All stories by Susannah Clapp on BroadwayStars

Sunday, October 11, 2015

The Wars of the Roses review " a revival that's more pageant than revolution by Susannah Clapp

Rose theatre, Kingston upon ThamesTrevor Nunn's staging of the RSC's bold 1960s Shakespeare adaptation lacks the original's daring, though there are some fine turns in the lead rolesWhile Gr…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:20AM[SHARE]
Sunday, October 4, 2015

The Odyssey: Missing Presumed Dead review " Homer past and present by Susannah Clapp

Everyman, LiverpoolSimon Armitage and Nick Bagnall's time-slip take on the Greek epic makes some topical political pointsThe Odyssey: Missing Presumed Dead claims Homer as the bard of shifti…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:43AM[SHARE]

Medea review " a female voice both ancient and modern by Susannah Clapp

Almeida, LondonKate Fleetwood stuns in the title role of Rachel Cusk's fierce and intelligent adaptationHas Homer become our new Shakespeare? Are the ancients our new contemporaries? As the …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:43AM[SHARE]

Tipping the Velvet review " top talent, shame about the sex by Susannah Clapp

Lyric Hammersmith, LondonLaura Wade's adaptation of Sarah Waters's best-selling lesbian love story lacks ardour in both its politics and songsThere is a carnival of talent in Tipping the Vel…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:43AM[SHARE]
Sunday, September 27, 2015

Hangmen review " a tremendous, terrifying return by Martin McDonagh by Susannah Clapp

Royal Court, LondonMartin McDonagh's first play in more than a decade, with electric performances from David Morrissey and Reece Shearsmith, should be the Royal Court's new JerusalemMartin M…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:22AM[SHARE]

Jane Eyre review " aflame with passion and madness by Susannah Clapp

Lyttelton, LondonSally Cookson's bold, tumultuous reimagining of Charlotte Brontë's novel is a feast for the sensesSally Cookson presents a picture of exultant feminism in Jane Eyre. Forg…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:09AM[SHARE]

Mr Foote's Other Leg review " gusto and sorrow at the dawn of celebrity by Susannah Clapp

Hampstead, London Simon Russell Beale is a delight as the one-legged 18th-century dramatist who turned fame into an art form in Richard Eyre's rumbustious productionYou don't often see a pla…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:09AM[SHARE]
Sunday, September 20, 2015

Photograph 51 review " 'Kidman moves like a laser beam through the action' by Susannah Clapp

Noël Coward, LondonNicole Kidman's precise, contained performance as Rosalind Franklin and Michael Grandage's vivid production make the most of a sketchy playNot so much theatrical Viagra…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:06AM[SHARE]

Kinky Boots review " high-kicking and colourful, but not quite the perfect pair by Susannah Clapp

Adelphi, LondonThe costumes and choreography are full of brio, but a dull central character drags down this tale of transformative footwearAt the end, Kinky Boots comes together, in a battal…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:06AM[SHARE]
Sunday, September 6, 2015

People, Places & Things review " a career-changing performance by Susannah Clapp

Dorfman, London SE1The extraordinary Denise Gough electrifies as a raging, terrified addictThis is the week when a tremendous actor gets the recognition she deserves. It is not that Denise G…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:43AM[SHARE]

Absent review " sumptuous but saddening by Susannah Clapp

Shoreditch town hall, London EC1The life of the colourful Duchess of Argyll is marvellously evoked through a series of underground installations, but the human absence is palpableThese days,…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:43AM[SHARE]
Sunday, August 30, 2015

Hamlet review " Benedict Cumberbatch is the sanest of Danes by Susannah Clapp

Cumberbatch is a strikingly eloquent Hamlet in an evening of fitful illuminationI don't think I have ever seen a more rational Hamlet. When Benedict Cumberbatch tots up his bodkins, whips, f…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:04AM[SHARE]
Sunday, August 9, 2015

Splendour review " Abi Morgan's icy power play by Susannah Clapp

Donmar Warehouse, London Seething resentments surface amid opulent surroundings as four women sit out a revolutionPlaywrights are usually praised for their compassion. But every now and then…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:12AM[SHARE]

Grand Hotel review " everyone is on the make or on the wane by Susannah Clapp

Southwark Playhouse, LondonGreta Garbo and Sally Bowles stalk Thom Southerland's full-tilt production of the 1989 musicalAt Southwark Playhouse, Thom Southerland has done sterling work in to…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:12AM[SHARE]
Saturday, August 8, 2015

Genius, coward… or madman? Why Hamlet gives actors the ultimate test by Susannah Clapp

In nearly 20 years reviewing theatre for the Observer Susannah Clapp has seen 24 wildly different interpretations of Hamlet. Benedict Cumberbatch had many examples to study before offering h…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:33PM[SHARE]
Sunday, August 2, 2015

Bakkhai review " Ben Whishaw and Bertie Carvel share the honours by Susannah Clapp

Almeida, LondonThere is tremor not terror " but tremendous acting " in James Macdonald's overly ingenious reworking of EuripidesOn the one hand Ben Whishaw. Wandlike " or thyrsos-like " sway…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:16AM[SHARE]

