Two-time Tony Award-winning bio-musical Beautiful, based on the early life and career of singer-songwriter Carole King, received its West End premiere at the Aldwych Theatre last night. What…
If I had a bigger flat with lots of nice empty walls, I'd be ringing Hampstead Theatre and putting my name on a waiting list for some of the props in the current production of Peter Souter's…
If I had a bigger flat with lots of nice empty walls, I'd be ringing Hampstead Theatre and putting my name on a waiting list for some of the props in the current production of Peter Souter's…
I’m getting just a tad excited about this revival of David Mamet‘s 1977 classic American Buffalo. In this interview trailer, star Damian Lewis talks more about Mamet, the play, h…
According to Caitlin Moran, people are divided according to “two diametrically opposite sets of belief” about how to load a dishwasher. But what about those of us who don’t…
My former Northwest Editor at WhatsOnStage.com, Glenn Meads, recently met up with Willy Russell, whose iconic play Educating Rita has "come home" to Liverpool Playhouse this month to celebra…
I'm a little embarrassed for Caitlin Moran this week, and quite a bit embarrassed for The Times newspaper overall. Let me explain… So it's week eight of my blog challenge to respond to my …
The infinite variety of theatre in London means you can be laughing at the theatre one night, crying the next night. Or, when it’s really powerful, alternating between both on the same…
If you follow me on Twitter, you know I’m a sucker for memorable #quotes. I think that’s one of the reasons I adore theatre so much: great dialogue. Whenever I see a show R…
I’ve had a heavy schedule of plays over the past few weeks, including quite a few comedies, many of them with deep, dark cores. As usual, I've listed productions in closing date order.…
It's week six of my blog challenge to respond to my favourite columnist Caitlin Moran each week. These blogs, unlike 99% of what I write and tweet, are meant to be non-theatrical, but with a…
Since I started writing about theatre in 1996, I’ve had the privilege of attending four world premieres of Tom Stoppard plays – well, actually, six if you break a trilogy into it…
If you read my Best of the Best of #theatre2014 round-ups a few weeks ago, you may have been able to predict most of the winners of the Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards, announced today …
It's week five of my non-theatrical blog challenge to respond to my favourite columnist Caitlin Moran each week. And " thank goodness with tax return deadlines looming at the end of the week…
I caught you up on my new year playgoing earlier this week, now let me turn to some tuners on offer. Though vastly different in scale and subject matter, these three musicals do have two key…
It's week four of my non-theatrical blog challenge to respond to my favourite columnist Caitlin Moran each week. One of the things that makes Caitlin my favourite columnist is that you just …
If these first few weeks are anything to go by, 2015 is going to be an entertaining year. Here are four, very different plays that I've seen recently and am happy to recommend. As usual, I'v…
It's not often that you're handed a full dossier with your ticket at a theatre press night, but then Truth, Lies, Diana is no ordinary theatre production. This "factional" drama attracted he…
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, the first major opening of 2015, and one of the year’s biggest musicals, had its West End premiere last night (Monday 12 January 2015, previe…
After perusing so many other people’s year-end, best of lists, and compiling a few of mine, I hugely enjoyed taking part in the “As Yet Unnamed London Theatre Podcast”Â…
It's week three of my non-theatrical blog challenge and I'm having to revise my goal already. Previously, I gushed about my hope that my efforts would lead to the wonderful Caitlin Moran tak…
We've looked back ad nauseum over the past fortnight at the best of #theatre2014; now it's time to look forward. And there's SO much to look forward to theatrically. To help you keep track o…
I’m jealous of guests attending the UK gala screening of Into the Woods tonight at London’s Curzon Mayfair cinema. Not for the celeb-spotting, paparazzi-dodging, canape-scarfing …
Here we are in week two of my new, non-theatrical blog challenge: to get Caitlin Moran to take notice of me and eventually become my best friend. And also to get me into the discipline of wr…
In this new year gorgefest of lists, The Stage‘s annually compiled Stage 100 of the top influencers in theatre takes the cake. Launched in January 1997, The Stage 100 is now in i…