All stories by Mark Lawson on BroadwayStars

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Theatre of dreams: the best 11 plays about football by Mark Lawson

Patrick Marber has scored a hit with The Red Lion at the National Theatre. Here’s a first XI of stage dramas inspired by the beautiful gameAlthough football is England’s most popular tea…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:38AM
Monday, June 8, 2015

Tony awards 2015: how the Brits won Broadway's vote by Mark Lawson

New York’s theatre community put aside tribal loyalties to crown British stars Helen Mirren, Richard McCabe and Alex Sharp at this year’s Tonys• Alex Sharp and Helen Mirren head roll-c…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:02PM
Friday, June 5, 2015

Theatre history as told by the Tony awards by Mark Lawson

A Streetcar Named Desire is one of several landmark works that failed to win best play at past Tonys ceremonies. Which other classics have been snubbed at prizegivings?A remarkable 34 of the…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:18AM
Thursday, May 28, 2015

To curse or not to curse: the problems of publicising a potty-mouthed play by Mark Lawson

Both the National and Bush theatres are putting on plays with sweary titles this year. But how will they promote them? And what should journalists call them? Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:25AM
Monday, May 18, 2015

The Rehearsal review – Niamh Cusack’s cunning countess is glorious by Mark Lawson

Minerva, ChichesterJeremy Sams directs his own vivacious translation of Jean Anouilh’s smart comedy Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:07AM
Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Britain's strong showing at the Tony awards is about more than just talent by Mark Lawson

The UK has become an experimental studio for risk-averse Broadway – but that shouldn’t detract from the great British talent nominated for this year’s Tonys Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:41PM
Sunday, April 26, 2015

British theatre and American film: a match made in box-office heaven by Mark Lawson

Damian Lewis and John Goodman, in American Buffalo, are the latest Hollywood stars to tread London’s boards, in a deal that benefits both theatre and film Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:03PM
Thursday, April 23, 2015

Who's in charge? The dramas of running a theatre by Mark Lawson

Recent announcements at the National, the Garrick and the Old Vic show that casting the management is as important as contracting the actors In theatre companies, as in all organisations, a …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:09AM
Saturday, April 18, 2015

Dahling, you were divine: religion on the stage by Mark Lawson

As Stoppard and Shaw plays at the National debate the likelihood of God, Shakespeare’s King John is revived in a church and the St Paul’s Occupy protests are staged, Mark Lawson asks why…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AM
Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Missing in action: meet the invisible stars of contemporary drama by Mark Lawson

From Harvey’s six-foot white rabbit to Mike Leigh’s hard-partying Abigail, some of the biggest characters around never set foot on stage. Mark Lawson raises a toast to absent friendsWith…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:02AM
Thursday, March 26, 2015

TV has lost its nerve with political drama by Mark Lawson

In the run-up to 7 May, British TV will become a no-go area for plays relevant to the election. Thankfully, theatre has the courage to provide our fix Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:17AM
Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Should some plays be seen and not read? by Mark Lawson

Stoppard’s The Hard Problem became richer when I read the script, but the playtext of Game lessens the experience of the Almeida’s unsettling stagingBuy a programme for Mike Bartlett’s…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:00PM
Friday, February 20, 2015

Alan Howard: 'A perfectly-tuned musical instrument made flesh' by Mark Lawson

Alan Howard, who has died aged 77, was the quintessential Shakespearian monarch, capable of a vast range of interpretation. But it was his voice was the core of his greatness Obituary: Alan …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:00AM
Friday, February 13, 2015

David Oyelowo takes the civil rights fight to the acting profession by Mark Lawson

Friends suggest that playing Martin Luther King has heightened the actor’s sense of public duty and quiet rage Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:50AM
Saturday, February 7, 2015

Timberlake Wertenbaker: ‘You can’t get a straightforward history of America’ by Mark Lawson

The Europe-raised playwright is hoping for a rapprochement with her American roots with her new play about Thomas Jefferson – but she thinks the founding father has a lot to answer forHavi…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AM
Thursday, February 5, 2015

Ralph Fiennes and Simon Godwin: our satanic take on Shaw’s Superman by Mark Lawson

