The phrase seems to be derived from the world of corruption and privilege portrayed by John Galsworthy, writes Dr David BlazeyThe phrase "strong and stable government" seems to be derived, p…
A reader is unimpressed by Leicester cathedral's decision to allow Shakespeare's Richard III to be staged close to the real king's resting place"Dignity and honour" the authorities at Leices…
The main problem is TV presenters' poor articulation, argues Alan HuntingtonIn her letter (29 April), Mary McKeown refers to "hearing" and "audibility". Certainly, audibility is an essential…
Reader Mary McKeown applauds Dame Judi Dench for speaking up about actors delivering inaudible linesHurrah for Dame Judi Dench (Get off the sofa and learn your Shakespeare, Dench tells young…
Austen Lynch on Shakespeare's folk sources and Jan Dubé on the gods that permeate the languageThe Royal Shakespeare Company's project to celebrate the myth and magic of the influence of Ovi…
Rugby league v union | Civilian casualties | Incompetent TV detectives | Office thieves | Alcohol intakeThe obituary of David Storey (28 March) mentioned that he attended Wakefield's Queen E…
Suzanne Moore (Public eating is fraught, 2 March) writes on Imelda Staunton's plea for those coming to Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf at London's Harold Pinter theatre to desist from ea…
Deborah Orr laments the loss of Play for Today (Opinion, 14 January). The effect that it had in exploring social issues is illustrated by the charity Action against Medical Accidents, which …
It is with sadness that I read of the closure of the Barnum & Bailey/Ringling Bros Circus (Animal rights campaigners celebrate closure of 146-year-old US circus, 16 January). It was a ph…
Deborah Orr (Why can't TV make new plays for today?, 14 January) correctly points out that British playwrights are tackling many of the major social issues today in the theatre instead of us…
Thank you, Michael Billington, for your timely warning against "the filthiest panto" you've ever seen (Julian Clary unleashes a tsunami of smut in eye-popping gag-fest, 22 December). But wha…
The status quo, where male experience dominates British theatre, will continue as long as the unelected quango, the Arts Council, refuses to challenge this sexual apartheid (Editorial, 15 De…
There is still a pressing need for challenging male dominance in theatre, and we need the Guardian to include the wider view (Editorial, 15 October). Harriet Walter's plea to artistic direct…
I am surprised by the Globe's decision to part ways with its artistic director. Chief executive Neil Constable praises Emma Rice for her "mould-breaking" productions but explains that "The G…
Marlowe and Shakespeare were both playwrights (Marlowe finally credited among cast of Bard's co-writers, 24 October). When first coined by Ben Jonson in his Epigrams, the word had a distinct…
The heading of your review of the Globe Theatre's Imogen, "Sex, drugs and gang war erupt…" (26 September), could just as well be a strapline for a number of Shakespeare's plays, and while …
As a member of the Max Wall Society " known as bricks " I was fascinated to read Michael Billington's review of The Entertainer (31 August). Max Wall himself played Archie Rice in John Osbor…
Live screenings | Northern heathens | Hygiene-obsessed Americans | Swedish vocabulary | DishonoursYour correspondents are too quick to praise live screenings (Letters, 2 August). Live screen…
Telephone scams | Kander and Ebb | Clear Skies | Washing your handsYour article about scammers (How a phone call from 'the bank' cost an unsuspecting couple their life savings, 30 July) gave…
We applaud the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation's commission of Danuta Kean's research into opportunities for black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) performers in British musical theatre (Rep…
In dismissing the opinions of those he refers to as "luvvies" (The luvvies' Brexit letter only shows most people vote with their wallets, theguardian.com, 20 May), Simon Jenkins ensures that…
The Threepenny Opera at the English National Theatre (Songs for the louche and low-life, 28 May) gave that theatre an unparalleled opportunity to intervene in our public life, as the authors…
Twenty-one years ago teachers and directors began telling the National Theatre that they wanted relevant and challenging new plays for young actors. We responded by launching Connections, ou…
Jonathan Bate (Umasked, G2, 21 April) tracks Shakespeare's storytelling of "the old, old story" back to the "magic, myth and metamorphosis" of Ovid but perhaps there are trace elem…
Julia Pascal made reference to Arnold Wesker's short spell at the London School of Film Technique (Obituary, 14 April). In a letter he sent me in 1968 he announced "the greatest impact came …