Tuesday, June 6, 2023

‘This is an experiment’: is Hannah Gadsby’s Picasso exhibition really that bad? by Lauren Mechling

The comedian has taken on on the iconic yet problematic artist in a show that’s been instantly slated by critics but their co-curators remain defiantly proud The Brooklyn Museum is always…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:07PM

Recognition review – student’s ode to a neglected composer by Arifa Akbar

Fairfield Halls, LondonIn Talawa theatre company’s show, the story of a modern Black composer is entwined with that of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor There is a potent moment in Recognition when …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:49AM

‘There will be sex!’ Inside A Strange Loop – the queer, Black Broadway megasmash now hitting Britain by Alex Needham

The Pulitzer prize-winning musical shows the world what it’s like ‘to travel in a fat, Black queer body’. Writer Michael R Jackson, a former Lion King usher who based it on his life, r…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:49AM

‘I was living in a fool’s paradise’: Adrienne Kennedy on meeting the Beatles and losing control of her play by Chris Wiegand

The great American playwright, who made her Broadway debut last year aged 91, recounts what happened when she adapted a John Lennon book for Laurence Olivier’s National Theatre In the mid-…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:49AM
Monday, June 5, 2023

The Invisible Man review – an ingenious show you’ll want to see again by Chris Wiegand

Unicorn theatre, LondonConstantly surprising, this fresh take on the ‘it’s behind you!’ routine leaves its young audience asking ‘how did they do that?’ Suppose you put on a play a…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:12AM

‘I want to be part of the rebirth’: the artists bringing creation out of Beirut’s chaos by Guardian Staff

Decades of civil war and economic meltdowns left Lebanon’s people struggling for hope – and then three years ago came the devastating explosion in the capital’s port. But the country�…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:03AM

We interrupt this broadcaster: why did Winston Churchill try to seize the BBC? by Charlotte Higgins

In 1926, with the General Strike looming and the right warning of a Bolshevik revolution, the BBC found itself in a dreadful dilemma. Writer Jack Thorne on why he turned this into ‘a love …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:03AM
Sunday, June 4, 2023

The Card review – a sparkling adaptation of Arnold Bennett’s rags-to-riches comic novel by Clare Brennan

New Vic theatre, Newcastle-under-LymeConrad Nelson’s fast-flowing production, which races through time and space, exemplifies the ingenuity of regional theatre In a recent article for the …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:36AM

The week in theatre: Aspects of Love; Rose; The Shape of Things – review by Kate Kellaway

Lyric; Ambassadors; Park theatre, LondonA superb cast, including opera star Danielle de Niese, elevates Andrew Lloyd Webber’s plodding 80s musical; Maureen Lipman gives a one-woman masterc…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:32AM

Kennedy Junior Muntanga, Ed Mitchell and Petronella Wiehahn review – full of promise by Sarah Crompton

The Place, London This triple bill proves that the Place’s annual Resolution festival can be relied on for thoughtful new choreography, skilfully danced There’s something irresistible ab…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:12AM
Friday, June 2, 2023

Author Ama Ata Aidoo, ‘an inspiration to feminists everywhere’, dies aged 81 by Sarah Shaffi

The Ghanaian playwright and novelist, who also served as her country’s education minister, focused on the modern African woman The Ghanaian writer and academic Ama Ata Aidoo, whose work fo…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:36PM

‘I want it to feel quite feral’: Rebecca Frecknall on staging Romeo and Juliet by Kate Wyver

From Cabaret to Streetcar, the West End’s hottest director has a reputation for finding leads who put bums on seats. ‘I just go on my gut,’ she says How do you tell a story to an audie…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:06AM

Surfing the Holyland review – balanced view of Israel from a surfboard by Arifa Akbar

Caravanserai, BrightonAn Ohioan moves to Israel in this charming solo performance which offers a fresh perspective on the Middle East – plus ukulele songs It is refreshing to hear a story…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:48AM
Thursday, June 1, 2023

Badly behaved theatregoers: ‘A woman urinated in a stairwell adjacent to where we were sitting’ by Tom Ambrose

Guardian readers share their experiences of appalling audience antics, including heckling, eating sushi and being sick in the seats The thorny issue of theatre etiquette has come under the s…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:18PM

‘Rare talent’: Kiln artistic director stands down after 10 years by Geneva Abdul

Indhu Rubasingham’s legacy includes rebrand of north London theatre and bringing culturally diverse voices to stage One of the UK’s foremost artistic directors is standing down from the…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:18PM

