All stories by Mark Lawson on BroadwayStars

Friday, March 8, 2024

Uncle Vanya review – Trevor Nunn triumphs with Chekhov’s tragicomedy by Mark Lawson

Orange Tree theatre, LondonThis chamber staging, movingly played by an immaculate ensemble, fits perfectly with the drama’s hothouse of disappointment At 84, Sir Trevor Nunn is making his …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:02PM
Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Cable Street review – dazzling musical portrait of a community against fascism by Mark Lawson

Southwark Playhouse, LondonFraming the battle within a 1930s romance and a 2024 walking tour, Adam Lenson’s production has big ballads, hip-hop-ish commentary and high camp Headline politi…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:12AM
Wednesday, February 14, 2024

A Midsummer Night’s Dream review – characters mash, worlds invert and flames burst from fingers by Mark Lawson

Royal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonEleanor Rhode’s ravishing fusion of flamboyancy, surrealism and raucous fun rouses audiences in a youthful, energetic riot Directors of Shakes…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:54AM
Tuesday, December 19, 2023

Sound and fury, signifying something: what made Macbeth so popular in 2023? by Mark Lawson

Ralph Fiennes and David Tennant are among the stars playing Shakespeare’s Thane this year. Might the tragedy’s current popularity have something to do with the Tory government? After kil…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:12AM
Monday, December 4, 2023

Oliver! review – tunes, glorious tunes and a thrillingly vivid production by Mark Lawson

Leeds PlayhouseJames Brining’s exemplary staging solves every problem – the antisemitism, the coercive romance – that Oliver Bart’s joyous, beloved but difficult musical presents Wit…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:36AM
Sunday, October 29, 2023

The Inquiry review – drama about a Whitehall cover-up hints at deeper stories left untold by Mark Lawson

Minerva theatre, ChichesterDespite fine acting, Harry Davies’ political thriller about a contaminated water scandal fails to plumb the depths of its characters In two senses, this debut pl…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:07PM
Wednesday, October 25, 2023

‘His talent and enthusiasm never waned’: Blood Brothers and Evita producer Bill Kenwright by Mark Lawson

The Everton FC chairman and hands-on producer of dozens of stage hits, who has died aged 78, ceaselessly radiated the bonhomie of the actor he originally was While he was primarily a theatri…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:25AM
Tuesday, October 10, 2023

I’m Sorry, Prime Minister, I Can’t Quite Remember: Hacker and Sir Humphrey’s last hurrah by Mark Lawson

Jonathan Lynn’s new play finds the political double act in their 80s, in a suitable final chapter to a magnificent comic project For Britons interested in politics, 25 February 1980 was a …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:04AM
Thursday, September 21, 2023

The White Factory review – Holocaust drama raises troubling questions about today’s tyrants by Mark Lawson

Marylebone theatre, LondonSet in a Polish ghetto, Dmitry Glukhovsky’s superb play explores the terrible choices made by people under occupation Only the hardest heart would not feel advanc…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:25PM
Tuesday, September 19, 2023

Anthropology review – clever AI missing-person mystery by Mark Lawson

Hampstead theatre, LondonLauren Gunderson’s smart play finds a software engineer creating a digital version of a sister who has disappeared While screenwriters strike, partly over the thr…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:49AM
Friday, September 15, 2023

‘The despair is the same’: Alan Bleasdale and James Graham on bringing back Boys from the Blackstuff by Mark Lawson

It’s a dream team: the creator of the 1982 BBC series and the writer of Sherwood. The pair meet in Liverpool to discuss putting Yosser and the lads on stage in a new era of economic desper…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:33AM
Thursday, August 31, 2023

Macbeth review – a strenuously fresh reading with one-liners by Stewart Lee by Mark Lawson

RSC, Stratford-upon-AvonBenefitting from a Scottish cast and a rewritten Porter’s speech by Lee, Wils Wilson’s production gets at the demonic drive of people desperate for power but hope…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:33AM
Thursday, August 24, 2023

A Mirror review – Pirandellian wedding drama throws a bouquet of unrealities by Mark Lawson

Almeida, LondonSam Holcroft’s drama delights in the theatrical trickery of dual identities and false realities to throw a final surprise punch Extending the long tail of works influenced b…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:13PM
Thursday, August 3, 2023

Macbeth review – Max Bennett’s jokey king is clearly unfit to govern by Mark Lawson

Shakespeare’s Globe, LondonGender swapped roles shed new light on dark days in a production – complete with gruesome bodybags and references to fake news – that feels aptly aligned to …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:19AM
Wednesday, August 2, 2023

The Lord of the Rings: A Musical Tale review – the greatest show on Middle-earth by Mark Lawson

Watermill theatre, BerkshireA formidable cast journey through folk via Bollywood to pop – not to mention mountain treks and orc attacks – in a compressed revival of the 2007 musical As d…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:04AM
Thursday, July 20, 2023

