All stories by Michael Billington on BroadwayStars

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Zindabad review – compelling European view of India's partition by Michael Billington

Mill Studio, Yvonne Arnaud, GuildfordPrivate passion coincides with the public chaos of 1947 in this tale of an affair featuring a first-rate castHoward Brenton’s Drawing the Line dramatis…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:00AM
Monday, May 2, 2016

Ibsen and Strindberg - necessary opposites by Michael Billington

Ibsen was sane, progressive and formal. Strindberg was neurotic, reactionary and fragmented. The two were arch enemies - but together they laid the foundations for modern drama, says Michael…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:14PM

Curtain-raisers: the best theatre of summer 2016 by Michael Billington and Lyn Gardner

Branagh channels Olivier, Isabelle Huppert lusts after her stepson and Ralph Fiennes gets the royal hump. Meanwhile there’s magic in the air as Harry Potter grows up – and Groundhog Day …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:38PM
Sunday, May 1, 2016

Schism review – the drive and desires of a disabled woman by Michael Billington

Finborough, LondonAthena Stevens’ drama about a girl with cerebral palsy and a teacher overstates the message that disability is no bar to ambition, but it’s laudable propagandaThis play…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:46AM
Friday, April 29, 2016

Emilia Galotti review – rare return for Lessing's tragedy of lust and virtue by Michael Billington

The Space, LondonGotthold Ephraim Lessing’s European drama, given an admirable revival at this fringe theatre, is an assured attack on unfettered princely powerThis 1772 tragedy by Gotthol…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:33AM
Thursday, April 28, 2016

Elegy review – Zoë Wanamaker is superb in Nick Payne's soulful play about science by Michael Billington

Donmar Warehouse, London Payne’s utterly relatable characters make this play about scientific progress an exploration of the very human concepts of love, identity, faith and lossNick Payne…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:46AM
Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Travels With My Aunt review – calypsos and cannabis in Graham Greene musical by Michael Billington

Minerva, ChichesterPatricia Hodge is superb as a madcap aunt, whisking her buttoned-up nephew on a world tour, in a perfectly pleasant show that lacks the novel’s ambiguitiesGraham Greene�…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:53AM
Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Show Boat: the classic musical still shipshape after all these years by Michael Billington

Through intelligent handling of its racial themes, Daniel Evans’s revival has steered this much-loved 1927 show smoothly into the modern ageWhat is it about Show Boat? Why is it that a mus…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:43AM

Doctor Faustus review – off-with-your-kit Harington stars in Marlovian mish-mash by Michael Billington

Duke of York’s, London The Game of Thrones actor gives us a sense of the scholar’s flailing despair but Jamie Lloyd’s excessive version of the tragedy comes with a trite messageChristo…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:14AM
Sunday, April 24, 2016

Guy Woolfenden obituary by Michael Billington

Composer and conductor who wrote music for RSC productions of all Shakespeare’s playsIf music is now seen as an integral part of modern Shakespeare productions, the credit belongs to Guy W…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:54AM

Shakespeare Live! review – like an upmarket Royal Variety Show by Michael Billington

BBC2 The show perked up when it got round to the plays but tried to cram too much into one eveningIt is always worrying when an entertainment promises “something for everybody”. That usu…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:54AM
Friday, April 22, 2016

Still got it – why Shakespeare lives on from Warsaw to Vegas by Michael Billington

As celebrations kick off around the world – including an immersive Romeo and Juliet in a Dubai mall – we look at why his plays are still staged 400 years after his deathOn Saturday the R…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:22AM
Wednesday, April 20, 2016

The Flick review – echoes of Racine in a riveting play about love, lost souls and popcorn by Michael Billington

Dorfman theatre, London Astonishing New York hit goes behind the scenes at a cinema to expose the desperate longings of its three young protagonists Arnold Wesker in The Kitchen introduced u…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:58AM
Tuesday, April 19, 2016

My Mother Said I Never Should review – Lipman excels in a warm hymn to motherhood by Michael Billington

St James theatre, LondonPaul Robinson delivers an impeccable revival of Charlotte Keatley’s 1987 play about the trials and tribulations of mothers and daughters Charlotte Keatley’s play,…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:33AM
Sunday, April 17, 2016

Another World review – compelling insights into Islamic State by Michael Billington

Temporary theatre at the National, LondonDrawing on interviews and first-hand accounts, Gillian Slovo’s enlightening play puts the rise of Isis, and its appeal to young Europeans, in conte…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:34AM
Friday, April 15, 2016

