3,506 stories from The Arts Desk
Simon Stone refashions Ibsen in his own high-octane image
Like the lighting that crackles now and again to indicate an abrupt change of scene or mood, Simon Stone's version of The Lady from…
Tracie Bennett is outstanding as a ribald, riotous Tallulah Bankhead
Hot on the heels of Goodnight, Oscar comes another fictional meeting of real entertainment giants in Los Angeles, this t…
★★★ REUNION, KILN THEATRE New play brings a family's old enmities to the surface
Beautifully acted, but desperately grim drama
If you ever wanted to know what a mash up…
Alice Birch's latest is a wildly epic family drama that is both mind-blowing and exasperating
OMG! I mean OMG doubled!! This is amazing! Or is it? Can Alice Birch's Romans: A Novel at th…
★★★★ THE PRODUCERS, GARRICK THEATRE Musical mayhem in Mel Brooks' meisterwerk
You probably know what's coming, but it's such great fun!
Unexpectedly, there's a sly…
Golda Rosheuvel and Letitia Wright excel in a super new play
The Bush is likely to continue its fine recent run of hit plays, with this funny, poignant, culturally authentic and beautifully …
Experimental work about nature led by Katie Mitchell is both extraordinary and banal
I love irony. Especially beautiful irony. So I'm very excited about the ironic gesture of staging a show…
Staging of Ukrainian-American Ilya Kaminsky's anti-war poems is too meta-theatrical
The Ukraine war is not the only place of horror in the world, but it does present a challenge to theatre …
Broadway's acclaimed Cinderella, Louise, and Amalia reaches Soho for a welcome one-night stand
Laura Benanti has been enchanting Broadway audiences for several decades now, and London has t…
Thrilling revival of Philip Ridley's cult classic confirms its legendary status
Ever wondered if there was one moment when in-yer-face theatre started? Well, yes there was; there was one pl…
Rival Elizabethan playwrights in an up-to-the-minute encounter
The title refers to a line in Henry VI, Part III: the future Richard III boasts that midwives cried, "Oh Jesus bless us, he is …
Robert Sean Leonard and Paten Hughes make worthy sparring partners
The cult film that director Theo van Gogh left behind when he was killed in 2004, Interview, has already been remade twice;…
★★★★ FAT HAM, RSC A raucous, raunchy Pulitzer Prize-winning re-imagining for our times
An entertaining, positive and contemporary blast!
$8.2B. That's what can ha…
Mike Bartlett's new state-of-the-agricultural-nation play is beautifully performed
Playwright Mike Bartlett is, like many writers, a chronicler of both contemporary manners and of the state …
A cunning ruse leaves audiences facing their own privilege and complicity in Cliff Cardinal's bold theatrical creation
There is, let's be honest, a certain self-congratulatory self-satisfact…
The actors skilfully evoke the claustrophobia of family members trying to fake togetherness
The Gathered Leaves is set on the tectonic plates of a middle-class family reunion, in which three…
A Ukrainian bin man, an unseen used car dealer and every daddy's dream twink in three contrasting Fringe shows
Refuse, Assembly George Square Studios ★★★★
Bringing the Faust legend to comment on colonialism produces bewildering results
What new light can the age-old legend of Faust selling his soul to the devil shed on colonialism in Africa, s…
A slippery show about memory and a rug-pulling Deliveroo comedy in the latest from the Edinburgh Fringe
Imprints, Summerhall ★★★★
Experimental digital performance art, classical insights and gay shame in three strong Fringe shows
The Ode Islands, Pleasance at EICC ★★★★
Two dramas on prison life offer contrasting perspectives but a similar sense of compassion
Ordinary Decent Criminal, Summerhall ★★★★★Â
From drag to Japanese erotica via a French cookery show, three of the Fringe's more unusual offerings
Kinder, Underbelly, Cowgate ★★★Â
Drag artist Goody Prostate (yes, …
Two powerful shows consider the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with mixed results
The Horse of Jenin, Pleasance Dome ★★★★★Â
★★★ THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA, RSC, STRATFORD Youth-oriented version of youthful play
Shakespeare trying out lots of ideas that were to bear fruit in the future
I have…
A joyful gay romance and an intimate one-to-one encounter in two strong Fringe shows
The Fit Prince (who gets switched on the square in the frosty castle the night before (insert public holi…