1,406 stories from theatrecat.com
TWO MORE FROM ALAN BENNETT Â Â Â Â Â Â Â One of the darkest and one of the merriest. Â PlAYING SANDWICHESÂ is an even more than usually sombre one of Alan Bennett's…
BACK IN THE STALLS! Â AND A VERY FIENNES START Â Â Â Â After nine months' exile " my chemotherapy ended slap bang at the start of lockdown "Â I felt like the Ancient Marine…
AÂ SINGING, SEASIDE, Â STRIKING DEFIANCE OF THE NEW SEPARATION Â Theatrecat remains dark, Â as it has been since December when chemotherapy began and then ran seamlessly, in March, …
…FROM ME AND FROM THEATRECAT.COM (&HOUSE ARTIST ROGER HARDY) Â HERE'S THE CAT AND THE MICE . Â Â THEY COLLABORATE FOR ONCE TO WISH EVERY THEATRE, ARTIST AND SUPPORT WORKER LUCK…
A MESSAGE FOR THOSE KIND ENOUGH TO DROP INTO THIS SITE… Theatrecat followers: a bit of news below, in detail for your information or in case any of you are undergoing the parallel thing.Â…
 MONSTROUS AND MAJESTIC , A NARNIA FOR NOW    How to interpret an old favourite? A Christian fantasy allegory, the world of Narnia, the first of C.S.Lewis' immortal…
BEN DOWELL REVIEWS: A bright, socially withdrawn teenager called Evan is desperately lonely, taking comfort in the internet and not much else. He has a crush on a girl from his school, but c…
BEN DOWELL AND DAUGHTER POP WITH PLEASURE AT ITS PEP.. It has floated in one the chilly autumn breeze like a much-needed blast of summer sunshine. Yes, this Mary Poppins is as supercalifragi…
A BIG APPLE ROMANCE WITH CRUNCH     How romantic New York is to the British heart! From Superman to Friends we seem to know it, from Elf and 34th Street (not to mentio…
NORTHERN GUEST REVIEWER HELEN GASKELL TIRES OF THE RELENTLESS GRIT…  A family of five, scattered across the North of England, are brought together by tragedy. The play shows a pict…
ARROGANCE, ANGER ,  INDIA'S SHAME   Hema's is a house of women now. The old grandmother is in bed below the tall screen doors , feeding crows who move shadow-s…
GUEST CRITIC BEN DOWELL DOES NOT HAVE A GOOD NIGHT OUT Â What a strange evening this is. Young director Tinuke Craig has taken Maxim Gorky's 1911Â play (there was a revision in 1935 but…
RENAISSANCEÂ RUTTING, Â VENUS ANDÂ Â VANITIES Â Sandro Botticelli, he makes clear to us at the start, plans to tell his version. He's Dickie Beau: skinny and swaggeringly queeny…
​​IT TAKES TWO​​…​  Here's a sharp eyed little gem about coupledom and the wary, fretful road towards parenthood in an age of easy contraception …
TWO CURATORS, ACROSS EIGHTY YEARS   The little Swan , a jewel-box of a theatre, often sees the new plays the RSC does best: immaculate technique and careful clarity elucidating c…
INSPECTOR GOOLE, BACK BACK ON THE ROAD  Below, edited, is my original London review of this remarkable production. This new tour deserves to be marked, though:  r…
A COOL EYE ON SHATTERED LIVES     Of all the well known flaws of our criminal justice system, one of the most glaring is how badly it fits women " though they are…
THE DARK AND THE CRAZY    This is " for us anyway " the first production in the Trump era of this savage musical: a revue reimagining of all the attempts, successful …
PEOPLE OF THE BLITZ  Sarah Waters' best novel, evoking lives during and after the London Blitz,  was told backward in time. It is much the same way, indeed, as we meet real…
THE LOW DISHONEST DECADE…  It's always intimate, the Jermyn,. We're in an autumn garden, apples on the ground and fading roses on the wall;  birdsong, and a tea table set…
A COLLIDING WORLD    Couldn't miss this: for two years as a teenager (Dad in the Jo'burg Embassy)  I lived alongside the frightened, arrogant paranoia of white South A…
15 CHARACTERS OBJECTING TO AN AUTHOR..  The Jane Austen industry never flags, in tribute or in parody. You can barely throw a bonnet without hitting an Austentatious improv,�…
KING JOHN WAS NOT A GOOD MAN…   Maybe we should stick to AA Milne's version?  "King John was not a good man He had his little ways  And sometimes no one spoke to him For day…
GLOBAL AND GENDER POLITICS INÂ PERFECT MINIATURE Â Â Â A glass conference-centre in the host nation France;Â a visiting US President avid for airstrikes after a terrorist outra…
GUEST REVIEWER BEN DOWELL SAYS HANKS FOR THE MEMORY , AND BRAVELY FACES THE WEIRDNESS Â This is a lavish revival of the 1996 musical version of the 1988 Tom Hanks fantasy comedy, complete…
