3,495 stories from The Arts Desk
Announcing a new partnership with the most creative club in LondonThe Arts Desk is delighted to announce a new partnership with The Hospital Club in Covent Garden. There are plenty of privat…
The Donmar Warehouse targets a modern monster via Brecht's Hitler satire It's a bigly Trump-fest over at the Donmar, with adaptor Bruce Norris determined to make Brecht great again " or…
The National Theatre's former boss is wonderfully insightful about everything but himselfAfter the first preview of Mike Leigh's play Two Thousand Years at the National Theatre, a young…
Stephen Unwin on 'All Our Children', his play for Jermyn Street Theatre about Nazi persecution of the disabled"I've got a terrible confession to make", I said to my long-suffering …
Colourful and vivid revival of Martin Crimp's 1993 tale of New YorkPlaywright Martin Crimp's 1993 satirical epic, The Treatment, is a fabulous work, but it's rarely revived. Although much of…
There's vigour and violence, comedy too, but Daniel Kramer's production disappoints"Everything in extremity". That announcement that the Capulet party is about to begin could just …
Masterpiece of 'New York Trilogy' is visually amazing and intellectually satisfying on stagePlaywright Duncan Macmillan has had a good couple of years. In 2015, his play People, Pl…
Ivo van Hove's cultish staging of the Visconti film disappointsThere is a distinctive look, feel, even sound to a stage production directed by Ivo van Hove, which is becoming rather fam…
On the 401st anniversary of the Bard's death, actor-author Julian Curry introduces his new book of interviews, Shakespeare On Stage Vol 2Much of the brilliance of Shakespeare lies in th…
New play about loss offers an unusually experimental and immersive experienceText can sometimes be a prison. At its best, post-war British theatre is a writer's theatre, with the great pensm…
Revival of Christopher Hampton's academic satire Christopher Hampton's witty comedy, first performed in 1970, ingeniously inverts Molière's The Misanthrope, centring as it does on a ma…
Scary? Not this ghost-story rock musical, sadlyIt used to be said that the devil had all the best music. But the devil seems to have lost his touch in this ghost-story rock musical from Dunc…
New writing venue reopens with a play about another architectural marvelThe Bush is back! After a whole year of darkness, the West London new writing venue has reopened its doors following a…
Star power isn't the reason to catch ENO's Rodgers and Hammerstein pricey co-production "Then I'll kiss her so she'll know." At the sound of his ringing voice, the girls part to re…
A clear, considered production, but the updated comedy's uncertain This is a well-travelled Winter's Tale. Declan Donnellan has long been a director who's as much at home abroad as he …
The playwright explains the genesis of his fiery comedy starring Anne Reid and James BolamIf you'd asked me five years ago whether I might one day write a comedy about fracking, I'd have won…
The actor played pillars of the establishment, but there was much more to him than that It is the fate of a certain type of well-spoken classically trained actor to wear the livery of the En…
A tale of two toilets: Edinburgh Fringe First winner comes to Soho TheatreIt's hot. Real hot. And you're dancing, just lost in music. You're at the legendary Shrine nightclub in Lagos, where…
Revival of Edward Albee's gripping late play echoes Greek tragedyAsked in an interview if there remained any taboos in the theatre, Albee answered, "Yes. I don't think you should be all…
Brighton Festival CEO Andrew Comben's guide to this year's best free stuffThe Brighton Festival, which takes place every May, is renowned for its plethora of free events. The 2017 …
Lavish revival delivers dazzle aplenty if not much depth Can London support two dance musicals, each one dazzling in a different way? We're about to find out, now that the mother of all toe-…
Anna Maxwell Martin stars in Nina Raine's compelling play about rape and justiceRape is such a serious social issue that it's hardly surprising that several recent plays have tackled it…
Marivaux, via John Fowles, through the prism of Jane Austen The permutations of love are bewitchingly explored in the 90-minute stage traffic of Marivaux's The Lottery of Love, with Paul Mil…
A new play celebrates the Danish storyteller. Its adapter explores her unique appealKaren Blixen (1885-1962), the prolific Danish storyteller, is perhaps most immediately recognised for the …
David Tennant charms and excites in Patrick Marber's energetic rewrite of Molière Updating the classics is not without its pitfalls. How can a modern audience, which has a completely differ…
