All stories by Arifa Akbar on BroadwayStars

Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Link Link by Isabella Rossellini review " superstar's pooch steals the show by Arifa Akbar

Queen Elizabeth Hall, LondonA cod-scientific lecture on animal behaviour is given a comic twist in a surreal show that is too cutesyIsabella Rossellini went back to university to study anima…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:33AM[SHARE]
Thursday, October 18, 2018

Wise Children review " Emma Rice's spectacular Angela Carter carnival by Arifa Akbar

Old Vic, LondonRazzle-dazzle showbiz twins bewitch and delight in an inventive, smart and saucy productionWise Children is Angela Carter's rambunctious last novel about illegitimacy, incest …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:32PM[SHARE]
Monday, October 8, 2018

Ambreen Razia: 'Whether it's gangs or terrorism, these girls want to belong' by Arifa Akbar

Her hit drama The Diary of a Hounslow Girl was picked up by the BBC. Now, the fast-rising playwright is capturing the female experience of London gang culture Ambreen Razia always describes …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:18PM[SHARE]
Thursday, October 4, 2018

Memoirs of An Asian Football Casual review " a tour de force by Arifa Akbar

Curve, LeicesterHareet Deol and Jay Varsani are astonishing in this adaptation of Riaz Khan's book about masculinity and identity "Growing up a young Pakistani boy in Leicester was tough," w…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:54AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, October 2, 2018

Mrs Dalloway review " a cacophonous take on Virginia Woolf's classic by Arifa Akbar

Arcola, LondonA cast of five take on more than 20 characters in Hal Coase's experimental adaptation of the novelVirginia Woolf's 1925 novel about a day in the life (and life in the day) of C…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:04PM[SHARE]
Sunday, September 30, 2018

Memorial review " Alice Oswald's exquisite elegy to Iliad's lost mortals by Arifa Akbar

Barbican, LondonHelen Morse and a 200-strong chorus give a majestic ode to the everyday people whose stories are buried within Homer's epicAlice Oswald's 2011 poem, an excavation of Homer's …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:48AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, September 26, 2018

Poet in da Corner review " thrilling grime musical leaves you Dizzee by Arifa Akbar

Royal Court, LondonDebris Stevenson tells how grime became her salvation in a show that explores race, representation and authenticityIn 2003, Dizzee Rascal won the Mercury prize for the sem…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:18PM[SHARE]
Friday, September 21, 2018

The Human Voice review " Leanne Best delivers a tour de force of despair by Arifa Akbar

Gate theatre, LondonGuilt, anguish and female torment shape a spectacular star turn in this revival of Jean Cocteau's study of a woman on the brinkJean Cocteau's 50-minute monologue of a wom…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:48PM[SHARE]
Thursday, September 20, 2018

The Outsider review " Ben Okri adapts the Camus classic by Arifa Akbar

Print Room at the Coronet, LondonOkri holds faithfully to the philosopher-novelist's voice and vision in a striking staging with Sam Frenchum as Meursault'Mother died today. Or maybe yesterd…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:36PM[SHARE]
Thursday, September 13, 2018

Wasted review " sex, drugs and headbanging … meet the rock'n'roll Brontës by Arifa Akbar

Southwark Playhouse, LondonThe doomed sisters release their inner goths in this fantastically witty, mischievous and camp musical update of their tragic livesThe lives of the Brontë siste…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:36AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, September 12, 2018

An Adventure review " epic journey through Mau Mau-era Kenya by Arifa Akbar

Vinay Patel's ambitious, highly personal new play, a young couple leave behind from India in search of a better life'Pick me and I will make us … the greatest adventure you could ever have…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:18AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, September 11, 2018

Abi/Abigail's Party review " Mike Leigh's cringy classic gets a spin-off by Arifa Akbar

★★★☆☆/★★★★☆Queen's theatre, HornchurchAtiha Sen Gupta creates a companion piece for Leigh's story while a revival proves the origi…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:36AM[SHARE]
Sunday, September 9, 2018

About Leo review " vivid portrait of a painter who reframed art by Arifa Akbar

Jermyn Street theatre, LondonThis profound and beautiful study of surrealist Leonora Carrington, once the partner of Max Ernst, ingeniously contrasts scenes from her early and late careerThe…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:54AM[SHARE]
Thursday, September 6, 2018

God of Carnage review " sitcom spirit tames bullying drama's savagery by Arifa Akbar

Theatre Royal, Bath With a starry cast that includes Elizabeth McGovern and Ralf Little, this revival of Yasmina Reza's menace-filled comedy emphasises the laughs but loses the play's savage…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:24AM[SHARE]
Sunday, September 2, 2018

Actor Jade Anouka meets boxer Nicola Adams: 'The basics of both our worlds are the same' by Arifa Akbar

Actor Jade Anouka prepared to play Hotspur by watching videos of boxer Nicola Adams. Adams, in turn, acted in her youth and hopes to again. They met up to talk breaking boundaries, performan…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:42AM[SHARE]
Monday, July 30, 2018

