878 stories by "Ian Foster"
In Natalie Dormer and David Oakes' hands, directed by Patrick Marber, the continual fluctuations in the relationship between actor and director, man and woman, sub and dom, are gripping thro…
British theatre's amour fou for Florian Zeller continues apace with another of his comedies making it over to London but are we approaching diminishing returns as we delve deeper into his ba…
Emma Rice's tenure at Shakespeare's Globe is winding to its close - the outdoor season is done but there's still a winter's worth of programming in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse to get through.
First things first, the foyer is extremely spacious and rather beautifully lit. So whilst there were hefty queues at the box office and the bar, there was still plenty of room to mill about,…
Comrade Rockstar is based on the properly fascinating tale of Dean Reed, an American singer known as the Soviet Elvis after he defected to the other side of the Iron Curtain at the height of…
The blurb for Graeme of Thrones mentions it could be seen as "an introduction for the unenlightened" but let's be frank, to expect a rapid-fire comedy show to catch you up on seven seasons o…
"I feel like my life's turning on the toss of a coin"There's something about the sweet spot as the embers of a house party start to die out - people lingering behind usually there for a reas…
There's something rather delicious about the winner of the Theatre503's International Playwriting Award hailing from Sunderland but a Mackem Andrew Thompson is, and what a winner In Event of…
Nothing becomes Medea (or at least this version of her) as much as her entry into the world. Into a liminal space shrouded in smoke, summoned by a clarion call from the ether, an unknowable …
It's alive...barely. Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein staggers into the West End after some more time on the operating table since its 2007 Broadway opening. But for a piece of new musical the…
Though often cited as one of the titans of new musical theatre writing, I think it is fair to say that Jason Robert Brown has never managed to nail a proper commercial hit on Broadway. Despi…
Seeing the plays from different perspectives felt appropriate as that is the nature of Ayckbourn's trilogy written in 1973. Three times we visit the same group of six characters over the sam…
Toneelgroep Amsterdam have made the Barbican their base pretty much every time they've visited London, so it was little surprise that is where their 2017 residency was announced. We say resi…
As I wrote when the full cast was first announced, "the world is hardly crying for more productions of King Lear, but if you're going to put it on, you might as well go balls out on some ama…
It's a bold move to put a character as flawed as Madeline front and centre in your debut play; still more to not give her the kind of redemption arc that conventional wisdom suggests we crav…
Ria Jones' extraordinary history with Sunset Boulevard might well be entitled The Norma Conquests... And, 26 years on, was it worth the wait?
What would you do for six million dollars? That's the question underlying Lynn Ahrens (book and lyrics) and Stephen Flaherty's (music) 1988 musical farce Lucky Stiff.
Recorded just after he completed his 2014/5 return to Cabaret at Studio 54, Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs - Live at the Cafe Carlyle is one of the best cabaret records I've had the pleasure…
Given how she's doing such amazing work in Follies at the minute, it's kinda gobsmacking to discover that Janie Dee has not one but two cabaret shows lined up for the beginning of October. R…
Chances are that Arrows & Traps' version of Frankenstein will disarm you and make you consider it anew as it introduces a new, crucial character into the narrative - Mary Shelley hersel…
I always find it fascinating to watch how the critical community deals with a play that becomes a big success. The overnight rush to acclaim genius, the enthusiasm with which some greet it, …
What I found particularly pleasing was that The Band actually proves an engaging and entertaining piece of theatre, one that has clearly thought about the jukebox form and how it might be pl…
Ostensibly, these are concert presentations of musicals but the joy in what you actually get, the bonuses that get incorporated into the creation of genuine one-off experiences makes LMTO on…
I saw an earlier incarnation of The Revlon Girl a couple of years ago and I was deeply impressed then and deeply moved. But now, in these post-Grenfell times, its relevance stings.
This is modern musical theatre, probing into rock and folk as much as showtunes and pizzazz, and as with any collection so mixed, there are going to be some songs which work much better for …