The Suicide review – Soviet satire is reworked beyond its sell-by date by Michael Billington

Lyttelton, LondonSuhayla El-Bushra brings Nikolai Erdman’s 1928 social comedy into the modern day, but leaves its eccentricity and subversion behindThe National Theatre these days seems su…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:04AM
Thursday, April 14, 2016

Deathwatch review – Genet's clammily powerful prison struggle by Michael Billington

Print Room at the Coronet, London Two prisoners and a condemned man vie for dominion of their cell in a well-executed production leavened by fantasy sequencesThis is Jean Genet’s first pla…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:09PM
Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Hair | Theatre review by Michael Billington

Gielgud theatre, LondonHair is more than just a musical: it is a social and cultural phenomenon, a jubilant assertion of life and freedom and a cry of protest against politicians who, in the…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:58PM

Arnold Wesker: the radical bard of working Britain by Michael Billington

With interrogations of class, labour and politics entwined around the lives of ordinary people – including plenty of well-written women – Arnold Wesker created plays that showed his endl…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:57AM

Boy review – jobcentres and loneliness in tale of a lost generation by Michael Billington

Almeida, LondonLeo Butler’s play follows a teenager adrift in cold, modern London, but its compassion is sometimes overwhelmed by a restless productionLeo Butler has attempted something tr…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:54AM
Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Arnold Wesker: food for thought by Michael Billington

As playwright Arnold Wesker turns 80, he talks about his early successes, his later battles – and the day he tried to flog his entire oeuvre for £10,000'I don't feel I'm known as a playwr…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:04PM

The Sugar-Coated Bullets of the Bourgeoisie review – heartfelt paean to people power in China by Michael Billington

Arcola, London This compelling portrait of how the Maoist revolution gripped one particular village is a big, ambitious and thought-provoking playThere is a growing body of plays about China…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:39PM

Titus Andronicus – review by Michael Billington

Swan, Stratford-upon-AvonNo one any longer has to make a case for this once-despised play. But, whether it is viewed as a neo-Senecan study in stoic acceptance of grief or a Tarantino-like e…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:40PM
Monday, April 11, 2016

Cyprus Avenue: the most shocking and relevant play in London today by Michael Billington

David Ireland’s story about a Belfast loyalist is a blackly comic examination of sectarian hatred – and a subversive drama that has never been more relevant Related: Cyprus Avenue review…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:10AM

Cymbeline, Swan, Stratford-upon-Avon by Michael Billington

Swan, Stratford-upon-AvonAlan Bennett makes a shrewd point in his Diaries. Attending a performance by Complicite, he remarks that some theatre companies have become like rock groups attracti…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:45AM
Friday, April 8, 2016

Laila the Musical review – clumsily modernised tale of star-crossed lovers by Michael Billington

Watford Palace theatreThe team behind Britain’s Got Bhangra can’t smooth over the thorny issue of arranged marriages with song and dance in this musical based on a 12th-century forerunne…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:11AM
Thursday, April 7, 2016

The Caretaker review – Pinter given renewed zest by Warchus and Spall by Michael Billington

Old Vic, LondonFollowing the current trend of not treating Harold Pinter with pause-ridden reverence, Matthew Warchus transforms the writer’s first big hit into a wild comedy of deluded mi…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:04AM
Wednesday, April 6, 2016

X review – pressure builds on crew marooned in space by Michael Billington

Royal Court, LondonCharacters hear strange voices and time itself starts to dissolve in Alistair McDowall’s new play, set in a research base on PlutoAlistair McDowall has quickly built a r…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:02AM
Monday, April 4, 2016

Sunset Boulevard review – imperious Glenn Close gives show new lease of life by Michael Billington

Coliseum, LondonSemi-staged performance brings us closer to Billy Wilder’s film than Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1993 version Billy Wilder, on emerging from the original 1993 staging of Andrew…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:38PM
Sunday, April 3, 2016

The Fifth Column review – Hemingway’s hero shows lust but lacks life by Michael Billington

Southwark Playhouse, London There are good performances in this finely staged revival, but Hemingway’s autobiographical drama set during the Spanish civil war is a rambling affairErnest He…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:04AM
Friday, April 1, 2016

How the Other Half Loves review – hilarious Ayckbourn, fresh and fighting by Michael Billington

Theatre Royal, Haymarket, LondonAlan Ayckbourn’s vintage comedy about adultery and male bullying is shockingly up to dateTheatrical snobs still patronise Alan Ayckbourn. Alan Strachan’s …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:30AM