Saturday, October 19, 2013
Royal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon; Little Angel, LondonDavid Tennant isn't the only reason to rush to Greg Doran's exceptional production of Richard IIIt has been promoted as Da…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:09PMThe National Theatre showcases what is going on – and what should be going on – in theatres across the countrySusannah Clapp is the Observer's theatre critic.The National is the answer t…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, October 12, 2013
Donmar Warehouse; Lyttelton, London; Nottingham PlayhouseJessica Raine and Linda Bassett captivate in an essential Wesker revival. And The Light Princess needs to be darkerJames Macdonald's …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06PMSaturday, October 5, 2013
Almeida, London; Watford Palace; Menier, LondonRichard Eyre's powerfully intimate version of Ibsen's Ghosts is a triumph. And can you still make real drama out of the internet?Richard Eyre's…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:07PMSaturday, September 28, 2013
Royal Court; Arts; Print Room, LondonRachel De-lahay returns with spiky tales of immigration and exile, while society florist Constance Spry blossoms anewIt's two years since Rachel De-lahay…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, September 21, 2013
Old Vic; Noël Coward; Bush, LondonMark Rylance's Much Ado About Nothing positively creaks, while Rory Kinnear makes a promising debut as a playwrightIt's hard to believe that Mark Rylance d…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:07PMSaturday, September 14, 2013
Royal Court; Hampstead; Tricycle, London There's a surprising start for Vicky Featherstone's first season at the Royal CourtVicky Featherstone has started her reign as artistic director of t…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06PMSaturday, August 24, 2013
Trafalgar Studios, London; Theatre Royal, BathA drama about sexual liberation since the 50s leaves theatregoers giggling and wriggling"To Russia with Love", say the placards carried by the c…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06PMSaturday, August 17, 2013
International Climbing Arena, Ratho; Royal Lyceum; King's, EdinburghTechnology has been the watchword at Edinburgh, with varying fortunes for a large-scale sci-fi adventure, a hi-t…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, August 10, 2013
Donmar; Lyttelton; Regent's Park Open Air, LondonNick Payne's insurance-fraud drama doesn't quite add up. And Pirandello in Irish guise can't compete with al fresco Von TrappsIs this the sta…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:07PMSaturday, August 3, 2013
Theatre Royal, Bath; Southwark Playhouse; Welsh Centre, LondonIt does make sense. It doesn't make enough nonsense. Lucy Bailey's production of King Lear, set mostly in the 1960s – cocktail…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, July 20, 2013
Temple Studios, 31 London Street, London; Campfield Market Hall; Albert Hall, ManchesterI find it hard now to imagine the theatrical landscape without Punchdrunk. Stumbling upon The Firebird…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06PMSaturday, July 13, 2013
St Peter's church, Manchester; Rose Lipman Building; Corner of Leytonstone library, LondonMired in mud, smeared with blood, witchily gibbering and fighting so close to the audience that spec…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, July 6, 2013
Palace, Manchester; Globe; Rose Lipman Building, LondonManchester international festival has always been theatrically lively. This year's programme looks the strongest yet. It opens with a c…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:07PMMonday, July 1, 2013
Theatre Royal Drury Lane, LondonToo static, too visually blaring, too short on tunes, too mechanical, too unimaginative. I have not disliked a whopping show so much since Chitty Chitty Bang …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:00AMSaturday, June 29, 2013
Minerva, Chichester Festival TheatreAccording to David Edgar, the coalition is a bit like Ikea. Yellow and blue and hard to put together. And the Tory party manifesto is done up to look like…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06PMSaturday, June 22, 2013
Noël Coward; Donmar; Royal Court, LondonThe Michael Grandage plan is working. Stars and cheap tickets are bringing new audiences to his West End season, with 25% of the tickets going to fir…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:04PMIt's high time we dragged theatres into the 21st century by introducing some long-overdue changesLast week, I suffered an unwelcome theatrical first. In 16 years as the Observer's theatre cr…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:01PMSaturday, June 15, 2013
Dundee Rep; Olivier; Old Vic, LondonIt's hard to believe that the National Theatre of Scotland has been going only seven years. In an age of free-floating, out-of-building theatres, this com…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, June 8, 2013
Lyttelton; Globe; Young Vic, LondonThe postcodes at the top of this column tell a theatrical story. The South Bank is the new West End. Over the past 10 years this strip has become essential…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, June 1, 2013
Almeida; Hampstead, LondonRupert Goold doesn't take over as artistic director until August, but already there is a glimmer of him at the Almeida in this joint production with his Headlong co…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06PMSaturday, May 18, 2013
Young Vic; Park theatre; Trafalgar Studios, LondonIn the past year the Young Vic has staged a whirling Doll's House and a Three Sisters that danced to Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit. Now …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:07PMSaturday, May 11, 2013
Directed by Michael Rosen, this year's Brighton festival captures the spirit of the city, from militant circus to missing relativesThis is the year the Brighton festival took off. The shows …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:07PMSaturday, May 4, 2013
Globe, London; Minerva, Chichester; Donmar, LondonColin Morgan from Merlin is Ariel, bringing his smooth magic to the South Bank. Limber, honey-voiced, swinging from a lintel, he is eerily s…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, April 27, 2013
Olivier, LondonThese days it's becoming hard to write about the theatre without praising Nicholas Hytner. Can't he do something wrong so that we critics can start looking less like courtiers…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:07PMBattersea Arts Centre, LondonLittle Bulb is the cause of big joy. The larky, lyrical company, most of whom graduated from the University of Kent only five years ago, have taken over BAC with…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, April 20, 2013
The Shed; Lyttelton, LondonNicholas Hytner's departure is not the only change under way at the National. By the time a new artistic director arrives in 2015, large swaths of the once controv…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:08PMNuffield, SouthamptonWe're living in an era of strong and radical Chekhov productions. We've had them from Benedict Andrews at the Young Vic, Russell Bolam at Southwark, Andrew Hilton a…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, April 13, 2013
Royal Court, London; Royal Exchange, Manchester; Phoenix, LondonIt's a tribute to Nicholas Hytner's mighty reign at the National that the news of his standing down outshone, or outdarkened, …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06PMSaturday, March 30, 2013
Noël Coward; Royal Court, LondonJudi Dench begins tight as an oyster, encrusted with age and depression and disappointment. She opens and lightens and unstiffens as she remembers the dance …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:05PMSaturday, March 23, 2013
Women are finally getting the chance to make a massive impact in the arts, argues the Observer's theatre criticThis is the difference that a woman at the top of an arts organisation can make…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:06PM 
