All stories by Vanessa Thorpe Arts on BroadwayStars

Monday, January 15, 2024

Dracula writer Bram Stoker revealed as a humble minute taker for actor charity by Vanessa Thorpe Arts and Media Correspondent

Before publishing his vampire classic in 1897, the author was employed as a personal secretary at the Actors’ Benevolent Fund The imagination of Bram Stoker gave life to one of literature�…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:48AM

Peter Capaldi says posh actors are smooth, confident and tedious by Vanessa Thorpe Arts and Media Correspondent

The Doctor Who and Thick of It actor laments the lack of support for emerging talent from working-class backgrounds • Read the full interview with Peter Capaldi Britain’s cast of leading…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:48AM
Sunday, January 14, 2024

Move over Abba: new ‘riskier’ wave of British musicals to challenge West End’s established order by Vanessa Thorpe Arts and Media Correspondent

Theatreland is taking a gamble on a wave of quirky little shows to challenge the big but tired box office beasts A fresh kind of musical theatre show, set apart by having started life on th…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:32PM
Sunday, October 29, 2023

Raac and the Beanstalk: town pantos forced to move as theatres shut by crumbling concrete by Vanessa Thorpe Arts and Media Correspondent

Venues across the UK closed over building safety fears sprinkle a little magic to keep their shows on the road Every good pantomime needs a menacing villain to threaten all the fun, and this…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:13AM
Sunday, September 10, 2023

We owe it all to Mike Yarwood, say pioneer impressionist’s heirs by Vanessa Thorpe Arts and Media Correspondent

The 1970s star blazed the way for mass-audience satire in Britain. But is there an appetite for it now? As the entertainment world mourns the death at 82 of Britain’s most popular televis…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:43AM
Sunday, August 13, 2023

Exit, pursued by stress: bosses of smaller UK theatres quit in droves by Vanessa Thorpe Arts and Media Correspondent

String of vacancies at regional arts venues grows as funding and staffing crisis worsens Running a theatre has become a seriously unappealing job, according to many of those working at Brita…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:55AM
Monday, April 10, 2023

‘They are the crucial buyers’: theatres tap into the power of female readers by Vanessa Thorpe Arts and Media Correspondent

The Time Traveler’s Wife and Hamnet are among novels written, and largely read, by women coming to the British stage Female readers are the acknowledged force behind the market in publishe…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:36AM
Sunday, January 8, 2023

‘It’s my Mousetrap’: Michael Frayn on Noises Off, a farce to be reckoned with by Vanessa Thorpe Arts and Media Correspondent

The 1982 play stills pulls in crowds from Broadway to Helsinki, and is now returning to the West End for a fifth time. ‘I just can’t understand it,’ says its creator The arrival of a…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:00AM
Sunday, January 9, 2022

The last dance? Why prima ballerinas are turning away from the tutu by Vanessa Thorpe Arts and Media Correspondent

Leading dancers and directors say they find the classic costume both physically and artistically restrictive The ballerina’s tutu remains a traditional object of desire for many young girl…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:06AM
Saturday, March 28, 2020

Guardian to stream Hampstead theatre shows during shutdown by Vanessa Thorpe Arts and Media Correspondent

Acclaimed productions will be available to watch on Guardian site as coronavirus outbreak continues Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage The Guardian website is…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:54PM
Saturday, December 7, 2019

Real-time polling station play The Vote returns for election night by Vanessa Thorpe Arts and Media Correspondent

Catherine Tate, Mark Gatiss and Nina Sosanya star in James Graham and Josie Rourke’s theatrical experiment The play The Vote, a theatrical experiment broadcast live on television on electi…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:48PM
Saturday, July 6, 2019

West End rediscovers the pure joy of farce (and missing trousers) by Vanessa Thorpe Arts and Media Correspondent

Broad stage theatre comedy full of plot twists, puns and frantic action is finding a new audienceThe stage is set like a hotel bedroom where a scantily clad woman is hiding inside a wardrobe…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:54PM

National Theatre defends asking lesbians to leave bar by Vanessa Thorpe Arts and Media Correspondent

Women claim staff did not ‘like the T-shirts we are wearing’ but NT says the action was ‘a result of a series of disturbances’ The National Theatre has become embroiled in a bitter w…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:54PM
Sunday, March 24, 2019

Hamilton’s young star says Britain must confront its colonial past by Vanessa Thorpe Arts and Media Correspondent

Jamael Westman explains how his role in the West End show has affected his politics as well as his careerThe swift rise to fame of Jamael Westman, leading man in the London cast of the hit m…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:00AM
Sunday, September 9, 2018

New life for historic theatre as it faces up to ‘slave trade’ past by Vanessa Thorpe Arts and Media Correspondent

Bristol’s Old Vic confronts its controversial 250-year-old past on its relaunch after a £25m faceliftOne of the oldest theatres in Europe, Bristol Old Vic, is finally to have a proper fro…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:48AM
Saturday, August 25, 2018

Rose Matafeo wins Edinburgh best comedy show award by Vanessa Thorpe Arts and Media Correspondent