Grenfell: In the Words of Survivors review – a masterpiece of forensic fury by Mark Lawson

Dorfman theatre, LondonPiling up devastating detail, this play with a remarkable cast shockingly lays bare the abject failures behind this disaster During dramas about a national catastrophe…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:19PM
Wednesday, May 10, 2023

The Suspicions of Mr Whicher review – true crime classic turned into tense drama by Mark Lawson

Watermill theatre, NewburyKate Summerscale’s Victorian potboiler is deftly condensed in a production that brings out the misogyny and class snobbery of the era The risk of a successful cr…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:18AM
Thursday, May 4, 2023

Cymbeline review – Shakespeare’s knotty romance is a fabulous farewell for Doran by Mark Lawson

Royal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonDeparting artistic director Greg Doran reinvigorates this tale of a royal family in crisis with clarity and intelligence The president of the Ro…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:54AM
Thursday, April 6, 2023

Visitors review – searing study of ageing family frictions by Mark Lawson

Watermill theatre, NewburyBarney Norris’s revival radiates the pain of older parents trapped on deteriorating paths, while their son and end-of-life au pair struggle to find their own Youn…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:24AM
Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Julius Caesar review – timeless account of the flimsiness of power by Mark Lawson

Royal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonAtri Banerjee’s RSC production stresses the remarkable universality of the play’s examination of leaders and the led Early in the Trump admi…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:42AM
Thursday, February 23, 2023

An anonymous, pro-Brexit play about Dominic Cummings? Classic Dom! | Mark Lawson by Mark Lawson

Partially based on verbatim texts from Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser, a new play which lists no dramatist veers from Ted talk to pantomime At this play about Dominic Cummings, the n…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:07AM
Friday, February 3, 2023

The Tempest review – Alex Kingston is a magnificent Prospero by Mark Lawson

Royal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonClimate catastrophe and power struggles dominate Elizabeth Freestone’s RSC interpretation of Shakespeare’s play If there were prizes for inv…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:52AM
Friday, November 25, 2022

Arms and the Man review – Shaw’s women show their steel by Mark Lawson

Orange Tree theatre, LondonThis 1894 farce set during the Serbo-Bulgarian war is impeccably played in a production showing the playwright’s radical vision still resonates When Channel 4 be…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:24AM
Wednesday, November 9, 2022

A Christmas Carol review – Adrian Edmondson stars in a biting tale for our times by Mark Lawson

Royal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonDavid Edgar’s sharp script feels close to home in this exuberant, illusion-filled version of Dickens’ seasonal but socially conscious story …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:03AM
Sunday, September 18, 2022

Stumped review – at the crease with Beckett and Pinter by Mark Lawson

Original Theatre OnlineShomit Dutta’s play imagines the two cricket-obsessed Nobel prize winners as waiting batsmen in an enjoyable spin on Waiting for Godot and The Dumb Waiter Samuel Bec…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:43AM
Thursday, September 15, 2022

The Clothes They Stood Up In review – Alan Bennett tale dressed to impress by Mark Lawson

Nottingham PlayhouseAdrian Scarborough stars in his own adaptation of Bennett’s story, featuring convincing new dialogue and staged with visual panache Between the stage and TV plays and j…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:07AM
Friday, September 2, 2022

The Narcissist review – a darkly honest dissection of post-Trump politics by Mark Lawson

Minerva, ChichesterA spin doctor’s life spirals into chaos after he’s hired by an ambitious senator in Christopher Shinn’s grimly comic drama After working on Hillary Clinton’s faile…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:55AM
Friday, August 12, 2022

Two Ukrainian Plays review – masterful framing of a nation’s tragedy by Mark Lawson

Finborough theatre, LondonA ghostly tale and a potent monologue form a double bill that uses the 2014 conflict to remark movingly on current events Because theatres schedule so far ahead, th…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:54AM
Sunday, July 3, 2022

Peter Brook: the great seeker of British theatre by Mark Lawson

The esteemed British director inspired each new generation of theatre creatives to be more daring and experimental Peter Brook, influential theatre visionary, dies aged 97 The two key Britis…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:48AM
Sunday, June 19, 2022

King Lear review – Kathryn Hunter’s frail, fond old ruler almost unbearably affecting by Mark Lawson

Shakespeare’s Globe, LondonBack in the role she first played in 1997, Hunter uses her extraordinary transformative powers to show us the king as a geriatric child at the head of a disinteg…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:18AM
Sunday, May 22, 2022

Murder on the Orient Express review – a first-class ride all the way by Mark Lawson

Chichester Festival theatreHenry Goodman gives us every inch of Hercule Poirot’s dandiness and comedy in this exemplary adaptation of Christie’s ingenious murder mystery, but also gets e…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:37PM

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