1,377 stories by "Aleks Sierz"
Dramatic national events such as riots tend to attract verbatim theatre practitioners like smashed shop windows attract looters. In this new play, Alecky Blythe " who specialises in recordin…
There is so much public anxiety about paedophiles on the internet that it's surprising that so few plays tackle the issue. Now Los Angeles playwright Jennifer Haley brings her new play on th…
While it is something of a cliché to be reminded that forgetting the past is a sure way of repeating it, the problems of the Middle East are so acute that this thought might be worth taking…
Olivier, National, London: Helen McCrory returns to the National Theatre in the title role of Euripides' play about a woman who kills her children in revenge for her husband Jason'…
Plays about religious belief present something of a problem. How can theatre-makers, who tend to be very secular-minded, convey the mindset of believers without being patronising? And once t…
When, before the great Miners' Strike of 1984-85, Britain still had a coal industry, the miner was at the centre of a never-ending class war: you saw him either as an honest proletarian, in …
The National Theatre delayed the opening of this play about newspapers for two weeks as it waited for the results of the phone-hacking trial. Is this what a tabloid would call "legal health …
Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, London: Theatremaker Tim Crouch makes his main-stage debut at this venue with a new play that explores the world of contemporary art and questions the…
Theatre-maker Tim Crouch has a thing about art. One of his plays, ENGLAND, was performed in art galleries across the world; another was called An Oak Tree, after the 1973 conceptual art piec…
Some days, I feel very sorry for playwrights, especially those that become notorious through no fault of their own. If their most famous play causes enough controversy, it can take decades b…
National Theatre, London: Polly Stenham makes her National Theatre debut, after her runaway success at the Royal Court with That Face and its follow ups, Tusk Tusk and No Quarter. This time,…
Posh hotels are good settings for drama. They look cool, feel alien and can soon acquire a sense of claustrophobic intensity. Most importantly, in real life they feel like stage sets. Playwr…
New writing for British stages has recently delivered several punchy plays that, having made their points, don't hang around for long afterwards. With a running time of 70 minutes, Rachel De…
When I first heard that the new play from Out of Joint was about the NHS I thought this might be a delayed result of the Opening Ceremony of the London Olympics: all those prancing nurses su…
A play about belief? I must admit I was immediately intrigued. After all, most of the people I know are either atheists or don't usually talk about a world beyond our own. To use a hackneyed…
How careless are we about the details of our private life? Well, unsurprisingly the answer is "very". To make this point, playwright James Graham explores the subject not only by means of ve…
Almeida Theatre, London: Mike Bartlett makes his Almeida Theatre debut with this "future history play" set in the time when Prince Charles becomes king. As well as being based on a…
Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, London: Simon Stephens loves German theatre: ever since his collaboration with Sebastian Nubling on plays such as Pornography and Three Kingdoms, he h…
If rock is magic, then what about its creators? Are they wonderful magicians, or empty charlatans? Infused by the spirit of the Patti Smith song of the same name, playwright Simon Stephens's…
Are the 2010s a rerun of the 1980s? You know that familiar feeling of déjà vu: economic collapse, royal wedding and Tories in power. Not to mention privatization and the spirit of rampan…
I must confess to feeling a warm tremble every time I hear "I Vow to Thee, My Country", a result of the potent mix of Gustav Holst's stately music and Cecily Spring Rice's allusive words. So…
How do you explore extremes of feeling on stage? In cult pen-master Philip Ridley's new play, a 75-minute monologue that won plaudits in Edinburgh last year, he takes us by the hand and thro…
Political farces always start with a distinct disadvantage " the reality is so much sillier than the fictional version. Never mind, if anyone can make a stage comedy funny it is Ray Cooney, …
Gate Theatre, London: In its 35th anniversary year, and for its Beginnings Season, this venue is staging the British premiere of Spanish playwright Rodrigo Garcia's monologue, in which …
This venue continues its promotion of American drama with another prize-winning play from across the pond. Hot on the heels of Gina Gionfriddo's Rapture, Blister, Burn, with its casting of E…
