All stories by Stuart Jeffries on BroadwayStars

Monday, July 10, 2023

‘There’s a lot to complain about in Northampton’: the choir singing about their town’s failings by Stuart Jeffries

From the terrible parking to the awful mural of Charles and Camilla, the Northampton Complaints Choir puts it all in song. Our man joins to vent his frustrations – and gets a surprise The …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:33AM
Friday, September 9, 2022

‘There is nothing wrong with offending people’: Roddy Doyle on getting the band back together by Stuart Jeffries

His comic novel The Commitments gave working-class Dublin its voice – and became a hit film. As the stage version returns to theatres, does Doyle still recognise the foul-mouthed young aut…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:03AM
Wednesday, June 15, 2022

Lie back and think of the apocalypse: climate crisis opera Sun & Sea by Stuart Jeffries

It scooped the Golden Lion at Venice and now the beach-set spectacular is bringing its burned-out workers and decadent globetrotters to the UK. But why does no one clap? Drizzle falls from p…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:33AM
Sunday, November 15, 2020

Des O’Connor obituary by Stuart Jeffries

All-round entertainer whose readiness to take a joke against himself was key to his successOne day in 1964, over a cup of coffee, Des O’Connor told the comedian Eric Morecambe that he hope…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:24AM
Tuesday, March 10, 2020

Come on in, the water's dystopian! JG Ballard's Drowned World hits an Essex pool by Stuart Jeffries

A Chelmsford swimming baths has turned Ballard’s prescient apocalyptic novel into a truly immersive performance. Our writer pulls on his trunks and dives in It’s Saturday night in Chelms…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:36PM
Monday, March 9, 2020

Hi-de-Hi's Su Pollard: 'I'd rather talk about cakes than Brexit!' by Stuart Jeffries

As she hits the stage in a powerful solo show, the frenetic star talks about sexist miners, over-friendly horses – and what really happened at that No 10 drinks party Speaking breathlessly…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:36AM
Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Notre Dame and the culture it inspired – from Matisse to the Muppets by Oliver Wainwright, Stuart Jeffries, Peter Bradshaw, Jonathan Jones, Fiona Maddocks, Michael Coveney and Keza Macdonald

It mesmerised Proust, terrified Homer Simpson and gave us the Hunchback – Guardian critics celebrate Paris’s gothic masterpiece at the heart of the modern imagination As Notre Dame Cathe…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:13AM
Monday, February 18, 2019

Do we need an Only Fools and Horses musical? Of course we do, you plonker! by Stuart Jeffries

It was the cushty comedy that perfectly captured 80s Britain. As Only Fools and Horses hits the stage, we celebrate the TV classic that needed a new scale to measure audience laughterBack in…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:32AM
Saturday, January 19, 2019

Is standup comedy dead? Exploring the future of funny post-Kevin Hart, Louis CK and Nanette by Stuart Jeffries

Whether it’s censorship, problematic tweets or #MeToo, comics are being scrutinised like never before. Is there a ‘new sense of panic’ in the industry?Comedy is in a period of extraord…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:18PM
Tuesday, November 20, 2018

Steven Berkoff: who will dare to stage my one-man Harvey Weinstein play? by Stuart Jeffries

He’s played baddies in everything from Bond to Beverly Hills Cop. Now he’s tackling the disgraced movie mogul in a self-penned play. The actor-playwright explains why theatre is dying ou…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:54PM
Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Snail ballet: 176 slow dancers await their moment in the slimelight by Stuart Jeffries

Raised to be sauteed in garlic butter but freed by French vegetarian art anarchists, meet the unlikely stars of a mindful music performance Only minutes after meeting Elizabeth Saint-Jalmes …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:42AM
Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Jerry Seinfeld – review by Stuart Jeffries

National Indoor Arena, Birmingham"Oh my God, Birmingham, England!" yelled Jerry Seinfeld as he came on stage suited and shouting as though he sought to sell us something disreputable. "Do yo…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:48AM
Friday, August 18, 2017

Adrian Dunbar on directing Homer on a Donegal beach – and his fears for Line of Duty by Stuart Jeffries

The actor best known as Superintendent Ted Hastings in Line of Duty is bringing Homer and Heaney to County Donegal. Our writer joins him for oysters as he takes his dogs for a windswept walk…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:04AM
Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Brian Cant obituary by Stuart Jeffries

Children’s television presenter and actor who spent 21 years on Play School and whose baritone voice graced Camberwick Green, Chigley and Trumpton“HERE’S a house. Here’s a door. Wind…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:24AM
Thursday, April 6, 2017

It's showtime! by Stuart Jeffries

Kevin Spacey's first season in charge of the Old Vic starts tomorrow. Will he boost the fragile ecology of British theatre? Or will he leave us cold? Stuart Jeffries reportsIn the long queue…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:42PM
Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Celia Imrie on Victoria Wood, writing novels – and being caught in the Nice terror attack by Stuart Jeffries

