Tuesday, January 27, 2026

‘Let’s get raunchy!’ Gentleman Jack, the TV hit about an audacious lesbian landowner, is back as a ballet by Lyndsey Winship

She has based ballets on Frida Kahlo, Coco Chanel and Eva Perón. So Annabelle Lopez Ochoa was well placed to take on the passionate, complicated figure of Anne Lister A couple dance across …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:31PM

Letitia Wright, Cate Blanchett and Sandra Oh to star in National Theatre shows by Lanre Bakare Arts and Culture Correspondent

Lineup for 2026 includes a Molière adaptation and a mash-up of Sophocles and Ingmar Bergman Cate Blanchett, Sandra Oh and Letitia Wright will form part of the National Theatre’s starry, f…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:24AM
Monday, January 26, 2026

Sadiq Ali Company: Tell Me review – poignant tale of sex, revelry and glistening abs amid the 80s Aids crisis by Lyndsey Winship

The Place, LondonSadiq Ali’s intimate dance piece follows a woman with an HIV diagnosis at a time when it was misunderstood and stigmatised In the programme note for Tell Me, its creator …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:54AM

A Grain of Sand review – a child’s eye view of the horror in Gaza by Arifa Akbar

Arcola theatre, LondonBeguiling but deeply disturbing verbatim solo show is based on testimony of Gazan children and relates the confusion and tragedy of war Eleven-year-old Renad dreams of…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:48AM

The Traitors to get ‘bold and surprising’ adaptation for stage by Mark Brown

Makers of TV series to work with Sam Mendes’ production company on theatre show to open in London in 2027 There’s the wildly popular TV series, a two-hour immersive experience, a board g…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:31AM
Sunday, January 25, 2026

‘I don’t go around telling people I love the Spice Girls’: Mo Gilligan’s honest playlist by As Told To Rich Pelley

The comedian’s dad got him into Bob Marley, and Jamiroquai takes him to another dimension. But which girl band classic does he secretly love? The first single I bought Rollout (My Busines…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:12AM

‘She was a bitch in the best possible way’: the life and mysterious death of drag queen Heklina by Tom Faber

The performer was found dead in ‘unexpected’ circumstances in her London flat in 2023. Why are her loved ones still waiting for an explanation? In commemorations and memorials after her…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:12AM

The Olive Boy review – a teenager’s love letter to mothers everywhere by Kate Wyver

Southwark Playhouse, LondonOllie Maddigan’s open-hearted solo show about a motherless 15-year-old is full of crude comedy and swaggering confidence – until it exposes the grief undernea…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:12AM

My Life With Kenneth Williams review – raconteur resurrected by an extraordinary mimic by Brian Logan

Circle and Star theatre, LondonTouring to mark the diarist and Carry On star’s centenary year, David Benson’s poignant show covers the full spectrum of what made Williams so funny, belov…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06AM
Friday, January 23, 2026

Guess How Much I Love You? review – shattering portrait of a pregnancy in crisis by Arifa Akbar

Royal Court theatre, London Rosie Sheehy and Robert Aramayo excel as a couple reeling from an ultrasound scan in Luke Norris’s extraordinary play The trigger warnings are handed to us on a…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:36AM

Tell us your UK town of culture nomination by Guardian Community Team

We would like to hear your suggestions for the UK’s first town of culture With the search for the UK’s first town of culture under way, we would like to hear your suggestions. Guardian w…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:31AM

Beautiful Little Fool review – F Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald musical needs jazzing up by Emma John

Southwark Playhouse Borough, LondonDespite the vocal bravura of the cast, this show doesn’t capture the Jazz Age power couple’s dazzle or darkness For decades people have been seeking to…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:31AM

Pierre Novellie: You Sit There, I’ll Stand Here review – gags so good that resistance is futile by Brian Logan

Soho theatre, London The standup mines familiar comedy scenarios, but dazzling one-liners and shaggy dog stories elevate the set Pierre Novellie protests that life is getting harder for obse…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:18AM

Keala Settle on life after the Greatest Showman: ‘I ran from fear – I drank, took pills, all of it’ by Deborah Linton

The Broadway performer shot to fame without a safety net in The Greatest Showman. The resulting public scrutiny was painful, she says, but it was the ideal grounding to step into the shoes o…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:18AM
Thursday, January 22, 2026

Rotus: Receptionist of the United States review – spiky Maga satire with a seriously funny star by Hannah J Davies

Park theatre, LondonLeigh Douglas plays a sorority girl turned White House receptionist – as well as lecherous side characters – in a timely show This show arrives in London in a week th…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:06AM

‘A split second of sheer terror – and we’re off’: Lucian Msamati on Waiting for Godot’s electrifying first night by Lucian Msamati

