Sunday, March 16, 2025
New Diorama theatre, LondonWisconsin’s ‘red scare’ of 1950 was a deliberate fake – but this entertaining show by Counterfactual speculates about possible truths behind the pretence
…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:18PMSunday, March 9, 2025
A giant of political drama, Fugard captured the injustices of apartheid in works such as Sizwe Banzi Is Dead and The Island
The South African playwright and director Athol Fugard, whose work…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:36PMMonday, February 24, 2025
He was Spike the gormless comic in the holiday camp hit and also bagged roles in You Rang M’Lord? and Dad’s Army. As he publishes a memoir, Holland talks about frisky stallions, today’…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:32PMWednesday, February 19, 2025
Royal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonThe court of Elsinore becomes a ship of state – or a ship of fools – in Rupert Goold’s production
Thematic merchandise is common at Shakes…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:06AMThursday, February 13, 2025
Watermill theatre, NewburyThe Private Eye duo adapt AG Macdonell’s satire showing how a privileged chancer in English public life gets away with it
It’s a bad week of theatre for Boris J…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:12PMWednesday, February 12, 2025
Orange Tree theatre, LondonThere are laugh-aloud gags and spiky dialogue as Roger Allam and Peter Forbes star in Howard Brenton’s play about the 1942 encounter
In the 1970s, Howard Brenton…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:32AMThursday, February 6, 2025
Omnibus theatre, London Natalia Lizorkina’s play traces a mother’s anguish when she is told her son ‘has not been captured’ in a dystopia where words mean their opposite
Alya, a Russ…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:06AMFriday, January 31, 2025
Arcola theatre, LondonThis innovative and timely play uses yoga, meditation and mindfulness to explore the experiences of Holocaust survivor Miriam Freedman
The term “multimedia” often m…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:06AMMonday, December 16, 2024
Royal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon As the petty tyrant cruelly duped by his household West leads a superb, tinsel-inflected take on Shakespeare’s melancholy comedy
The title Tw…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:32AMWednesday, December 11, 2024
West Horsley Place, SurreyStaged in Ghosts’ Button House, this interactive whodunnit has a lot of fun with detective-story tropes, quick-change characters and a clever solution
The writer …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:48AMFriday, December 6, 2024
White Bear theatre, LondonThe former PM’s brief tenure is raked over to seriocomic effect in Greg Wilkinson’s play, which raises major political questions
A running length of 100 minutes…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:42PMSunday, December 1, 2024
Orange Tree theatre, LondonWith its philosopher-fool character seated at a piano and central to the action, this sympathetically staged 1940s-set production is something of a revelation
Wint…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:54PMSunday, November 10, 2024
Omnibus theatre, LondonThe installation of the Horizon digital till resembles the villain’s entrance in a pantomime
The false prosecutions and persecutions of 900 subpostmasters by the Pos…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:12AMSaturday, November 2, 2024
In his 10th decade, the writer is as prolific as ever with a war film in the works and a new sex-fuelled novella set in a home for the elderly. He talks about mourning Maggie Smith, turning …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:24AMFriday, September 27, 2024
Rose theatre, Kingston Nell Barlow is heartbreaking as the doomed heroine of the alt-reality boarding-school tale, expertly adapted by Suzanne Heathcote
Any dramatic adaptation of a well-kno…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:32PMSunday, September 22, 2024
The black British performer started out recording with the Rolling Stones, was on the West End stage by 19 and made breakthroughs in TV and theatre
‘Trailblazing’ TV, film and stage acto…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:32AMThursday, September 19, 2024
With two new plays opening this autumn, the veteran playwright talks about the risks of writing about real events and the threats to leftwing drama and politics
With the world premiere of Th…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:32AMTuesday, September 3, 2024
Cambridge Arts, then touringRebus fans will relish Ian Rankin and Simon Reade’s play in which the spiky Scottish cop must solve a crime at a posh dinner party
Ian Rankin gave his spiky but…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:02PMFriday, August 30, 2024
Minerva theatre, ChichesterThis adaptation of the cold war spy thriller elegantly compresses the narrative and boasts star-making performances
In John le Carré’s 1963 name-making novel Th…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:32PMFriday, August 9, 2024
Ustinov Studio, BathInviting macabre surrealism and terror by torchlight on to a brown 1950s set, Richard Jones leaves room for interpretation in Pinter’s early play
Harold Pinter’s firs…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:12AMThursday, August 8, 2024
Swan theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonTamara Harvey’s first production as the Royal Shakespeare Company’s co-artistic director highlights the play’s sharp political intelligence
For reasons…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:35AMRegent’s Park Open Air theatre, London Jordan Fein’s revival, using its outdoor setting to sublime effect, stresses the musical’s comedy while resonating with the current plight of ref…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:00AMWednesday, July 3, 2024
Minghella theatre, ReadingViewers may be well versed on the Horizon debacle, but this play offers a fresh perspective by focusing on one victim’s story
A stage set of a small Post Office b…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:02AMTuesday, June 25, 2024
Swan theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonStephen Kunken’s Republican ringmaster narrates this account of the negotiation of the first international treaty on tackling climate change
Key sections o…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:32PMThursday, March 21, 2024
Lyric Hammersmith, LondonRachel O’Riordan’s powerful production explores political, medical and religious faith with a wholly convincing cast
When Brian Friel’s Faith Healer opened on …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:42PMFriday, March 8, 2024
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 08:02PMTuesday, February 27, 2024
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 09:12AMWednesday, February 14, 2024
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 08:54AMTuesday, December 19, 2023
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 10:12AMMonday, December 4, 2023
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 01:36AMSunday, October 29, 2023
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 
