Samantha Bond: The name's Bond...

Samantha Bond - Moneypenny to Pierce Brosnan's 007 - has left for the stage. It wasn't a painless parting, she tells Claire Allfree

Sorkin's script scores thanks to Lowe's timing By Roderic Dunnett

Mel Smith stubs out plan to defy Scottish smoking ban By Paul Kelbie

The actor Mel Smith avoided a confrontation with Scotland's legal system yesterday when he backed down from smoking on stage at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

'Mack and Mabel': This time it's show time By Rhoda Koenig

The musical has been jolting along on a bumpy road for more than 30 years. Now it's back again, darker, leaner and - its makers hope - poised for success

Compelling Radcliffe exposed by lack of tension By David Lister

Historic night for Alan Bennett as his new play dominates the Olivier awards By Louise Jury

The lone Christian voice who has smoked the Jerry Springer show out of Broadway By Anthony Barnes

Who is Stephen Green? Who does he represent? And how on God's earth did he close a multi-million-pound Broadway show from Camarthen?

Polemic stifles drama in lacklustre Hare By Paul Taylor

Billy loses none of his sparkle as he dances from screen to stage By Paul Taylor

Catherine McCormack: The play's the thing

Catherine McCormack has starred opposite Mel Gibson and Brad Pitt in Hollywood blockbusters. But now she describes some of her big movies as 'shite'. A spell in the theatre is just what she …

Harold Pinter: Not a word out of place

In a rare interview, Harold Pinter tells Louise Jury why precision is the key to a play's success

Sondheim gets to the point

With the first revival of his musical 'Sunday in the Park with George' hitting the West End, the American composer has crossed the Atlantic to 'give his two cents', as he tells Louise Jury

Theatres to be banned from turning bad reviews into a show of support By Stephen Castle

And now for something completely funny... By Paul Taylor

When I saw it in New York, I thought the show was too sealed off from the screwy, dangerously re-wired world we live in. Now I think it is a soothing and soaring vacation from it.

Leading man walks out after Shields' arrival in 'Chicago' By Cahal Milmo

When Brooke Shields took to the stage of the Adelphi Theatre for her opening night in Chicago on Thursday, everything was set for a glittering West End debut.

Richard II By Michael Coveney

There's no virtue like necessity as Spacey gives an eloquent answers to his critics

Redgraves in last-ditch fight to save their theatre By Sara Newman

Six-hour Pullman adaptation is a hit, but it's too long for some by Jonathan Thompson and Sarah Weaver

Nathan Lane: Hollywood, homophobia and Mel Brooks

Nathan Lane spent years as a jobbing actor. Then a leading role in 'The Producers' turned him into US theatre's hottest star. As the musical comes to the big screen, he tells David Usborne a…

The Producers: How to produce a stinker
Reviewed by Anthony Quinn

Arts Council pulls plug on 'Jerry Springer the Opera' By Arifa Akbar

Julia Roberts makes her Broadway debut

Julia Roberts' Broadway debut is hardly challenging. But that hasn't stopped New Yorkers falling under her spell. Rhoda Koenig joins a preview audience

Stars and strife: Sir Peter Hall accuses Hollywood big names of strangling British theatre By Anthony Barnes

Rob Lowe is the latest in a line of good-looking, famous faces from America to be hired to fill playhouses over here. But the obsession with Tinseltown glamour is choking more creative talen…

Imagine: a 'Lennon' musical without the Beatles' hits By David Usborne

Some critics are calling it the latest of the "jukebox" musicals to hit New York in the vein of (the wildly successful) Mama Mia. But this jukebox takes $100 bills only and is, I fear, a mig…

Godot will have to wait, theatre tells 'furious' Sir Peter Hall By Anthony Barnes

Director claims Barbican is stopping him staging 50th-anniversary production of Samuel Beckett's famous play