From kick-ass screen roles to award-winning theatre and TV ones, with a curious sideline in nuns, the Yorkshire-born actor's class and spirit earned her a magnificent career Diana Rigg, Ave…
Harry Gabriel, gatekeeper of London's Shaftesbury theatre, recalls greeting the stars, his bond with Peter O'Toole and how the Harlem Globetrotters launched his West End career The staff ent…
What makes Wicked and Starlight Express so addictive? A new documentary, Repeat Attenders, chronicles the reasons superfans return to see their favourites You might guess that the Australian…
The Remote ReadDavid Morrissey headed up a cast united on Zoom for a show that took on poignant new meaning and exuded theatrical joy The countdown to the play beginning was on screen rather…
From a musical version of Only Fools and Horses to a stage show based on The Good Life, small-screen comedies are inspiring theatre-makers During the social confinements caused by coronaviru…
Barbican, London Cheek By Jowl's handsome Italian-language update of the cruel classic with Milan's Piccolo Teatro delivers a harsh verdict on political corruption When Chekhov is performed …
Gielgud theatre, LondonDavid Mitchell is engaging and confident as Ben Elton brings his hit TV sitcom to the stage " it's the definite article Audiences unfamiliar with British TV will wonde…
Both the Donmar Warehouse and the Royal Court are staging plays that are under three-quarters of an hour long. Are theatregoers being short-changed? People do a double take at the advisory n…
Hampstead theatre, LondonAl Blyth's debut play explores how far into the lives of citizens a state can pry, and the effects on the snoopers themselves After the movie Official Secrets, about…
Old Vic, LondonDeftly bringing out the humour in Samuel Beckett's lines, the two actors bring fresh life to a tale of imminent doom As a blind man and his valet swap evidence of personal and…
Dressed in pyjamas and wellies, the great actor talks about his astronaut training in Russia, the original Cats " and putting his might behind his daughter Rosalind's very personal plays On …
Wyndham's, LondonJason Manford is a charming, showtune-obsessed homicide cop in this fun companion to Chicago and Cabaret Cabaret (1966) and Chicago (1975) became Broadway and West End peren…
Bush House, King's College LondonSimon Russell Beale, Mark Gatiss and Catherine Tate were on hilarious form in this new version of the state-of-the-nation comedy How is it possible that an a…
Storyhouse, ChesterSet against the never-never-land of present-day austerity, Gary Owen's production broadens the play's appeal JM Barrie's 1904 play about a boy who never ages gets older by…
The theatre and opera director, television producer, presenter, writer, comic and doctor had a special interest in the human mind " and a special example of one, too Sir Jonathan Miller die…
Royal & Derngate, NorthamptonElectrifying performances light up a glittering New York Christmas story in this warm-hearted, tuneful two-hander On Christmas Eve, puppyish twentysomething…
In a rare interview, Baker explains why she hates commercial theatre (except Hello, Dolly!) and how she anticipated Trump and #MeToo in her new work at the National, The Antipodes It is not …
Chichester Festival theatreSet in a London pub during an England v Germany football match, the topical take on racism and nationalism shows Roy Williams's 2002 play hasn't dated It is unusua…
Nottingham PlayhouseSet in a contemporary Norwegian town, the classic is reworked by Rebecca Lenkiewicz to chime with Brexit divisions An accidental trilogy of updatings of Ibsen plays by fe…
Chichester Festival theatreJosie Lawrence stars in a revival that perfectly delivers both the jolly and sombre elements of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Although it begins with someon…
Nottingham PlayhousePitch-perfect performances enliven Kemp Powers' impressive play, punchily debating racial tensions in 1960s America The night he beat Sonny Liston in 1964 to become world…
Norman's Coach & Horses, LondonRobert Bathurst stars in an hour-long version of the comedy, staged in the pub where Keith Waterhouse sought inspiration In Keith Waterhouse's 1989 comedy …
The performer " who died this week " found fame as a musician and an impressionist, but could never escape a notorious Sun front page The career of the comedian and singer Freddie Starr, who…
Chichester Festival theatreQuestions of faith and loss drive a masterly story of the Narnia author in Rachel Kavanaugh's deeply poignant production The first three speeches of Shadowlands pr…
Minerva, ChichesterJames Nesbitt and Sheila Hancock star in Tim Firth's touching comedy about a dysfunctional group of relatives Musicals head inexorably towards big ensemble numbers, a con…