The Broadway performer shot to fame without a safety net in The Greatest Showman. The resulting public scrutiny was painful, she says, but it was the ideal grounding to step into the shoes o…
Park theatre, LondonLeigh Douglas plays a sorority girl turned White House receptionist " as well as lecherous side characters " in a timely show This show arrives in London in a week that U…
The Gangs of London star returned to the stage alongside Ben Whishaw in a 2024 production of Samuel Beckett's masterpiece. In this diary of the first preview, he describes passing the point …
Thornton Wilder's classic American play is transposed for the inaugural production of National Theatre Wales. The result is heartfelt, though its emotional bite can feel uncertain A revival …
The groundbreaking singer, actor and athlete became a victim of McCarthyism and saw his shining career destroyed and his legacy tarnished In August 1972, the front page of the New York Times…
Malmaison hotel, LondonTheatregoers move from room to room as emotional messiness is laid bare with spirited bridesmaids, painful encounters and 'call it all off' nerves When isn't there big…
Revivals of this history play usually reflect the politics of the moment. Now a fresh RSC retelling arrives in a world of instability and fractured alliances I have long argued that Shakespe…
At the Shed in New York, attendees wearing enhanced glasses are witnessing an experimental new play where actors appear in video form You sit in a circle at the Shed, the cultural center in …
Arcola theatre, LondonChris Bowers, a former British diplomat in Iraqi Kurdistan, brings authenticity but not enough human drama to his play about the 1991 Kurdish uprising This historical d…
The maverick theatre-maker Pip Simmons, who died two years ago aged 80, is captured on stage and off in a book by photographer Sheila Burnett documenting the radical troupe's years of Europe…
In All Is But Fantasy, the fates of Juliet, Lady Macbeth, Cleopatra and more are given a thrilling twist by US writer, director and singer Whitney White. She talks about untimely deaths " an…
Linbury theatre, LondonThese gems, old and new, include an intense revival of Martha Graham's Deep Song and a new piece by Christopher Bruce set to Leonard Cohen songs Wow, the energy in a s…
A Giant on the Bridge, performed by a 'Scottish indie folk supergroup', draws on dozens of interviews about the confines former prisoners experience on the outside When we talk about crime a…
Under Trump, the world-class centre for performing arts is one of many US cultural institutions changing beyond recognition. Will others buckle? A year ago " just a year ago " the Kennedy Ce…
New LGBTQ+ festival included McKellen in a fiery monologue and Norton in conversation, as well as a queer ceilidh and 'kilted yoga' Sir Ian McKellen is on stage blowing up a red balloon. For…
She started out performing in her living room, charging £1.50 a ticket. Now, having blazed through Love Island and silenced her Strictly haters, the Welsh sensation is really hitting the …
My father, Paul MacLeavy, who has died aged 78, was a drainage engineer and, later in life, a professional magician. Magic had been a hobby while Paul earned his living as a council employee…
White Bear theatre, LondonMark Carey's play asks why the former best-loved man on TV has been so thoroughly expunged from our comedy pantheon " but doesn't have a great deal to add TV has mi…
When funding cuts closed National Theatre Wales, the actor saw it as an emergency, and set about building a replacement. As its first show comes to the stage, he explains his plan to bring b…
Aldwych theatre, LondonJamie Eastlake's play about two football fans mixes together song, dance, comedy and dark family drama, with incohesive results This tale of two hard-up reprobates in …
Original script from 1954 referring to 'troubles of this kind' to be brought to life on stage for LGBT+ History Month "All the homosexuals I've known have been extremely eager, like alcoholi…
King's Head theatre, LondonLevi Kreis embarks on a journey of rediscovery in song, from self-hating adolescence to self-destructive adulthood The title of this semi-autobiographical musical …
Bridewell theatre, LondonThomas Klingenstein's account of the formidable Kate Chase's political plotting during the civil war has dense dialogue and a limited scope 'Sometimes she understand…
Mathilde Aurier's 65 Rue d'Aubagne looks at the 2018 house collapse in Marseille and how the city healed itself through 'love and solidarity' "It was a turning point for Marseille, and it sp…
Inua Ellams' play takes you to different destinations for intimate conversations about sex, queerness, capitalism, football and much more I first saw Barber Shop Chronicles on National Theat…