

The Little Mermaid, Bristol Old Vic by Mark Kidel

“The Little Mermaid”, along with many other classic tales, suffers from having been Disneyfied: Hollywood made sure that the shadows darkening Hans Christian Andersen’s original were s…

SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 02:15AM
Friday, October 4, 2013

Great Expectations, Bristol Old Vic by Mark Kidel

Neil Bartlett, as he has demonstrated in his earlier Dickens adaptations of “Oliver Twist” and “A Christmas Carol”, knows how to make gripping theatre out of a complex work of fictio…

SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:00PM
Saturday, April 13, 2013

Two Gentlemen of Verona, Tobacco Factory, Bristol by Mark Kidel

In spite of a text that feels at times like Shakespeare by numbers, Andrew Hilton’s tightly-knit company has once again pulled off an evening of captivating theatre. As in other production…

SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:00PM
Friday, March 15, 2013

Midsummer Night's Dream, Bristol Old Vic by Mark Kidel

The thing about puppets, as those who have handled them know all too well, is that they take over. They have a life of their own. This is all fine and good as long as the puppet-masters don�…

SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:45PM
Thursday, February 21, 2013

Richard III, Tobacco Factory, Bristol by Mark Kidel

Performing Shakespeare in a former South Bristol cigarette factory in South Bristol has become something of a ritual for Andrew Hilton and his close-knit company.  Any act of ritual req…

SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 03:00PM
Thursday, September 13, 2012

Wild Oats, Bristol Old Vic by Mark Kidel

John O’Keeffe’s 18th century classic Wild Oats is a play about players and an uproarious love letter to the theatre: a perfect fit for the re-opening, after 18 months of massive refurbis…

SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:00PM
Thursday, February 16, 2012

King Lear, Tobacco Factory, Bristol by Mark Kidel

King Lear was the play that launched Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory 12 years ago. The company, under the inspired artistic direction of Andrew Hilton, opened its 2012 season with a brand…

SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 02:58AM
Friday, December 23, 2011

Coram Boy, Bristol Old Vic at Colston Hall, Bristol by Mark Kidel

Coram Boy is a thrilling story of dead babies, teenage love, material greed and the redeeming power of music. This is Christmas entertainment that packs a powerful punch, borne aloft by the …

SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:00PM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards