139 stories by "Maddy Costa"
Michael Frayn has written journalism, novels, plays, a memoir " and he's still tapping farce's anarchic energy. He tells Maddy Costa why he loves a challengeMichael Frayn is momentarily puzz…
Fancy playing a banker or a murderer? Maddy Costa meets a company that has found a novel way of making audiences feel good about bad newsIt's a truism that what sets theatre apart from cinem…
Jaime Winstone and Russell Tovey are old friends, and about to co-star in a new play about a one-night stand. They talk to Maddy Costa Continue reading...
An exercise in misogyny " or a love story about a man liberating a woman? As the RSC stages The Taming of the Shrew, Maddy Costa asks actors and directors how they read the playA man acquire…
An exercise in misogyny or a love story about a man liberating a woman? As the RSC stages The Taming of the Shrew, Maddy Costa asks actors and directors how they read the play Continue read…
Pit, LondonFor Romanian director Vlad Massaci, Thomas Vinterberg's 1998 film Festen is more than the tale of a family detonated by revelations of parental abuse: it's a metaphor for social a…
Southwark Playhouse, LondonThe problem directors of Middleton and Rowley's play face is how to fuse its parallel plots: the seething, seedy tragedy of Beatrice-Joanna and the three men she e…
They've blindfolded, betrayed and baffled audiences. Are the Belgian collective now taking immersive theatre a step too far?Alexander Devriendt was at a standup show with his girlfriend a co…
Arts Theatre, LondonThose of a churlish disposition might describe A British Subject as a vanity project. The play details the dogged humanitarian efforts of actor Nichola McAuliffe and her …
Hackney Empire, LondonA child is on stage, its rigid body rocking as it speed-chants a poem. A man and woman are arguing about love, and a bored housewife is regretting her move to…
Climate change, religious unrest, war in the Arab states " playwright Mike Bartlett likes nothing better than a big theme. He tells Maddy Costa why excess is his watchwordEvery piece of thea…
With its swearing and its baby-stoning, Saved shocked Britain in 1965. Will the play do so again? Maddy Costa talks to the original cast " and asks Edward Bond why he finally allowed a reviv…
He rattled audiences with plays about ghosts and devils. Now Conor McPherson has found new inspiration " in transcendental German philosophyTo say Conor McPherson is fascinated by the supern…
Franz Ferdinand and a Bavarian puppeteer are shaking up The Tempest in The Isle is Full of Noises. Maddy Costa reportsAs rehearsals for The Tempest go, the scene in London's Sausage Studios …
Shakespeare's Globe, LondonIt's a mark of the chutzpah of playwright Chris Hannan, director Raz Shaw, and indeed everyone involved in The God of Soho, that the big song-and-dance number at t…
Young Vic, LondonYou can scent the outcome of Martin McDonagh's 1996 debut play as surely as visitors to the home of Mag and Maureen Folan can smell pee in the kitchen sink. This tale of a c…
Arcola, LondonThe timing of this production from Ice & Fire, theatre's answer to Amnesty International, could hardly be more felicitous. While the phone-hacking scandal continues to dominate…
Edinburgh fringe veterans share their past experiences and highlight their picks for 2011Mark Ravenhill, playwrightIn 1987, I set fire to my venue. It rained all the time, so my clothes were…
He made his name playing troubled soldiers and driven detectives. Why has success left Damian Lewis so unsatisfied? He talks heroism and home life with Maddy CostaSubtlety and restraint ar…
Director Chris Goode is opening a play next week. But he doesn't know what it's about. Or who's writing it. He explains all to Maddy CostaTheatre, as its makers like to emphasise, is a colla…
Arcola, LondonPublished in 1751 for distribution among London's lower orders, William Hogarth's illustrations of the Four Stages of Cruelty contained a blunt moral message: don't stick an ar…
Young Vic, LondonIf Kathryn Hunter's performance as ape-turned-variety-performer Red Peter were merely physically impressive, it would be startling enough. From the moment she lopes on to th…
Theatre 503, LondonAlice Birch's debut full-length play sets itself up as the gentlest of romances. Ollie is nervous, fearsomely intelligent, and finds people more mysterious than the conste…
What's it like to play Shakespeare's most controversial character? As a new RSC production opens, Patrick Stewart, Antony Sher and other former Shylocks reveal allPatrick Stewart Bristol Old…
Roundhouse, LondonIt's not that the London Snorkelling Team don't take music seriously. Their squiggly compositions, inspired by the characterful jazz of Raymond Scott, 1950s/60s lounge exot…
