35,749 stories from The Guardian
Actor whose six-decade career ranged from the National Theatre to Casualty and Downton AbbeyCharacter actors sometimes step out from the shadows to play prominent roles in popular television…
Olivier, London Sally Cookson's inventive playfulness reinforces the hero's devotion to fun and games but remains true to the melancholy spirit of JM Barrie's playJM Barrie's play is an obli…
Times were tough but inventive, with fine work from old hands and female dance-makers forcing change' Observer critics' reviews of the year in fullThis has been a year in which experience ha…
Harold Pinter theatre, LondonPhilosophical larks and anglers' musings charm in a surreal, glacial dreamscapeOn the one hand, readings from Moby-Dick. On the other a miniature world of puppet…
Home, ManchesterThe melodrama is kept at bay in Polly Findlay's fine production of David Watson's new versionHere is a measure of what an actor Niamh Cusack is, how viscerally, totally she c…
Sadler's Wells, LondonMichael Keegan-Dolan has moved Swan Lake to the middle of Ireland and made it a thing of wonderThere are so many new versions of Swan Lake, and almost all of them are u…
Royal Court, LondonBaby-boomer guilt goes nuclear in Kirkwood's ingenious new play, with fine performances from Francesca Annis, Ron Cook and Deborah FindlayBaby boomerism. Is it the last ac…
Hackney Showroom, LondonImpermanence Dance Theatre are going on a sexploration, delving into the ideas of Wilhelm Reich and the pioneering electronic music of Ursula BognerImpermanence Dance…
It was a year of Lears, spellbinding women and memorable migrant tales' Observer critics' reviews of the year in fullIt has been " at last " a good year for women on stage. It began with a v…
Over 10 highly successful years, the Observer's theatre critic helped transform the ailing British theatre and reinvent the role of the reviewer' Click here for more on the Observer at 225Ra…
Ibsen wanted his plays to be continually updated after his death. As his new version of The Master Builder opens, Hare reflects on the pain and pleasure of adaptation " and what he learned p…
As they prepare to stage Hedda Gabler at the National Theatre, Ruth Wilson and director Ivo van Hove discuss a character who is at once tragic heroine and conniving monsterIn the summer of 1…
As the company stages the 'timeless' crowdpleaser Coppélia, its most faithful audiences remain hungry for new worksCan a ballet production from 1978 still be relevant today?The Australian B…
Thursday night saw a special performance to promote an album filled with pop and R&B stars crooning their interpretations of songs from the hit musicalOn most nights, New York's Richard …
The Longacre Theatre, New YorkSluggish songs, a plodding plot and a lack of urgency makes this adaptation of Chazz Palminteri's yarn of gangsters and forbidden fruit, frigid and forgettableA…
The great Shakespearean answered your questions on his extraordinary careerSimon Russell Beale joined us to talk about tackling King Lear " a mountain of a role, as Peter Brook once called i…
Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, LondonFour Hans Christian Andersen stories are reimagined with beguiling, anarchic irreverence in Emma Rice and Joel Horwood's heartwarming showA match is struck and…
Tron, GlasgowAnything goes, especially Hans Christian Andersen's original story, in Johnny McKnight's hyperactive festive rompIf you're looking to buy some red glitter in central Glasgow, do…
'Tis the season to compile lists of your favourite productions of the year " let us know which ones left you spellboundAs the end of the year beckons, we're remembering the theatre, comedy a…
From Mr Show to troubling YouTube videos, the up-and-coming character comedian reveals the things that make her laugh the mostThis isn't technically a standup, but I saw Nick Mohammed as his…
Writer Frank Cottrell-Boyce and director Carl Hunter reimagine Shakespeare's late tragedy in an otherwordly film set among the statues of Antony Gormley's installation Another Life on Crosby…
Swan theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonAnders Lustgarten's play pits the biblical morality of an Italian masterpiece against the cruelty of current housing policies with ingenuity and humourAnders…
The standup comedian and Last Leg host is joining us to answer your questions in a live webchat, on Tuesday 6 December 10.49am GMT Equipped with constant astonishment at life's little absurd…
In her podcast, Cariad Lloyd talks to other comics about death, a subject that standups rarely deal with directly on stageUntil this year's Edinburgh fringe, where comedians grappled on stag…
Strictly Ballroom | Bollywood Jack | Sweet Charity | Peter Pan | Cinderella | Annie Get Your Gun | Saint Joan | Simon Callow | The Siege Of Christmas | Black Beauty | The Nutcracker | The Wo…
