Wednesday, April 13, 2016
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 08:57AMAlmeida, 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 07:54AMTuesday, April 12, 2016
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 09:04PMArcola, 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 06:39PMSwan, 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 05:40PMMonday, April 11, 2016
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 09:10AMSwan, 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 05:45AMFriday, April 8, 2016
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 07:11AMThursday, April 7, 2016
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 07:04AMWednesday, April 6, 2016
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 08:02AMMonday, April 4, 2016
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 08:38PMSunday, April 3, 2016
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 10:04AMFriday, April 1, 2016
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 07:30AMThursday, March 31, 2016
National Theatre, LondonWhite liberalism and postcolonial freedom-fighting clash in Yaël Farber’s sensuous production, but Lorraine Hansberry’s play is a product of its timeThis play ha…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:31AMWednesday, March 30, 2016
Bristol Old VicRichard Eyre rushes through Eugene O’Neill’s masterpiece but gets to the heart of the tortured love of the Tyrones, played mesmerisingly by his leadsRichard Eyre famously …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:52AMMonday, March 28, 2016
For 60 turbulent years, the Royal Court has thrilled and outraged audiences and critics alike. Michael Billington, who was once cuffed by an angry playwright there, celebrates – and picks …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:13PMFriday, March 25, 2016
Hampstead theatre, LondonThe American playwright edges away from his usual bilious comic antagonism with this drama about romantic crisesNeil LaBute’s new play uses the same set of charact…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:20AMThursday, March 24, 2016
Wilton’s Music Hall, LondonBy keeping its audience’s eyes covered, this vivid production heightens the wistful evocation and graveyard wit of Samuel Beckett’s long-ignored piece Samuel…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:31PMWednesday, March 23, 2016
Royal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon With this heartening production, director Simon Godwin and a largely black ensemble make you feel like you are seeing the play anewThere is som…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:16AMMonday, March 21, 2016
Salisbury PlayhouseKirsty Bushell adheres to Hedda’s destructiveness but invests her with humour and sexual allure in this bracingly intelligent revivalIbsen’s Hedda is often described a…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:32AMSaturday, March 19, 2016
National, LondonThe National Theatre used to bring us Broadway's golden oldies. Now it imports something original: a remarkable musical, with book and lyrics by Tony Kushner and music by Jea…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:24PMThursday, March 17, 2016
Garrick, LondonDoors are slammed and trousers dropped in this bawdy hitman caper which teases out the comic skill of its leadsFarce is purely a matter of taste. I met someone the other day w…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:22PMMenier Chocolate Factory, London Florian Zeller’s follow-up to The Father and The Mother raises provocative questions that have long haunted French dramaAt what point does an act of homage…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:27AMWednesday, March 16, 2016
Crucible, Sheffield Jack O’Connell keeps his cool as a rising snooker star – even while playing a competitive match – in Bean’s comedy about sport, class and corruptionI’ve rarely …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:54AMSunday, March 13, 2016
Southwark Playhouse, LondonIs her adopted war orphan son a terrorist, or just a boy pushing boundaries? JC Lee’s play makes tantalising capital out of guilty feelings and a climate of susp…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:39AMCottesloe Theatre, LondonHow do you follow a big hit? Just as Jez Butterworth succeeded Jerusalem with the more modest The River, so Lucy Prebble follows her spectacular Enron with an intima…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:38AMFriday, March 11, 2016
West Yorkshire Playhouse, LeedsAndrew Lancel captures Brian Clough’s charm and cheek in this story of his stint as Leeds manager, but Red Ladder’s show is probably for football fans only…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:42AMWednesday, March 9, 2016
Derby theatreOsborne’s unflinching study of a failing marriage still grips – and is intelligently paired with a mono-drama about Jimmy Porter’s modern female counterpartYou may go expe…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:51AMTuesday, March 8, 2016
Shaftesbury theatre, London The show’s 50 songs are put across with plenty of pizzazz but this account of the music mogul’s rags-to-riches story leaves the key questions unanswered Given…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:43PMMonday, March 7, 2016
Orange Tree, Richmond There are beautifully understated performances in this revival of Robert Holman’s quiet play about life in 70s TeessideTime has lent an extra layer of poignancy to Ro…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:14PMSunday, March 6, 2016
Finborough, LondonThe family relationship in Alexandra Wood’s two-hander is believable, less so the backdrop of the growing gulf between the world’s rich and poorAlexandra Wood’s 80-mi…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:06PM 
