Friday, October 18, 2013
This week, Rufus Norris was appointed the new director of the National theatre. After 50 dramatic years, where does he take it from here? Guardian critic Michael Billington assesses how…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:25AM[SHARE]Thursday, October 17, 2013
Royal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonDavid Tennant is mesmerising in the first show of Gregory Doran's six-year plan to present all of Shakespeare's worksThis show marks the start o…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:00PM[SHARE]Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Ustinov Studio, BathLope de Vega's romantic comedy has something in common with the Taming of the Shrew, and gets a lively performance here, but it leaves a somewhat acrid aftertasteLaurence…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:00PM[SHARE]The National Theatre's new artistic director has an air of unpredictability and will bring plenty of excitement to the job. Comment thread: Let us know what you thinkHow on earth do you foll…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:24AM[SHARE]Monday, October 7, 2013
The Threepenny Opera gets a high-finance update, a mighty solo effort illuminates Finnegans Wake, but Beckett fails to spark at the Dublin theatre festivalThe Threepenny Opera by Bertol…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:32PM[SHARE]Friday, October 4, 2013
Almeida, LondonRichard Eyre's first-rate revival of Ibsen's play grabs you by the throat and never releases its gripThe most radical feature of Richard Eyre's first-rate revival of Ghosts is…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:30AM[SHARE]Thursday, October 3, 2013
Finborough, LondonAn intriguing look ahead to retribution in Zimbabwe following the reign of Robert Mugabe opens up new dramatic territoryAnders Lustgarten is a rare animal: a political play…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:00PM[SHARE]Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Tricycle theatre, LondonA very funny portrait of a relationship between monarch and prime minister that clearly wasn't made in heavenThe Queen and Margaret Thatcher are becoming a familiar t…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:55PM[SHARE]Curve, LeicesterRudkin's darkly riveting play brilliantly demonstrates the way Hitchcock's art is the key to his lifePlays and films about the private life of Alfred Hitchcock are a growth i…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:01PM[SHARE]Sunday, September 29, 2013
(King's Head, London)This premiere of a Dickens adaptation co-written by Terence Rattigan and John Gielgud is brisk yet brilliantly stagedThis, somewhat surprisingly, is the professional pre…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:51PM[SHARE]Friday, September 27, 2013
Menier Chocolate Factory, LondonNicky Silver's play about a Jewish family preparing for the worst doesn't follow through with enough forceNicky Silver is a prolific New York dramatist who is…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:46AM[SHARE]Thursday, September 26, 2013
Royal Court, LondonRachel De-lahay weaves together tales of immigration limbo and national identity, but neglects to thread in some angerRachel De-lahay made a sharp impression with her mosa…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:52PM[SHARE]Minerva, ChichesterJulian Mitchell's 1981 play on ways public schools in the 1930s bred betrayal is highly perceptive in this astute productionSchool plays seem to have a magnetic attraction…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:34AM[SHARE]Monday, September 23, 2013
Theatre 503, LondonYou would expect a play about six Welsh miners trapped underground to offer a display of quiet heroism. But the good thing about this remarkable first full-length work by …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:34PM[SHARE]Thursday, September 19, 2013
Old Vic, LondonI am the last person to complain about senior citizens being given free rein. I also hold Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones in high regard and thought their performances i…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:44PM[SHARE]Bush, LondonActor Rory Kinnear's first play may not be startlingly original but it has meaty roles and a clear understanding of family tensionRory Kinnear seems unfairly talented. Not only i…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:56AM[SHARE]Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Arcola, LondonBertolt Brecht's rarely performed play about human isolation is bewildering but comes from a hauntingly original imaginationEven dedicated admirers of Bertolt Brecht are often …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:31PM[SHARE]Brecht's belief that drama should present moral ideas through action is unfashionable, but as theatre becomes ever more narcissistic, audiences are seeking him out againIt's that man again: …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:37AM[SHARE]Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Noel Coward Theatre, LondonEver since the Polish critic, Jan Kott, wrote a famous essay viewing Shakespeare's play as a nightmarish fantasy, directors have been exploring the dark side of Th…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:02PM[SHARE]Monday, September 16, 2013
Wyndham's, LondonAs a piece of black comedy, Clive Exton's play is neither sufficiently dark nor consistently funnyClive Exton made a name for himself writing black comedies for ITV in the e…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:39PM[SHARE]Orange Tree, RichmondSusan Glaspell's convoluted exploration of US involvement in the second world war is kept afloat by an adroit castThis is the fifth full-length play by the American femi…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:26AM[SHARE]Friday, September 13, 2013
Lyric Hammersmith, London A new version of Woyzeck plays out like a compendium of avant garde cliches, catching little of the desperation that drives Büchner's hero to murderI get the idea …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:10AM[SHARE]Thursday, September 12, 2013
Royal Court, London A City suit sells his soul in this enjoyable if slightly unsubtle morality tale by Matilda the Musical's Dennis KellyVicky Featherstone's Royal Court regime begins with a…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:57AM[SHARE]Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Royal & Derngate, NorthamptonAyub Khan-Din's adaptation of ER Braithwaite's autobiography features strong performances but could do with more dramaThe most moving part of the evening came a…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:40AM[SHARE]Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Finborough, LondonJB Priestley's tale of a post-nuclear Britain is prescient, with its premonitions of modern life, and quietly passionate about this island's charmsInside that burly pragmat…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:28PM[SHARE]Monday, September 9, 2013
Yvonne Arnaud, GuildfordThe Original Theatre Company revives Peter Shaffer's bittersweet 1962 comedy double bill that explores the tension between order and passionThe conflict between dessi…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:52PM[SHARE]Friday, September 6, 2013
Mark Ravenhill's take on Voltaire's satire is an extraordinary piece, despite its overwhelming profusion of ideasMark Ravenhill has taken Voltaire's laconically witty satire on 18th-century …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:21AM[SHARE]Thursday, September 5, 2013
Olivier, London John Heffernan convinces as king in a visually vibrant revival, yet the lyrical beauty of Marlowe's verse is lost in the mixI've argued countless times that "director's theat…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:42AM[SHARE]As a theatrical form, farce is infinitely flexible, timeless and revelatory … and several recent shows prove it's ripe for a revivalFarce is in the ascendant right now. We've just had Feyd…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:18AM[SHARE]Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Royal Court, London A well-written ode to community life in London is thwarted by its snapshot formatThis show does what it says on the tin. It consists of 10 five-minute episodes of a soap …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:14AM[SHARE]Friday, August 30, 2013
Shakespeare's Globe, LondonJessica Swale's first play leaves you astonished at the prejudices the pioneers of women's education had to overcomeJessica Swale has chosen, for her first play, a…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:18AM[SHARE]Loading more stories…