New Zealander’s show about sex and modern social mores scoops top comedy gongThe New Zealander Rose Matafeo has won the coveted best comedy show award at the Edinburgh Fringe festival.Her …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:06AM
Sunday, July 8, 2018

Why does British theatre leave working-class actors waiting in the wings? by Vanessa Thorpe Arts and Media Correspondent

Poorer drama students face an uphill struggle, with funding cuts and rising fees. But British theatre may be the loser unless more actors from a range of backgrounds take centre stageWhen Ir…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:54AM
Saturday, June 30, 2018

What’s trickier than Brexit? Writing a TV drama about it by Vanessa Thorpe Arts and Media Correspondent

Dramatists behind a C4 film and two plays about the referendum must contend with the way facts and key players in this divisive issue are still shiftingIt is the divisive issue that will com…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:54AM
Saturday, April 21, 2018

Stage hit celebrates the weatherman who prevented D-Day disaster by Vanessa Thorpe Arts and Media Correspondent

Story of Scottish meteorologist James Stagg’s crucial intervention in Operation Overlord comes to the West End in tense drama PressureA tense historical drama celebrating the D-day interve…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:42PM
Saturday, November 25, 2017

Shirley Porter’s London housing scandal to be relived on stage near Grenfell Tower by Vanessa Thorpe Arts and Media Correspondent

Director of theatre near fire that killed 71 people picks play about gerrymandering in 1980s as debut productionA play about a notorious social housing scandal is to be staged in a new theat…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:48PM
Saturday, November 18, 2017

London diners get immersed in the jazz age, Bombay style by Vanessa Thorpe Arts and Media Correspondent

Actors reproduce lost world of ‘Indian noir’ in former art deco department store, which will afterwards become part of the Dishoom restaurant chainAmid clouds of cigarette smoke and the …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:04AM
Saturday, July 29, 2017

Globe director Emma Rice embroiled in new funding controversy by Vanessa Thorpe Arts and Media Correspondent

Rival arts organisations cry foul at award of £2m in Arts Council funding to her next theatrical venture, Wise ChildrenThe beleaguered stage director Emma Rice, who is to step down from run…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:04PM
Saturday, June 17, 2017

Theatreland reinvents the musical – with politics, porn and Meat Loaf by Vanessa Thorpe Arts and Media Correspondent

A singalong show about the collapse of Kids Company may seem unpromising, but productions like it are already proving big hits with audiencesFor many theatregoers a big night out on the town…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:12PM

Ute Lemper leaves the Weimar’s dark bars to bring positivity to her British audience by Vanessa Thorpe Arts and Media Correspondent

Cabaret star hopes new show based on Paulo Coehlo’s work will inspire UK fansUte Lemper, the queen of dark and subversive cabaret, is known for her interpretation of the bleak songs of Kur…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:12PM
Saturday, February 4, 2017

Dodie Smith’s classic bohemian romance hopes to capture hearts in musical revival by Vanessa Thorpe Arts and Media Correspondent

Coming-of-age novel I Capture the Castle is adapted for the stageOne of Britain’s most popular romantic novels, Dodie Smith’s coming-of-age classic I Capture the Castle, beloved of write…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:18PM
Saturday, December 24, 2016

JB Priestley works enjoy remarkable renaissance by Vanessa Thorpe Arts and Media Correspondent

Works of author and playwright once dismissed as voice of bygone era are now being brought to new audiences”Dated” and “unfashionably sedate”: some of the judgments on JB Priestley�…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:33AM
Saturday, June 11, 2016

A summer of doomed romance: how West End fell in love with longing by Vanessa Thorpe Arts and Media Correspondent

From Tristan and Isolde to Romeo and Juliet, star-crossed lovers are taking to the London stage. What makes the drama of thwarted desire so compelling?Whatever the temperature outside, the W…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:08PM
Saturday, April 9, 2016

Is Denise Gough’s star turn the latest in theatre’s greatest ever performances? by Vanessa Thorpe Arts and Media Correspondent

Her turn in new play Peoples, Places, Things is what the critics call a tour de force: the kind remembered long after the final curtainEvery two or three theatrical seasons a performance com…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:39PM
Saturday, March 19, 2016

Calais refugee camp theatre stages a double encore by Vanessa Thorpe Arts and Media Correspondent

The makeshift stage on which A-list stars entertained migrants in Calais is now to be rebuilt in two locations, vow the two young British playwrights behind the schemeThe refugee theatre in …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:26PM
Saturday, February 27, 2016

New study exposes ‘class ceiling’ that deters less privileged actors by Vanessa Thorpe Arts and Media Correspondent

Research reveals 73% of performers in British theatre and film are from middle-classA major academic study released to the Observer this weekend reveals the extent to which actors from relat…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:44PM
Saturday, November 28, 2015

Theatre director’s magic wand turns Sleeping Beauty into a prince by Vanessa Thorpe Arts and Media Correspondent

Bristol Old Vic show is latest theatrical production to use a gender swap to tackle stereotypesIt is the classic fairytale that has fired the imaginations of generations of young girls. But …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:01AM

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