Sunday, 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 09:07PMWednesday, October 25, 2023
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 09:25AMTuesday, October 10, 2023
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 11:04AMThursday, September 21, 2023
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 07:25PMTuesday, September 19, 2023
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 08:49AMFriday, September 15, 2023
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 07:33AMThursday, August 31, 2023
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 08:33AMThursday, August 24, 2023
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 12:13PMThursday, August 3, 2023
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 10:19AMWednesday, August 2, 2023
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 09:04AMThursday, July 20, 2023
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 07:19PMWednesday, May 10, 2023
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 08:18AMThursday, May 4, 2023
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 11:54AMThursday, April 6, 2023
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 06:24AMWednesday, March 29, 2023
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 10:42AMThursday, February 23, 2023
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 
