Monday, July 29, 2013
Premium tickets over £100. A £1,500 access-all-Ayckbourn luxury package. £10,000 for lunch with the director of the National. Welcome to the curious world of the 'premium' theatre ticketW…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:00PMFriday, July 12, 2013
A prescient memoir by the theatre's former chief suggests that when it comes to this prestigious yet demanding post, candidates have always been thin on the groundWhen Ronald Reagan was shot…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:30AMFriday, July 5, 2013
Four recent shows show how design razzmatazz can charm the senses – and also draw attention to holes in the writingIn cinema, the term "high production values" has long been code for the s…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:00AMWednesday, June 12, 2013
David Mamet has now had six box-office letdowns in a row. Is Broadway's insatiable desire for big talking-point plays to blame?Critics often commend theatres for going off-piste and staging …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00PMFriday, May 3, 2013
Mamma Mia! it wasn't, but at least Judy Craymer's Spice Girls stageshow escaped the fate of the musical Kelly, which closed on opening nightThe plot of Mel Brooks's 1968 movie The Producers …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:20PMThursday, April 11, 2013
Nicholas Hytner is stepping down as artistic director of the National Theatre. Who will take his place? It's a crowded field – with some surprise inclusionsThe National Theatre's artistic …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:39AMMonday, April 8, 2013
The stage world's response to the death of Richard Griffiths shows certain theatrical traditions have an enduring relevanceA friend who went to see the Alan Bennett double bill Untold Storie…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:07AMMonday, April 1, 2013
Audiences today often don't know the name of a play until just before its run starts. But would you book a ticket for a show without a title?With a new play, audiences never quite know what …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:17AMAudiences today often don't know the name of a play until just before its run starts. But would you book a ticket for a show without a title? Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:17AMWednesday, March 20, 2013
With only four great plays to Chekhov's name, what are British theatres to do? Write some new ones, of course ...In the days when record shops existed widely, music fans were prone – as Ni…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:26AMTuesday, March 12, 2013
Taboo-busting musical The Book of Mormon isn't anti-Mormon: it also has Jews, Starbucks, gay people and Africans in its sights. As the show debuts in London, Mark Lawson asks its American st…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:30PMFriday, March 8, 2013
A Chorus Line – being revived in London – is one of several successful shows that put the focus on theatre itselfReaders and critics are traditionally sniffy about novels about novelists…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:30AMFriday, March 1, 2013
No matter how good the understudy, the withdrawal of a leading name is almost inevitably bad news for a stage productionNormally the question star-seeking theatregoers ask is "Who's in it?" …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:39PMNo matter how good the understudy, the withdrawal of a leading name is almost inevitably bad news for a stage production Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:39PMThursday, February 21, 2013
Stage actors – with minimal scope for makeup or prosthetics between scenes – tend to find it easier to age down than upThere are various ways of measuring a play: the number of character…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:03PMMonday, February 11, 2013
With Hymn and Cocktail Sticks, Alan Bennett joins a tradition – including Dario Fo and David Hare – of writers putting versions of themselves into the frayAn American TV viewer once wrot…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:09AMMonday, January 28, 2013
From Simon Gray to Alan Ayckbourn, many playwrights have kept their most interesting roles out of sight – but very much in mindRowan Atkinson dominates the posters for a West End productio…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:57AMMonday, January 21, 2013
Are rich patrons easier to entertain? And are those in the cheap seats more discerning?Coughing, texting, talking and rustling sweets are all ways in which audiences can affect a performance…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:38AMFriday, January 11, 2013
From John Osborne to Howard Brenton, many fine playwrights have suffered periods of neglect – but, as Peter Nichols's resurgence shows, dramatic fortunes can rise as well as fallIt's notor…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:05AMTuesday, January 1, 2013
As Merrily We Roll Along extends its run at the Menier Chocolate Factory, Stephen Sondheim offers rare proof that it's possible to create a show that sinks before it swimsStephen Sondheim's …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:44AMAs Merrily We Roll Along extends its run at the Menier Chocolate Factory, Stephen Sondheim offers rare proof that it's possible to create a show that sinks before it swims Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:44AMWednesday, December 19, 2012
Rarely have theatre critics doled out so many ill-starred reviews, from the Donmar's Julius Caesar to the Spice Girls' Viva Forever!. Strangely, sometimes producers rely on themAlthough it's…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:54AMWednesday, December 12, 2012
New West End shows The Bodyguard and Viva Forever! feature plenty of female whooping at male nudity. Would it be acceptable the other way around?Is it all right for theatregoers to be sexual…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:04PMTuesday, December 4, 2012
Saying all-female productions are inauthentic misses the point – Shakespeare's plays have always been gender-bendingThe acting editions published by Samuel French have traditionally specif…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:57AMWednesday, November 28, 2012
The Evening Standards' honouring of individual stars such as Simon Russell Beale and Lolita Chakrabarti belies the fact that their productions were ensemble effortsJames Corden began Sunday …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:28AMMonday, November 19, 2012
Anya Reiss's new version modernises The Seagull and transplants it to the Isle of Wight. Does the language suffer – and how respectful should adaptations be?Just before seeing a new versio…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:11AMTuesday, November 13, 2012
Theatres can't keep asking us to hang about in the dark while actors move house. We may as well go to the cinemaAll performers hope for applause – but the new London West End production of…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:33AMMonday, November 5, 2012
It's the done thing on Broadway to shower star names with applause the moment they enter. I can't be the only one to find this tradition ridiculousOn a recent trip to New York, I was depress…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:38AMTuesday, October 30, 2012
Like many a printed companion to a play, this column contains spoilers – namely, how dramatists sometimes use programmes to keep audiences in the darkFirst, a warning that this column cont…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:17AMTuesday, October 23, 2012
The idea of white actors making themselves up as black is shocking to most of us – and yet a theatre in Germany has seen fit to continue the tradition. Why?Most news stories – government…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:27AMThe idea of white actors making themselves up as black is shocking to most of us – and yet a theatre in Germany has seen fit to continue the tradition. Why? Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:27AM 