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers review " the whole thing is barmy, and spot-on by Susannah Clapp

Regent's Park Open Air theatre, LondonThere are beards and gingham and high kicks galore in Rachel Kavanaugh's pitch-perfect production Seven Brides for Seven Brothers could have been called…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:16AM[SHARE]

Jekyll and Hyde review " ravishing design, stilted acting by Susannah Clapp

Platform theatre, Central Saint Martins, LondonThis clever co-production of Stevenson's great story really is a tale of two halvesHow appearances can deceive. Jekyll and Hyde is an intriguin…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:16AM[SHARE]
Sunday, July 19, 2015

Neck of the Woods review " toothless retelling of Red Riding Hood by Susannah Clapp

Home, ManchesterCharlotte Rampling collaborates in a scare-free adaptation of the fairytaleThis year's Manchester international festival has made striking tilts at fairytale and myths. Maxin…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:24AM[SHARE]

Lampedusa review " moving tales of modern injustice by Susannah Clapp

Soho theatre, LondonAnders Lustgarten's stories of injustice, delivered as first-hand testimony, are powerful but ultimately improbableIt is not easy to cry in a small theatre, especially if…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:24AM[SHARE]

The Mentalists review " B&B drama fails to bring home the bacon by Susannah Clapp

Wyndham's, LondonNeither Stephen Merchant nor Steffan Rhodri can elevate Richard Bean's two-hander above the level of whimsyIt's as if you turned up to Centre Court and found yourself watchi…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:24AM[SHARE]
Sunday, July 12, 2015

Pink Mist review " intense, spare theatre by Susannah Clapp

Bristol Old VicOwen Sheers interviewed soldiers recently wounded in Afghanistan for his harrowing tale of young lives shattered by warPink mist is the spray of blood that hangs in the air wh…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:54AM[SHARE]

The Skriker review " extraordinarily prescient by Susannah Clapp

Royal Exchange, ManchesterCaryl Churchill's doom-wreaking Skriker, created 20 years ago, proves to be a primary figure of modern theatreShe would not be welcome as a member of the Garrick Cl…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:54AM[SHARE]
Sunday, July 5, 2015

Measure for Measure review " bravado in merriment by Susannah Clapp

Shakespeare's Globe, LondonDominic Dromgoole's final staging as artistic director turns Shakespeare's troubling problem play into something close to jolly, and is all the bolder for itFive y…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:15AM[SHARE]

The Trial review " Kafka made bland and babbling by Susannah Clapp

Young Vic, LondonNick Gill's adaptation and Richard Jones direction conspire to flatten the novel's tension and mystery, though Rory Kinnear shines throughKafka said he wanted his work to be…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:15AM[SHARE]
Sunday, June 21, 2015

hang review " Marianne Jean-Baptiste's terrible choice in a terrifying space by Susannah Clapp

Royal Court, LondonDebbie Tucker Green directs her own intense crime and punishment dramaCataclysm in a small space. Explosion in lower case. Intensity and obliqueness are defining marks of …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:42AM[SHARE]

The Motherfucker With the Hat review " a brutally funny take on addiction by Susannah Clapp

Lyttelton, LondonAn ex-con struggles to go straight in a vibrant New York dramaThe design alone makes it worth the visit. Robert Jones's set declares the idiom of Stephen Adly Guirgis's 2011…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:42AM[SHARE]

Violence and Son review " you are what you do in the Welsh valleys by Susannah Clapp

What's inherited, what's learned? The dialogue's salty and the performances finely tuned in Gary Owen's Royal Court debutViolence and Son by Gary Owen begins with an electronic sizzle. A boy…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:20AM[SHARE]
Sunday, June 14, 2015

The Red Lion review " Patrick Marber waxes lyrical about the beautiful game by Susannah Clapp

Dorfman, London Fine performances add clout to Patrick Marber's changing-room three-handerIt is 20 years since Patrick Marber burst on to the stage of the National with his sharp-witted poke…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:36AM[SHARE]

Have Your Circumstances Changed? review " magnified domesticity by Susannah Clapp

Former Fads shop, Archway Mall, LondonThree wordless studies of old men in a shop window make a surreal spectacle of ordinary lifeArtangel's new show could hardly have a more suitable settin…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:36AM[SHARE]
Sunday, June 7, 2015

Oresteia review " a terrifying immediacy by Susannah Clapp

Almeida, LondonAn exhilarating present-day reworking of Aeschylus gives free rein to female power"I felt so alive once I'd killed him." As the husband-slayer Clytemnestra, a magnificent Lia …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:34AM[SHARE]

All that Chat

2025-2026 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 12, 2025: Call Me Izzy - Studio 54
Sep 16, 2025: Art - Music Box Theatre
Oct 08, 2025: Beetlejuice - Palace Theatre
Nov 13, 2025: Oedipus - Studio 54
Nov 16, 2025: Chess - Imperial Theatre
Mar 23, 2026: Giant - Music Box Theatre
Apr 06, 2026: Becky Shaw - Hayes Theater
Apr 16, 2026: Proof - Booth Theatre
Apr 26, 2026: Drama Desk Cut-Off