35,704 stories from The Guardian
Past and present entwined in a sparkling postmodern revival, plus a sensational take on Stravinsky and Crystal Pite's sublime dance of life
Read the Observer critics' review of 2022 in full
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From dazzling comic debuts at the Edinburgh fringe to occult sketches, soul-searching standup and deeply strange revelations, it was a top year for laughing matters
' More on the best cultur…
Apollo theatre, LondonThe veteran illusionist outdoes himself with an evening of bewildering trickery that holds a mirror to our deepest feelings
Having followed his stage work for years, I …
Exhilarating highlights this year ranged from tech-savvy ballet and a juggling celebration of Merce Cunningham to a daring flamenco Rite of Spring
' More of the best culture of 2022
When Str…
London PalladiumDawn French, Julian Clary and Alexandra Burke join an animatronic giant with a vast beanstalk in an innuendo-heavy, story-light show
Pantos are usually cheap and cheerful, so…
@sohoplace, LondonMartha Plimpton and the whole ensemble shine in Shakespeare's nuanced romance interwoven with sign language and song
A piano, prominent on an otherwise empty stage, is a cl…
In a superb year for the stage, our chief critic gives 10 shows an extra round of applause. Plus, Guardian theatre reviewers each pick their 2022 standout
' More of the best culture of 2022
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Jordan E Cooper became the youngest Black American writer to have a show on Broadway but Ain't No Mo is set to close after only 17 days
It is the call that every playwright dreads. Jordan E …
The Succession star will play James Tyrone, another patriarch of a dysfunctional family, in Eugene O'Neill's drama
Succession star Brian Cox, who plays mogul Logan Roy in the HBO family dram…
Bush theatre, LondonSmartly directed and superbly acted, Margaret Perry's funny and moving play follows a group of women working for an essential oils franchise
Let's start with the scene ch…
21 March 1925 - 2 July 2022The theatre director remembers his friend and mentor, a titan of the stage whose productions revolutionised the art form
James Lovelock remembered by John Gray
Re…
Southbank Centre, LondonParton's music is as warming as ever but a snowfall of schmaltz and minimal menace make this Dickens adaptation sickly sweet
Here is Scrooge and his crew as we have n…
One in five women in Cambodia report experiencing domestic abuse " now a theatre group in Battambang is producing shows that help survivors talk about what is still a taboo subject
Chenda us…
Scheme will make 1,000 tickets available every week to those who cannot afford to pay for cultural activities
Unsold theatre tickets are to be given to people struggling with the cost of liv…
Hampstead theatre, LondonThere's some promising material in this tale of a struggling Lebanese American family " but too much story for the play to successfully contain
A patron saint of pai…
Fire the glitter cannons! Unleash the water pistols! The panto season is here. But how did the cross-dressing dame become so central to the tradition? And in an age of gender fluidity, shoul…
The disruptive artist's new show is a boisterous evening, with her brazen persona an exhilarating challenge for audiences
Lucy McCormick's half-naked body is covered in tomato puree. The flo…
Soho theatre, LondonWith his Scandi-nowhere accent and cool-dude aspirations, Archie Henderson's comic character is improbable, clever and very funny
'I'm in control," sings Jazz Emu, while …
Dramatising the latest watercooler story doesn't guarantee you box-office success. The stiffest competition may come from reality's own high drama
Just before the curtain came up on Vardy v …
It was hard not to get caught up in my own hype at the Edinburgh fringe. A heartfelt gift restored my humility
There is no version of this article that doesn't cast me a braggart. But I hope…
New York Theatre Workshop, New York
The infamous 1981 disaster has returned off-Broadway with help from Jonathan Groff and Daniel Radcliffe
It is a paradox of human existence that while we e…
As Hellman's 1941 play is revived at the Donmar Warehouse in London, director Ellen McDougall and dramaturg Emma Jude explain how it remains a call to arms
"We're shaken out of the magnolias…
Matthew Holness's fictional horror author is on the road reading from his novel " prepare to be terrified at the tills while we dream of his full return to the stage
When is a show not a sho…
Rose theatre, Kingston upon ThamesCharles Dickens takes to the stage and Ebenezer Scrooge is a woman with a moving backstory in Morgan Lloyd Malcolm's adaptation
As fine a festive treat as C…
Brixton House, LondonPoltergeist theatre company send Alice into the underground in this offbeat adaptation with tube-inspired nonsense language
Alice adventures not in the traditional wonde…
