1,410 stories from theatrecat.com
GRIEF, GUILT, CONSCIENCE Â Â Â A great bright disc of moon overhangs the old tree in the storm, as it falls in the tumult of sound that could be war. Â It's 1948:Â Arthur Mille…
ABSURD, TRANSCENDENT, JOYFUL Â Â Â Â Forget Ancient Greece and the films inspired by the suitors of royal Parthenope, this is Handel in comic-opera mood (one can't always be writi…
  A VERY CIVIL CRIME Meet Robert, a retired barrister, working in a charity shop as we meet him, cautiously sniffing trousers and appreciating candelabras. Nothing unusual there i…
AN INNOCENCE OF WITCHES     A brand-new musical always stirs hope, especially when we're promised voices like Gabrielle Brooks (magnetically magnificent as Rita in Ge…
NOT AT ALL A DRAG… Candy-coloured prettiness frames a 1890s world, of bored girls in flounces longing for escape from guardians, lovesick young men not averse to heiresses, a…
INNOCENCE, WICKEDNESS , RAGE Â Â Ti Green's set is ,at first, a gilded wonder of dignified curves and arches, palatially spectacular when filled with the red robes of the Duke and sena…
EVERYONE'S CALIFORNIAN NOW.. Â Â Â When the Old Vic had Jonathan Spector's play in 2022 it was the first time after lockdowns that I had the joy of beng in a space with a thousand ot…
EDWARDIANA FOR A FEMINIST AGEÂ Â Â It looks wonderful. Designer Colin Richmond has been set loose, with Oliver Fenwick's lighting, to create both the the raftered, big-windowed Edwar…
A FAMILY SAGA , A MEMORABLE AUNT    Bit early for an onstage Christmas-tree, but this comedy-drama by Richard Greenberg ran months on Broadway twelve years ago, and it suits …
OLD FAITH IN A MODERN CITY    Anna Ziegler's play was an off-Broadway sellout, glimmering with insights into Jewish-American family conflicts, traditions and rebellions.�…
CHAOS IN FRAYING CHINTZ Catching up after a break away I nipped in to check whether after 60 years Joe Orton can still get people gasping with shock.  Peter McIntosh's set alone is a…
A BRILLIANT ECHO    Shouldn't be surprised that this is a cracking play:  Katherine Moar's 90-minute debut FARM HALL , about 1940s nuclear scientists, sparked cheers and a…
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A DARK SERENISSIMA Â Â No pretty biscuit-tin Venice here, but rather its ancient darkness:Â Jess Curtis' artful set offers stark steps, corners, slotted openings into which half-gli…
TANGLED JUSTICE, MORAL SWAMPS  There is no sure hero in Shakespeare's 'mystery play" , which can be exhilarating. Emily BUrns' remarkably sure-footed, clear and well-trimmed p…
ANYTHING CAN WASH UP ON THE NORTH SEA COAST …    Robin Brooks and director Fiona McAlpine mischievously bill this eccentric, enlivening short play as "a shocking so…
RAIN, RAGE , REGRETS   If you're expecting the original Ibsen tale of a bored wife wondering whether to leave a dull husband and deciding not to, pause.  This is "aft…
HOLLYWOOD AND HYPOCRISY Â Â Â Â It's a brilliant moment for this sharp bit of work from the American Michael McKeever to land at the Elephant with a bracing thump. Â We've got …
THE BEST OF TASTELESSNESS  It's always special when the small Menier's latest musical proves so perfect, so original in interpretation but faithful to its classic core that it can…
FAME, FRAUD AND FAMILY     Long after it opened, a massive hit both sides of the Atlantic, and finally closed , the enterprising Finborough hauls out a 1921 A.A.Mi…
NORDIC , NOIR, NEUROTIC    In a hotel room, sea uneasy beyond and faint wind howling, dishevelled Adolf with his crutch listens to his smooth, confident new friend Gustaf. He…
AWKWARD CHRISTIAN SOLDIER Â Â Â The curtain is a marvel to start with: its plasticky-floral cosiness taking you straight to a 1970s kitchenette and the heyday of Mrs W's mission to g…
EMPYREAN ENTERTAINMENT; CLUTCH IT TO YOUR FAINTING BOSOM NOW!   It should be on prescription,  so healing of life's frustrations is this Charles Court Opera revival of Gilbert…
AMBRIDGE OVER SLIGHTLY TROUBLED WATER  Tim Stimpson is a long-serving modern writer on Radio 4's The Archers, and loves it:  so his play is about the dawning, 75 years ago,  …
POETIC PASSIONS IN A TUDOR POLICE STATE Â Â Here's a lively aquib from the RSC, a bravura 85 minute two-hander about Christopher Marlowe "Â dead at 29 in a Deptford tavern brawl " a…
