When it opened in 1985, Les Mis got some rotten reviews. Forty years on, our writer sees it afresh and Cameron Mackintosh reflects on the show's spectacular success So were we wrong? By "we"…
The versatile star, who has died aged 96, portrayed absurdly pretentious and apparently grotesque characters with wonderful sympathy Patricia Routledge was an actor of uncommon versatility e…
Following in the footsteps of Peter Hall and Katie Mitchell, Indhu Rubasingham directs an ancient epic at the National Theatre. Bacchae reveals the virtues and vices of creating a new play f…
The tragedy's mythic quality appeals to adapters the world over but the Japanese film-maker's Ran, now rereleased, manages to solve the play's problems I have long had mixed feelings about K…
Vera; or, The Nihilists concerns a plot to kill a tsar but after Alexander II was assassinated, its London premiere was cancelled. Now receiving a rare production, it captures his conflict b…
The maverick behind Tom Holland's Romeo and Nicole Scherzinger's Sunset Boulevard is now stunning passersby with Rachel Zegler's Palladium balcony scene Rarely can a balcony have caused such…
Moving easily between daring new work from the likes of Jez Butterworth to lucid fresh takes on the canon and heartful musicals, Cooke is an optimal new leader' Dominic Cooke appointed as th…
Actor, playwright and screenwriter who was a stalwart of the National Theatre under Laurence Olivier The actor and writer Gawn Grainger, who has died aged 87, had an extraordinary career tha…
What's behind all the revivals of the shocking parable about terrifying McCarthyism in 1950s America? Our writer reflects on how, through the decades, each fresh production finds new meaning…
Faithfull's casting in Chekhov's Three Sisters in 1967 caused a perfect storm, yet she held her own against the vastly more experienced cast including Glenda Jackson. It was the start of man…
The Oscar winner stars in the German director's production of the Chekhov classic where 'everything is open to interpretation' How does one stage Chekhov? His plays, embodying symphonic real…
The remarkable actor symbolised a radical new generation to her husband Laurence Olivier's theatrical establishment ' Joan Plowright, celebrated star of stage and screen, dies aged 95' Joan …
Sophocles' classic about the bitter pursuit of justice " now revived by Daniel Fish " reveals fresh truths each time Why do we so rarely see Sophocles' Electra? John Burgess, in a guide to G…
The Nigerian Nobel laureate's story of a royal servant condemned to kill himself after his master's death has lost none of its enigmatic appeal Sheffield is in luck. The Crucible theatre nex…
Our Evenings follows an actor through 60 years of treading the boards and holds up a mirror to how society has shapeshifted Alan Hollinghurst's remarkable new novel, Our Evenings, is many th…
Having worked his magic as director of the Almeida theatre, the gifted Goold is bound for greater glories: the National had better watch out Rupert Goold, as director, has made the Almeida t…
A radical new exhibition celebrates stars including Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart by combining subtly moving artworks with their own voices. The results are uncanny Great actors have alw…
The Hollywood star is to appear at Theatre Royal Drury Lane in Shakespeare's late play about sorcery. But what is the secret to playing the great magician? I have one thing in common with An…
With a remarkable knack of bringing history to life on stage and screen, West honed his craft with devotion and delight' Timothy West, star of stage, screen and television, dies aged 90' Tim…
The 1895 comedy has been staged with age-blind and all-male casts and even David Suchet as Lady Bracknell. Now reinvented again, at the National Theatre, the trick is to be seriously funny I…
His gangster Hitler in The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui turned him into a star but from his earliest roles the actor had an unforgettable expressive force ' Rossiter interviewed by the Guard…
I was 16 when I became obsessed with Look Back in Anger. Now, in a double bill with Roots at the Almeida, both dramas' eternal truths are clear John Osborne and Arnold Wesker had a lot in co…
A £15m, four-storey space in Liverpool is to be dedicated to the man once known as Professor Yaffle Chuckabutty. Let's hope it will delve as deeply as he did into comedy's infinite variat…
West joined a starry cast for script-in-hand readings of Christopher Marlowe's complete works in Canterbury. The resulting films are frustrating On paper, it sounds a fine idea: to film all …
As he hits an extraordinary landmark, the playwright relives his first drama, which made him £30, and recalls bouncing back from the stroke that left him desolate and devoid of ideas It i…