Music of the night(club): my enchanted evening at the party that plays only show tunes by Cassie Tongue

Australia’s new pop-up party might sound like your nightmare, but for some of us, to hear the people sing is just sublime Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email There’s something ab…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:36AM

I, Daniel Blake review – Kafkaesque benefits story rekindles righteous anger by Mark Fisher

Northern Stage, Newcastle upon TynePoliticians’ glib statements frame the struggles of one man confounded by a bewildering welfare system, in an adaptation of the Ken Loach film that both …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:36AM

The best theatre to stream this month: Blues for An Alabama Sky, Macbeth and more by Chris Wiegand

Our roundup of drama to enjoy at home includes the National Theatre’s Pearl Cleage revival and David Tennant taking on the Scottish king for the first time Lynette Linton’s consummate Na…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:18AM
Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Panti Bliss review – forceful account of a remarkable life by Brian Logan

Soho theatre, LondonThe Irish drag queen and activist, AKA Rory O’Neill, feelingly recounts her journey in a country long hostile to difference What am I for any more? That’s the questio…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:06AM

The Shape of Things review – seductive sociopaths show cruel intent by Arifa Akbar

Park theatre, LondonThe tension is raised in Neil LaBute’s dark comedy as entitled Evelyn sets about remoulding unworldly Adam from geek to good-looking boyfriend To those uninitiated with…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:06AM
Tuesday, May 30, 2023

‘There’s something Shakespearean about Gareth Southgate’: the epic play about England’s hero by David Hytner

He came back from a disastrous penalty to reignite the English men’s football team – and inspire a country in the grip of gloom. Writer James Graham reveals how he turned the ‘quiet gu…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:36PM

Under the Kundè Tree review – a fractured tale of family strife and colonial uprising by Arifa Akbar

Southwark Playhouse, LondonBoldly directed, lyrically enacted play melds a personal story of rebellion in French Cameroon with the story of independence – but leaves both unfinished The st…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:06AM

Edinburgh international children’s festival review – the playful inner child v the serious grownup by Mark Fisher

Various venues, EdinburghFor children wondering what their parents do all day, many of the delightful shows programmed here will show them that they’re not really so grown up How curious t…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:06AM

Newsroom satire Drop the Dead Donkey to return in stage revival by Chris Wiegand

The stage version of the much-loved sitcom, which finished on TV 25 years ago, will be written by the duo behind the original series and feature several members of the original cast Snooty n…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:42AM
Monday, May 29, 2023

‘They don’t know the rules’: actors hit back at theatregoers phoning, drinking and fighting by Tom Ambrose

What’s it like to star in a play when audience members watch football, ring friends, open lagers or pass round entire chickens? Actors vent their anger at the ‘Netflix mindset’ of the …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:24AM

Britain’s ever-harsher welfare system means that now only the rich can afford to make art | Alex Niven by Alex Niven

Postwar artists wouldn’t have had a chance without affordable housing or social security. When will politicians realise that? When John Lydon sang in 1976 that anarchy was coming to the UK…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:24AM

Encore! Surefire shows returning for the Edinburgh festival in 2023 by Chris Wiegand, Anya Ryan, Brian Logan, Mark Fisher, Kate Wyver, Arifa Akbar and David Jays

In the run-up to the festival, our writers will choose new productions that have caught their eye – but here’s a selection of those we’ve already reviewed Richard Marsh has clearly see…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:24AM

Gypsy review – the ultimate stage mother rules with hard-bitten brashness by Mark Fisher

Pitlochry festival theatreMama Rose drags her two daughters from one vaudeville fleapit to the next in a bulldozer of a role There’s something of the Mother Courage about Mama Rose. Like B…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:48AM
Sunday, May 28, 2023

The Guardian view on excellence in the arts: not about elites | Editorial by Editorial

It is refreshing to hear new ideas, but dividing culture into the best and the rest won’t do anyone any good The arts have taken such a battering in the UK over the last decade that they s…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:42PM

Requiem review – Mozart meets stomping South African movement by Lyndsey Winship

Leeds Grand theatreA double bill from Phoenix Dance Theatre and Opera North contrasts Mozart’s wretched souls with Neo Muyanga’s After Party – two very different ways of dealing with d…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:24AM

Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations review – Eddie Izzard seduces in charismatic one-woman show by Arifa Akbar

Garrick theatre, LondonIzzard uses humour instinctively, helped by Dickens’s love of the exaggerated or comic grotesque Eddie Izzard performing Great Expectations – but why? That questio…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:18AM

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