Lamplighters review " audience takes centre stage in chaotic spy spoof by Arifa Akbar

Old Red Lion, LondonThis improvised John le Carré parody is only as clever and funny as its liveliest participantsLamplighters is a thriller set in the mould of John le Carré's cold-war sp…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:24AM[SHARE]
Thursday, July 26, 2018

King Lear review " Ian McKellen's dazzling swan song weighed with poignancy by Arifa Akbar

Duke of York's, LondonThe 79-year-old star shines brightest in play's darkest moments, in what may be his last big Shakespearean role on stageA tweet pinned to Sir Ian McKellen's Twitter acc…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:36PM[SHARE]
Monday, July 16, 2018

Alkaline review " faith, fear and fury in edgy dinner-party drama by Arifa Akbar

Park theatre, LondonStephanie Martin's drama " part comedy of manners and part state-of-the-nation play " is one killer scene short of greatnessAlkaline takes the well-worn drama of the midd…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:36PM[SHARE]
Thursday, July 12, 2018

Hive City Legacy review " a political twerk of art from femmes of colour by Arifa Akbar

Roundhouse, LondonThe Hot Brown Honey collective join forces with nine young performers to explore prejudice in a blast of hip-hop and burlesqueLast year, the Roundhouse put out an open call…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:32PM[SHARE]
Monday, July 9, 2018

Timber review " all the wood's a stage for spectacular forest festival by Arifa Akbar

Feanedock, National ForestA new arts extravaganza offers campfire stories, breathtaking theatre, laughing yoga and lessons on how to think like a treeStand on a hillock in Feanedock and you …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:04AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, July 3, 2018

Spun review " Britishness and belonging in the wake of 7/7 by Arifa Akbar

Arcola, LondonThere are storming performances in this play about two British Pakistani Londoners whose friendship is tested after the 2005 terror attacks'What do you see when you look at me?…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:18PM[SHARE]

Jellyfish review " love, fear and glimmering magic in Skegness by Arifa Akbar

Bush theatre, LondonThere is tenderness and humour in Ben Weatherill's play about a young woman with Down's syndrome caught between her boyfriend and her motherThe stage is so over-filled wi…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:24AM[SHARE]
Thursday, June 28, 2018

The Winter's Tale review " Blanche McIntyre celebrates the play's problems by Arifa Akbar

Shakespeare's Globe, LondonA superb cast deliver striking performances in a production that is knowingly dissonant, from the costumes to the climaxThe perennial question of this "problem pla…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:42PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Jerusalem review " Jez Butterworth's Rooster Byron is back for Brexit Britain by Arifa Akbar

Watermill theatre, NewburyRave music thumps as Jasper Britton plays the refusenik in an intimate revival of the drama about Albion's dark heartIt takes courage to revive a play that was deem…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:54AM[SHARE]
Sunday, June 17, 2018

Notes from the Field review " searing exposé of the school-to-jail pipeline by Arifa Akbar

Royal Court, LondonAnna Deavere Smith's powerful one-woman show highlights the shocking injustices faced by African Americans 'This is American history, not African American history," clarif…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:48AM[SHARE]
Friday, June 15, 2018

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest review " McMurphy's misogyny laid bare by Arifa Akbar

Sheffield Crucible There are strong performances in an adaptation that gets closer to Ken Kesey's novel than the popular film versionWhen Ken Kesey's novel was first staged in 1963, he told …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:18PM[SHARE]
Thursday, June 14, 2018

The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives review " a swaggering spectacular by Arifa Akbar

Arcola, LondonFemi Elufowoju Jr directs an arresting version of Lola Shoneyin's novel about marital power-play and sexual envy"Sir, you will deposit your sperm inside," a hospital nurse inst…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:36AM[SHARE]
Sunday, June 3, 2018

The Chalk Garden review " Penelope Keith sparks a twee rebellion by Arifa Akbar

Chichester Festival theatre Despite its pitch-perfect lead, this version of Enid Bagnold's class comedy lacks the emotionally charged edginess that gives it biteThe Chalk Garden is Enid Bagn…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:24AM[SHARE]
Thursday, May 31, 2018

Polly Stenham on rewriting Strindberg: 'I wanted to go for the jugular' by Arifa Akbar

As her explosive update of the sex-and-class classic Miss Julie hits the stage, playwright Polly Stenham explains why liberal hypocrisy is her new target'We think we are super 'woke'," says …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:24AM[SHARE]
Sunday, May 6, 2018

The Fall review " millennial angst supplies short, sharp shock by Arifa Akbar

Southwark Playhouse, LondonThe mood grows ever darker in James Fritz's play about a young generation increasingly burdened by their wealthy eldersThe Fall opens with a glee club-style choir,…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:54AM[SHARE]
Monday, May 25, 2015

Steven Berkoff: Rise of an 'up and coming nobody' by Arifa Akbar

Steven Berkoff may be among the most acclaimed playwrights and actors of his generation but he revealed he would much rather have been a tailor, like his father, given a choice between the t…

SOURCE: The Independent at 05:58PM[SHARE]

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