Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Shaftesbury theatre, LondonRichard Eyre's joyous production of this 1954 show has an exuberance comparable to that of his National Theatre Guys and DollsIt's a big leap from the Minerva in C…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:59PM[SHARE]The play that burned down the Globe theatre in 1613, after a stage cannon ignited the thatch, is a potent farewell to this seriesIt seems strange to end this series of favourite Shakespeare …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:26AM[SHARE]Monday, May 12, 2014
The Shed, LondonChinese-American playwright David Henry Hwang uses humour to look at the implications of being racially hyphenated in this peach of a playWhat exactly is racial identity? Doe…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:43PM[SHARE]This stormy staple of the Shakespeare canon has appeared in many guises. But the great Giorgio Strehler's Italian version is our critics's top pick. What's your favourite version?I've experi…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:34AM[SHARE]Sunday, May 11, 2014
Nuffield, SouthamptonThree Noel Coward triple bills in one day might sound daunting, and some of his less admirable attitudes are all too apparent, but this epic show still contains some mas…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:44PM[SHARE]Thursday, May 8, 2014
Barbican, LondonFiona Shaw is brilliant as the mother of Jesus, and juggles other characters, in an ingenious adaptation of Colm TóibÃn's novella Fiona Shaw on the power of tragedyI ca…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:08AM[SHARE]This is a searing study of jealousy and a moving account of transformative magic. What's your favourite version?Where to start? The modern theatre loves The Winter's Tale, most recently seen…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:24AM[SHARE]Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Swan theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonLaudable performances and stage design save the RSC's contemporary makeover of this 16th-century true-crime dramaMuch as I welcome the idea of a Swan season …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:12AM[SHARE]The 2001 staging at Shakespeare's Globe, with Mark Rylance tackling a trio of roles, gave clarity to this convoluted playNot a play for rationalists. Dr Johnson wrote of its "unresistin…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:58AM[SHARE]Tuesday, May 6, 2014
This once-unloved play has become both a study of asylum seekers and a show for kids. It still has a potent theatrical magicBen Jonson thought Pericles "a mouldy tale", and few hav…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:44AM[SHARE]Monday, May 5, 2014
Laurence Olivier on stage and Ralph Fiennes on film are Michael Billington's favourite versions of this magnificent playI've loved this play ever since I was a revolting Roman citizen in a p…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:24AM[SHARE]Saturday, May 3, 2014
Nicholas Hytner's production in 2012 turned this unfashionable play into a bitter fable about our credit cultureTimon, wrote Quentin Letts in the Daily Mail, "tends to be dismissed as o…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:00AM[SHARE]Friday, May 2, 2014
Judi Dench and Anthony Hopkins impressed as lovers embroiled in the sex and politics of this play. But which other double acts have ruled as Shakespeare's power couple?I've been accused of n…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:00AM[SHARE]Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Paul Scofield, Derek Jacobi and John Wood all excelled in what Kenneth Tynan called a "flawed pyramid of a play". Which other actors have been every inch a king?I have a confession to make. …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:50PM[SHARE]Tuesday, April 29, 2014
From Willard White to Adrian Lester, modern theatre has yielded some terrific Othellos but none more so than Chiwetel EjioforWho should play Othello? In Britain, the last white men to do so…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:00AM[SHARE]Monday, April 28, 2014
Once regarded as salacious, Shakespeare's tale of seduction and the abuse of power has proved a natural fit for modern timesThere was a time when this play was considered too indecent for mo…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:36AM[SHARE]Sunday, April 27, 2014
Finborough, LondonJean-Jacques Bernard's exquisitely poignant tale of a summer romance in the French countryside is brilliantly performed by Hannah Murray and Barnaby Sax"The theatre is…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:30PM[SHARE]Friday, April 25, 2014
The tale of a poor physician's daughter who cures a king and claims a husband as reward sits well with modern gender politics. Here are my favourite stagingsThis supposedly unloved comedy of…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:28AM[SHARE]Wyndham's, LondonAndrei Konchalovsky's use of film and sexually explicit gestures doesn't always work well on stage, but there are compelling performances in this Russian double bill Andrei …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:25AM[SHARE]Thursday, April 24, 2014
Lyttelton, LondonHoward Davies brilliantly handles Seán O'Casey's blend of Dublin realism and expressionismSeán O'Casey's tumultuous play has always posed a problem: how to reconci…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:43AM[SHARE]In honour of the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth, we're recalling our favourite stagings of his plays. This tragedy has come into its own in today's war-weary times, yielding many f…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AM[SHARE]Wednesday, April 23, 2014
To mark the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth we're choosing our favourite versions of his plays. Here's a handful of the finest Hamlets 45 Hamlets for Shakespeare's 450th birthday i…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:00AM[SHARE]Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Donmar Warehouse, LondonJames Graham's new play under the direction of Josie Rourke is rich and adrenalin-fuelled but lacks a real intellectual tussleJames Graham's new play deals with the b…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:34PM[SHARE]Orange Tree, RichmondThis lively revival of Boucicault's play starts promisingly, but his assault on speculative capitalism soon turns into a convoluted comedy about aristocratic marriageA k…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:12AM[SHARE]Monday, April 21, 2014
This comedy demands a balance between laughter and pain and needs a strong, all-round ensemble. Here's a handful of stagings to celebrateTwelfth Night is Shakespeare's most perfect comedy. …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:06AM[SHARE]Friday, April 18, 2014
The first revival in 100 years of Arthur Wing Pinero's proto-feminist, anti-marriage drama is shrewd and polished, even though it does patronise its independent-minded heroine"The play …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:48AM[SHARE]By setting this play in a modern African state, the RSC's Gregory Doran gave its debate new urgency. Which versions of Julius Caesar have you hailed?For all its popularity, Shakespeare's Rom…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AM[SHARE]Thursday, April 17, 2014
Royal Shakespeare theatre, Straford-upon-Avon These plays embrace the whole range of human experience and the RSC's production is rich in psychological insight What are your favourite versio…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:44AM[SHARE]From Robert Stephens and Maggie Smith to Simon Russell Beale and Zoë Wanamaker, countless duos have sparred as Benedick and Beatrice. What's your favourite version?Charles I famously wrot…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:00AM[SHARE]Wednesday, April 16, 2014
The Swan, Stratford-upon-AvonUpdating this Jacobean play to the 1890s diminishes some of its impact, but it's a rousing productionThe RSC has had the bright idea of giving the new Swan seaso…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:09AM[SHARE]Tuesday, April 15, 2014
From Ben Kingsley's Ford to Bill Alexander's 50s-era staging, Shakespeare's only purely English comedy perfectly captures middle-class mores. Let us know the best versions you've seenI've al…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:13AM[SHARE]Loading more stories…
