2,441 stories by "Michael Billington"
Director whose opera and theatre work was enriched by a broad European outlook and interest in new dramaIn an age when mainland European directors are often judged by the extravagance of the…
Young Vic, LondonAnna Maxwell Martin is a cool Lady Macbeth to John Heffernan's neurotic hero, but the relentless physical movement overshadows the text's potencyIf directing Shakespeare is …
Menier Chocolate Factory, LondonIt may be a poor man's Gypsy and Barbra Streisand has hitherto owned the role, but this production exhibits real class and Smith is a constant joy to watchThi…
Royal Court, London Real social issues about older women get lost in sensory overload as Penelope Skinner's promising polemic lapses into melodramaNoma Dumezweni has stepped in at short noti…
The Swan, Stratford-upon-AvonThe queen's relationship with Sarah Churchill (an icily seductive Natascha McElhone) is central to this fascinating, topical production on the last Stuart queen'…
Garrick, LondonLast year in Chichester I found Philip Prowse's production of Shaw's indestructible play coarse and overstated. If it has improved, it is partly because it fits more snugly in…
Lyttleton Theatre, LondonCaryl Churchill has written a striking memento mori for an age without faith that evokes the idea that we are here for a short time and then are suddenly goneMany pl…
Almeida, London A striking production, starring Lydia Leonard, vividly captures what Henry James called 'the hard compulsion' of this terrifying masterpieceThe Almeida is fast becoming the h…
Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, LondonIt's easy to be swept along by the humour and heroism in Dominic Dromgoole's poignant, beautifully staged productionDominic Dromgoole's production of Pericles …
Dorfman, LondonIn his blunt new play, set in a genteel private club, Shawn tackles political barbarism via showbiz bitcheryWith airstrikes in Syria being debated in the UK and a massive inve…
Arcola, LondonPatrick Marmion's ambitious play about the commune created by RD Laing in the 1960s leaves the audience deeply dividedIt was possible to have double vision while watching Patri…
Trafalgar Studios, LondonAn unexpected family reunion retains its power to shock and haunt in Jamie Lloyd's bold, impeccably acted and psychologically astute revival Fifty years after its Lo…
Finborough, LondonRobert Bolt's 1957 play highlights the domestic tensions of a man at loggerheads with his family " and the echoes of Death of a Salesman are deafening Robert Bolt wrote man…
Sadler's Wells, LondonChina National Peking Opera's female revenge tale blends music, acrobatics and invisible horses in a riot of colour and imagination Related: Somersaults in six-inch hee…
Shaftesbury theatre, LondonSkilful money-making from Britain's Got Talent's Jamie Raven and forensic mind-reading from Colin Cloud add charm to this gaudy, showbiz affair Astonishingly, this…
Trafalgar Studios, LondonHaving put a girdle round the Earth, Jeff Baron's 1996 American play finally gets a West End showing. But, for all its global popularity, it strikes me as a thin-tex…
Young Vic, London A spirit of jaunty anarchy, violent incontinence and a prankster king belie this deeply political tale of what it's like to live under an irrational dictatorship Anyone fea…
Lovers of good drama and politics junkies should flock to Samuel West's superb revival of Harley Granville Barker's play. Written in 1907 and revised in 1926, it takes its time (just over th…
Lyttelton theatre, LondonMorals, sexual politics and hypocrisy are the big themes in this tragic psychological portrait of a man for whom ideals matter more than individuals Harley Granville…
Gate, LondonKate Mulvany and Anne-Louise Sarks's radical update of Euripides' tragedy shows events from the perspective of the heroine's two sonsEuripides' Medea has achieved such mythical s…
Garrick, LondonZoë Wanamaker is in soul-baring form in Rattigan double-bill depicting the actor-manager tradition the Branagh season is designed to subvertIronically, co-directors Rob Ash…
Garrick, LondonIn a production unafraid to hint at the darker elements of Shakespeare's fable, Branagh and Dench are surrounded by a first-rate teamThe image of the West End suddenly brighte…
Dominion, LondonBen Forster sleighs them as Buddy, the Christmas-loving Laplander set down in Manhattan with Girls Aloud's Kimberley Walsh, but this show doesn't so much invoke the festive s…
The Swan, Stratford-upon-AvonDirector Selina Cadell gives a fine cast room to breathe in this delightful RSC revival of the sharp-witted restoration comedyWhy is William Congreve's great 169…
Olivier, LondonRosalie Craig gives us an eminently sane Rosalind in director Polly Findlay's richly textured version, where Lizzie Clachan's set is the starOur march towards a Germanic direc…