The Gangs of London star returned to the stage alongside Ben Whishaw in a 2024 production of Samuel Beckett’s masterpiece. In this diary of the first preview, he describes passing the poin…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:24AM
Wednesday, January 21, 2026

Our Town review: Michael Sheen brings warmth and wit to a Welsh-set Our Town by Arifa Akbar

Thornton Wilder’s classic American play is transposed for the inaugural production of National Theatre Wales. The result is heartfelt, though its emotional bite can feel uncertain A reviva…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:01PM

‘The most dangerous man in America’: how Paul Robeson went from Hollywood to blacklist by Howard Bryant

The groundbreaking singer, actor and athlete became a victim of McCarthyism and saw his shining career destroyed and his legacy tarnished In August 1972, the front page of the New York Times…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:18PM

I Do review – immersive hotel drama as wonderful as a real wedding day by Arifa Akbar

Malmaison hotel, LondonTheatregoers move from room to room as emotional messiness is laid bare with spirited bridesmaids, painful encounters and ‘call it all off’ nerves When isn’t the…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:02AM

A new Henry V is a barometer of our times – what can Shakespeare’s war play tell us amid global chaos? | Michael Billington by Michael Billington

Revivals of this history play usually reflect the politics of the moment. Now a fresh RSC retelling arrives in a world of instability and fractured alliances I have long argued that Shakespe…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:48AM

‘A new form of theater’: can Ian McKellen, 52 cameras and ‘mixed reality’ reinvent a medium? by Adrian Horton

At the Shed in New York, attendees wearing enhanced glasses are witnessing an experimental new play where actors appear in video form You sit in a circle at the Shed, the cultural center in …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:42AM

Safe Haven review – Kurds left on the sidelines of diplomat-driven drama by Arifa Akbar

Arcola theatre, LondonChris Bowers, a former British diplomat in Iraqi Kurdistan, brings authenticity but not enough human drama to his play about the 1991 Kurdish uprising This historical d…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:31AM

Scene changers: on the road with the experimental Pip Simmons theatre group – in pictures by All Photographs By Sheila Burnett

The maverick theatre-maker Pip Simmons, who died two years ago aged 80, is captured on stage and off in a book by photographer Sheila Burnett documenting the radical troupe’s years of Euro…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:24AM
Tuesday, January 20, 2026

‘To me, Lady Macbeth sounds like Tina Turner’: the all-female musical mashup about to rock the RSC by Arifa Akbar

In All Is But Fantasy, the fates of Juliet, Lady Macbeth, Cleopatra and more are given a thrilling twist by US writer, director and singer Whitney White. She talks about untimely deaths – …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:06PM

Yorke Dance Project: Modern Milestones review – a bold and brilliant night by Lyndsey Winship

Linbury theatre, LondonThese gems, old and new, include an intense revival of Martha Graham’s Deep Song and a new piece by Christopher Bruce set to Leonard Cohen songs Wow, the energy in a…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:42AM

Between the bars: theatrical gig about life after prison reveals hard truths of homecoming by Arusa Qureshi

A Giant on the Bridge, performed by a ‘Scottish indie folk supergroup’, draws on dozens of interviews about the confines former prisoners experience on the outside When we talk about cri…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:31AM
Monday, January 19, 2026

The Trump-Kennedy Center is another front in the battle for the soul of America | Charlotte Higgins by Charlotte Higgins

Under Trump, the world-class centre for performing arts is one of many US cultural institutions changing beyond recognition. Will others buckle? A year ago – just a year ago – the Kenned…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:42AM

‘I love that there’s this big gay thing in the middle of Scotland’: Ian McKellen and Graham Norton join Alan Cumming for Out in the Hills by Mark Fisher

New LGBTQ+ festival included McKellen in a fiery monologue and Norton in conversation, as well as a queer ceilidh and ‘kilted yoga’ Sir Ian McKellen is on stage blowing up a red balloon.…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:42AM

‘I’ve had to fight tooth and nail’: Amber Davies on Strictly trolls, Love Island hunks – and her Legally Blonde no-brainer by Lyndsey Winship

She started out performing in her living room, charging £1.50 a ticket. Now, having blazed through Love Island and silenced her Strictly haters, the Welsh sensation is really hitting the bi…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:02AM
Sunday, January 18, 2026

Paul MacLeavy obituary by Julie Peoples

My father, Paul MacLeavy, who has died aged 78, was a drainage engineer and, later in life, a professional magician. Magic had been a hobby while Paul earned his living as a council employee…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:06PM

What’s Wrong With Benny Hill? review – a vivid reminder of what millions once found hilarious by Brian Logan

White Bear theatre, LondonMark Carey’s play asks why the former best-loved man on TV has been so thoroughly expunged from our comedy pantheon – but doesn’t have a great deal to add TV …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:31AM

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