The star talks about her novels for neglected women, missing her ‘dear pal’ Victoria Wood – and how it was a miracle she survived the lorry attack in Nice Celia Imrie breezes into the …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:36AM
Monday, January 2, 2017

Optimism v pessimism in 2017: the comedian and the psychologist debate by Stuart Jeffries

Liam Williams quit standup fearing his pessimissm about the state of the planet was making audiences worryingly apathetic. But is a sunny outlook really any healthier? We sat him down for a …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:12AM
Friday, December 23, 2016

Screen gods, guilt and glamour: actor Claire Bloom on her life in the limelight by Stuart Jeffries

She was given her big break by Charlie Chaplin and worked with Richard Burton and Laurence Olivier. Claire Bloom talks about her rise to fame and reading her ex-husband Philip Roth’s work�…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:12AM
Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Doctor Who's new companion Pearl Mackie: 'I have no time-travelling experience!' by Stuart Jeffries

It’s three months until she makes her debut – but there’s already a frenzy of speculation. Meet the Brixton girl about to go galacticA few hours after Pearl Mackie was unveiled as Doct…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:22PM

My pubic portrait: the day I posed for a very personal work of art by Stuart Jeffries

In Pube, Eugénie Pastor gives her audience scissors and asks them to donate some pubic hair. Stuart Jeffries gets snippingI part the curtains and enter a tiny room. It’s an intimate, low-…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:21AM
Monday, May 16, 2016

Ian Lavender: 'Dad's Army cost me a career in the movies' by Stuart Jeffries

Ian Lavender was 22 when he was cast as mummy's boy Private Pike in Dad's Army. It was a role that would come to haunt his career, stopping him from getting meatier parts. His one-man Edinbu…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:45PM
Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Victoria Wood obituary by Stuart Jeffries

One of the great British comedians and all-round entertainers of her generation who wrote dramas, sketches and popular sitcomsWhen Victoria Wood was about six, she had an epiphany in Buxton.…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:14PM
Thursday, March 31, 2016

Ronnie Corbett obituary by Stuart Jeffries

Actor and comedian who became a national treasure as partner to Ronnie Barker in The Two Ronnies“I was lying in bed with my wife last Sunday morning when she called me by a special pet nam…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:31AM
Sunday, January 10, 2016

Don Warrington: 'I can be angry. I can want to kill' by Stuart Jeffries

He’s done everything from Rising Damp to All My Sons and Holby. But now Don Warrington is facing the biggest challenge of his career: playing Lear. He talks about becoming a Geordie, wanti…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:20AM
Monday, April 20, 2015

Mike Leigh’s Pirates of Penzance: ‘I told them I was going to set it on a spaceship in the 29th century’ by Stuart Jeffries

Mike Leigh, the great chronicler of real life in all its nitty gritty detail, swore he’d never direct an opera. So why is he tackling Gilbert and Sullivan’s swashbuckler? Continue readin…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:59AM
Monday, March 23, 2015

Farage fracas: my day with the anti-Ukip cabaret he called 'scum' by Stuart Jeffries

Anti-fracking poets, Lebanese dancers and a gay Welsh donkey were just some of the acts who conga-ed into Nigel Farage’s local in Kent this weekend – and ended up making headlines. Stuar…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:22PM
Thursday, August 7, 2014

Ian Lavender: 'Dad's Army cost me a career in the movies' by Stuart Jeffries

Ian Lavender was 22 when he was cast as mummy's boy Private Pike in Dad's Army. It was a role that would come to haunt his career, stopping him from getting meatier parts. His one-man Edinbu…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:00AM
Thursday, April 24, 2014

Imelda Staunton: 'It's in my DNA to duck and dive' by Stuart Jeffries

As Imelda Staunton storms the West End as another hard-scrabble working woman, she explains why it's class and not the classics that matters"Those women!" says Imelda Staunton. &…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:29AM
Sunday, March 9, 2014

Diana Rigg: 'Women of my age are still attractive. Men of my age are not' by Stuart Jeffries

Soon to appear in the new season of Game of Thrones, the actor talks about her long career, how to deal with getting older and why she talks to pigeonsDiana Rigg is trying to cross the …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:00PM
Tuesday, February 11, 2014

The science of comedy: can humour make the world a better place? by Stuart Jeffries

Academics are considering how comedy can be socially beneficial'You know what's not funny?" said the comedian Chris Rock once. "Thinking about it." As if to prove the point, last weekend's P…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:13PM
Monday, February 10, 2014

How video saved the opera star by Stuart Jeffries

Opera is waking up to the power of video. For his new production of Don Giovanni, the Royal Opera House's Kasper Holten collaborated with a designer who turned U2 tours and the 2012 Olympics…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:23PM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards