1,386 stories by "Aleks Sierz"
Is there a danger that a show can be oversold? Sarah Ruhl's In the Next Room sounds innocuous enough " until you read its subtitle: The Vibrator Play. Marketed as the most provocative drama …
The Shed, National Theatre, London: Debbie Tucker Green makes her National Theatre debut in the venue's successful temporary space, which is dedicated to adventurous and experimental wo…
One of the best kept secrets about contemporary theatre is that audiences rather like short plays. Of course, there's nothing wrong with epic classics, but sometimes it makes a change to wit…
The comedy of manners is not dead. It's alive and kicking, often literally, at this north London venue in actor Simon Paisley Day's new play. Although the title suggests a group of teenagers…
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, Royal Court, London: The fact that you can find good actors for a large-cast play set in Kashmir sends a positive message about our multicultural society. This play…
The Royal Court is justly proud of being the home of British new writing, but it is also a venue which has a great tradition of staging work from abroad. From bringing Brecht and Beckett her…
Is this the year's most controversial play? When it opened at Edinburgh in August, David Greig's The Events created a stir because its depiction of the aftermath of an atrocity is reminiscen…
British theatre is obsessed with the new, with novelty. And one of the obvious casualties of this is old plays that are not by Ibsen or Chekhov. Plays that feature in every history of Britis…
The life of Margaret Thatcher seems to draw sympathetic writers like wasps to a particularly sweet jam. In 2011, playwright and screenwriter Abi Morgan gave us a portrait of the first female…
Royal Court, Jerwood Upstairs, London: Following the outstanding success of her first play, The Westbridge, in 2011, Rachel De-lahay - who came to the Royal Court through their Unheard Voice…
You could call it the iceberg syndrome. It's a work of art that is a flash, a sliver or an imprint: think of a passport photograph, a cheap trinket or a half-finished graffiti. Yet beneath t…
Bush Theatre, London: The debut play by the Olivier award-winning actor Rory Kinnear (currently playing Iago in Othello at the National Theatre) is being staged at <a href="http://ww…
Once a staple of British drama, the middle-class family play has recently, after about a decade of being unfashionable, made a remarkable comeback. This current example is the playwriting de…
Berkoff is back. The legendary actor, director, playwright and author has just finished a stint on stage in Edinburgh and is about to open a new production in the West End. Steven Berkoff's …
In playwriting, there's near-perfection, perfection and oh-my-God-how-I-wish-I'd-written-that. Terry Johnson's Hysteria, which was first staged at the Royal Court 20 years ago, is definitely…
Royal Court, Jerwood Downstairs, London: At long last Dennis Kelly makes his Royal Court debut. The talented playwright, who has demonstrated his versatility by writing the book for Matilda …
Since his arrival about a decade ago, Dennis Kelly has proved himself to be a master of versatility. He has written in-yer-face shockers such as Osama the Hero and Orphans, elaborate experim…
Trafalgar Studios, London: Jamie Lloyd's third production for the Trafalgar Transformed season is Alexi Kaye Campbell's multi-award-winning debut play, The Pride, which he first st…
Is there such a thing as a gay play? As opposed to a play by a gay writer, or one which has some gay content or is about gay characters. The programme to this atmospheric and moving revival …
Donmar Warehouse, London: Josie Rourke, artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse, continues her support of young award-winning playwright Nick Payne, whose debut - If There is I Haven'…
Britain today: while the total of car crashes is falling the number of whiplash claims is rising by 25 per cent. Yes, the compensation culture is speeding ahead. In Nick Payne's follow up to…
There's a united nations of Great Britain feel about this site-specific Royal Court show: it is a National Theatre of Scotland piece played at the London Welsh Centre as a co-production with…
With site specific shows it's a natural urge to start by reviewing the location. And I'm not strong enough to resist this temptation. So here goes. This new piece by American playwright Anni…
Some plays have such historic significance that it is surprising that they are not revived more often. I blame the obsession with novelty that characterises our culture. So it's great to see…
When any arts institution gets a new head, the media scrutiny of their first work is usually intense. The Royal Court theatre's new artistic director, Vicky Featherstone, has defused this te…