Most productions cut a whole act from Man and Superman. But Ralph Fiennes and director Simon Godwin plan to unleash its full Nietzschean powerAlthough it may be little consolation, Ralph Fie…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:30AM
Wednesday, February 4, 2015

'Big' Ben Miles v 'Slow' Mark Rylance: Wolf Hall's Cromwell on stage and screen by Mark Lawson

With the adaptations of Hilary Mantel’s novel for the RSC and the BBC, we have a rare opportunity to compare acting choicesRegular theatregoers accumulate comparisons between actors in cla…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:44AM
Monday, February 2, 2015

Going by the book: how much talking is too much in musicals? by Mark Lawson

The revivals of Cats, Assassins and City of Angels have thrown the spotlight on one of the trickiest aspects of musical theatreBritish theatre listings are rarely short of musical revivals, …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AM
Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Reviving The Ruling Class, Peter Barnes’s ‘drama of extremes’ by Mark Lawson

Playwrights of the past are easily forgotten, but thanks to his unique, black-comedy skewering of historical figures, Barnes has found a new champion in James McAvoyWith several generations …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:00AM
Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Mark Lawson’s top 10 theatre of 2014 by Mark Lawson

Arthur Miller’s A View From the Bridge stunned at the Young Vic, Sondheim’s Assassins satirised with success, King Charles III did nothing, magnificently, and a startling Anything Goes i…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:59AM
Friday, December 12, 2014

Carry on screaming: the supernatural success of The Woman in Black by Mark Lawson

The ingenious ghost story – and GCSE set text – is now the second longest-running play in the history of the West End. So why does it continue to pack audiences in, after 25 years?Althou…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:01AM
Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Michael Frayn's Matchbox Theatre: are these mini-plays or short stories? by Mark Lawson

The 30 brief scenes in the writer’s new book blur the boundaries between his work for stage and page Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:30AM
Tuesday, November 11, 2014

An A-Z of Edward Albee by Mark Lawson

G is for The Goat, L is for lizards and U is for umbrella As A Delicate Balance returns to Broadway, dip into our guide to the great American playwright Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:00AM
Friday, November 7, 2014

David Edgar: Ukip is my territory. I suspect I am going to write about that by Mark Lawson

As his Iron Curtain Trilogy opens in London, the playwright reflects on depicting the last 50 years of British life on the stage Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:30AM
Friday, October 31, 2014

Life With Father: the long-lost daddy of Broadway by Mark Lawson

Life with Father, about a sexist patriarch and submissive wife, holds the record for the longest-running non-musical play in New York. Now, 75 years after it premiered, Mark Lawson…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:00PM
Wednesday, October 29, 2014

The master linguist: the problem with translating Ibsen by Mark Lawson

From a re-imagining of The Wild Duck to differing interpretations of The Master Builder, Ibsens plays are challenging source material. The New Penguin Ibsen aims to get to grips with the ori…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:51AM
Friday, October 3, 2014

Triple threat: the trouble with theatrical trilogies by Mark Lawson

Dramatic triptychs from Aeschyluss Oresteia to Rona Munros James plays are expensive to stage and bum-numbing to watch. Do they deliver three times the pleasure? Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:40AM
Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Playwright Richard Bean: You can make jokes about anything by Mark Lawson

One Man Two Guvnors is a box office phenomenon, and the man behind it has another five plays on stage this month. Richard Bean talks about legal wrangles, dodgy gags and why success has…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AM
Tuesday, September 23, 2014

What a piece of work is a (wo)man: the perils of gender-crossed Shakespeare by Mark Lawson

From Maxine Peakes Hamlet to David Suchets Lady Bracknell, cross-casting is all the rage. But sometimes it can be more problematic than enlightening Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:58AM
Sunday, September 21, 2014

Jack Thorne: I have a deal with my wife that I take a half-day off each week by Mark Lawson

One of Britain's hardest-working dramatists, Thorne has nine TV projects in various stages of production. Mark Lawson meets him Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:24AM
Tuesday, September 16, 2014

James Dacre: Theatres must learn to collaborate more by Mark Lawson

The artistic director of Northamptons Royal and Derngate explains why he is overseeing a production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof that will also be seen in Manchester and Newcastle Continue readi…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:37AM