325 stories by "Michael Coveney"
St Peter's Church, Manchester: Kenneth Branagh hasn't played in Shakespeare for more than ten years, but his technical assurance and deceptive fluency and naturalness remain unaltered. …
Palace, Manchester: As a beautifully lit new work off the Robert Wilson derriere-garde assembly line, The Old Woman at the fourth biennial Manchester International Festival is a stunner - co…
Royal Shakespeare Company actor who later pursued a successful career in TV crime dramaDavid Lyon, who has died aged 72, was a popular and versatile actor with the Royal Shakespeare Company …
American-born dramatist known for her affinity with French absurdist theatre and her many BBC radio adaptationsOlwen Wymark, who has died aged 81, was an American-born fringe theatre and BBC…
Graceful stage actor who stood out in Doctor Who on TV and the film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory Continue reading...
Graceful stage actor who stood out in Doctor Who on TV and the film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate FactoryIn a long and distinguished career, the actor Aubrey Woods, who has died aged 85, cov…
Olivier, National Theatre: Nicholas Hytner and Adrian Lester present a soldier's tragedy in a contemporary military compound that could be anywhere - Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan - where t…
Royal and Derngate, Northampton: Shakespeare is a rarity in the cash-strapped reps, but Gary Sefton's brilliant Northampton Dream in the always delightful Theatre Royal with just eight …
Director and writer celebrated for his work at Chichester Festival theatre and the BBCThe career of Patrick Garland, who has died aged 78, was as varied as it was productive. An actor, produ…
Welsh-born actor and Richard Burton's first wife, she moved to the US after their split and co-founded a famous New York discoSybil Christopher, who has died aged 83, was the injured party i…
Welsh-born actor and Richard Burton's first wife, she moved to the US after their split and co-founded a famous New York disco Continue reading...
Trafalgar Studios, London: What is the world of Macbeth? Medieval, Gothic, mythical? Jamie Lloyd's production in the opening volley of his Trafalgar Transformed season goes completely p…
Genial star of the sitcom The Good Life who impressed in a range of roles on stageWhen he played Hamlet as a young man, Richard Briers, who has died aged 79 after suffering from a lung condi…
Theatre Royal, Norwich: The opening in the Theatre Royal, Norwich, of this year's Propeller tour signals the unusual step of reviving two successes of 2006/7. Running out of plays must …
Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon: There's a striking take on the separate worlds of The Winter's Tale in Lucy Bailey's new RSC production, designed by William Du…
Musical theatre star known as 'the champagne soprano'Lizbeth Webb, one of the great forgotten stars of British musical theatre in the 1940s and 1950s, has died aged 86. Known as "the champag…
Michael Coveney catches up with the Adelaide Festival's new artistic director David Sefton and finds there is a special UK connection to his first programme
Vibrant actor who achieved success in Bollywood films, West End musicals and on Coronation StreetSophiya Haque's performance in Peter Nichols's Privates on Parade, which opened last month at…
Vibrant actor who achieved success in Bollywood films, West End musicals and on Coronation Street Continue reading...
Actor who found her true calling as translator of the French dramatist Jean AnouilhLucienne Hill, who has died aged 89, was best known for her translations of the French dramatist Jean Anoui…
Union Theatre, London: The Shakespeare Apocrypha - which are all about attribution, not authorship - include relatively well known titles like Sir John Oldcastle, or the Yorkshire Tragedy; b…
Donmar Warehouse: Rome under Caesar is Holloway Prison, and the inmates are putting on a protest show. It's a case of 22 jail birds, one guvnor, and the cages are rattling with the soun…
Actor who shared the stage with her husband, Paul ScofieldSlim, dark, quick-moving and pretty, the actor Joy Parker appeared at the Birmingham Rep in her early 20s and, in 1942, pl…
Actor in One Man, Two Guvnors who switched from Wall Street to BroadwayVery few actors start out in middle age, having thrown off a previous life as a high-flying money broker, and live…
Actor known for his roles as clergymen, favourite uncles and tragic-comic charactersThere is a great tradition in the rotundity of actors, and Roger Hammond, who has died aged 76 of cancer, …
