1,377 stories by "Aleks Sierz"
On my way to see this show, I had to walk across Soho. No fewer than five people asked me for money; one was a real hassle. Yes, I know that the government says that the economy is booming, …
Over the past quarter century the reputation of toff playwright Terence Rattigan has been restored, mainly by strong stagings of his classic dramas, such as Deep Blue Sea. But his first smas…
Dementia is an increasingly common theme in theatre, television and film. But although there are plenty of stories about old people suffering from Alzheimer's, what does it feel like to expe…
Titles don't come much more evocative than this: Valhalla, the gigantic hall in Odin's Asgard where those slain in battle come to feast, is the Norse mythological version of the Islamist fan…
Writer Anthony Horowitz is a busy man. Having written more than 40 books, he has also worked in many media. One year, he's penning another series of the ever-popular Foyle's War; the next he…
The actor and historian Ian Kelly is fascinated by the way that performers use the theatre to understand not only themselves, but also the world. In this new play, he looks at the life and c…
Welcome back Martin McDonagh. It's been more than 10 years since you've had a play on in London, and I was beginning to think that we had lost you to Broadway, and Hollywood, for ever. As yo…
With the election of lefty outsider Jeremy Corbyn to the Labour leadership, are we entering a new era when upsets and surprises have become a new way of life? Is it really true that anything…
When is a monologue not quite a monologue? When it is interrupted by another voice, one that contradicts and argues with it. In Cordelia Lynn's Lela & Co, her Royal Court debut (which is…
We all know what the word "addict" means, but what does it feel like to be one? Thirtysomething Emma " a minor actress played with immense conviction and quirky charm by Denise Gough " knows…
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has not been very prominent in the news recently, but that doesn't mean that it has gone away. As Julia Pascal's 2003 play reminds us, religious and ethnic t…
On contemporary stages, absence is a constant presence. This is very odd if you consider how corporeal and concrete theatre is. Unlike film, which is just light shining on a screen, or books…
The trouble with the classics is that they are long, complex and difficult. But today's sensibility favours the quick, simple and easy. So it is no surprise that the National Theatre have op…
In the age of austerity, it's getting harder and harder to avoid cliché. Especially well-meaning cliché. For example, all cuts to welfare are bad; we must defend government support of the …
The reason that Caryl Churchill is Britain's best living playwright is that her work is endlessly enquiring and peerlessly intelligent. When she wrote this play about the subject of human cl…
One of the most talented playwrights to emerge in 2000s, debbie tucker green is a law unto herself. The best word to describe her is uncompromising. When I interviewed her in 2003 she refuse…
Titles can be warnings as well as come-ons. In Gary Owen's new play about a teenager growing up in the Welsh Valleys, it's not difficult to guess what the main theme of the play is. Stumblin…
Few cities have been so central to the European imagination as Berlin in the 20th century. At the centre of imperial power, then of Weimar, next the hub of Nazi Germany, then for some 50 yea…
St Paul's Cathedral is an icon of national identity. The building that rose up from the fire and smoke of the Blitz has also witnessed the funeral of Winston Churchill in 1965 and the royal …
Today, terrorism means killing as many innocent people as possible. Fear is created by completely random attacks. So that no one feels safe. But there was a time, in the past, when political…
Thank fuck, it's over. I mean the General Election. No more campaigning, no more leader debates, no more anti-Miliband hysteria. But there's still no end to theatre gimmicks that exploit pub…
Recent plays with the verb "to care" in their titles " another is Michael Wynne's Who Cares " suggests that the inequalities of life in Britain today can no longer be treated with our habitu…
Tamasha is a new writing theatre company, which specialises in plays " often adaptations or reimaginings of classics " written from an Asian perspective. As the company celebrates its 25th a…
The trouble with the general election is that while everybody talks about money, nobody talks about ideas. We know the price of everything, but the value of nothing. This might seem to be a …
The NHS is us. Early in this new verbatim play about the National Health Service, one of the characters says that when a sample of Britons was recently asked what the most important institut…
