Wednesday, May 8, 2024

The Accountants review – a dizzying bombardment of big questions by Lyndsey Winship

Aviva Studios, ManchesterDance companies from Shanghai and Mumbai traverse a vast stage against a fast-moving backdrop in a personal story about identity and purpose The vast populations of …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:06AM

Dawn of the Big Yin: rediscovered film shows Billy Connolly on the road to comedy glory by Brian Logan

The 1975 tour documentary Big Banana Feet captures a comic growing into his extraordinary talents – and adjusting to unprecedented fame In an age where our every selfie, photogenic breakfa…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:54AM
Tuesday, May 7, 2024

Robert Downey Jr to make Broadway debut this year by Benjamin Lee

The Oscar-winning actor will lead Ayad Akhtar’s McNeal, playing a writer with ‘an unhealthy fascination with artificial intelligence’ Robert Downey Jr is set to make his Broadway debut…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:12PM

‘You wiped the floor with me!’ Tamsin Greig and Oliver Chris are having a riot with Rattigan by Ryan Gilbey

They are comedy sparring partners from Green Wing. Can the duo play stricken lovers in The Deep Blue Sea, the eviscerating play Rattigan poured his own heartbreak into? Warning: contains spo…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:36PM

Bookkeeping with a bang: Manchester’s stage spectacular The Accountants – in pictures by All Photographs By Tristram Kenton

A world premiere presented by Factory International, The Accountants combines one tale of two auditing firms with another of friends who have connected British Indian and British Chinese her…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:02AM

‘The body is everything’: Sung Im Her’s insatiable desire for dance by Sanjoy Roy

Each time she takes the stage, the Korean choreographer and dancer asks if it will be the last time. She reflects on crushing stereotypes, breaking into theatre and her 100 failed auditions …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:48AM

‘An exceptional experience’: Adrian Dunbar to curate Samuel Beckett festival in Liverpool by Mark Fisher

Line of Duty actor will oversee classic plays as well as new pieces inspired by the Irish author in Beckett: Unbound 2024 Adrian Dunbar is to curate a festival in Liverpool dedicated to the …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:48AM

Rufus Wainwright blames UK’s ‘narrow outlook’ after Brexit for Opening Night’s flop by Lanre Bakare Arts and Culture Correspondent

Exclusive: Audience had ‘vitriolic reaction’ to European tone of musical, forced to close early Rufus Wainwright has defended his musical Opening Night, which was forced to close early a…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:48AM

Joe Orton’s Entertaining Mr Sloane reviewed – archive, May 1964 by Christopher Driver

7 May 1964: Orton’s first play is a ‘milk-curdling essay in lower-middle-class nihilism’ Joe Orton’s Entertaining Mr Sloane, at the New Arts Theatre Club, opened last night with for…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:18AM
Monday, May 6, 2024

Confronting the audience and breaking the fourth wall: why Black drama is getting meta by Kemi Alemoru

On stage and screen, self-referential works such as A Strange Loop and American Fiction are on the rise, with playful postmodernism a potent weapon in the fight against inequality Officers s…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:24AM

Rosie Holt: That’s Politainment review – Tory targets are a safe seat by Brian Logan

Colchester Arts CentreThe comedian’s rightwing alter egos have not yet evolved beyond the two-dimensional in this droll but conventional set It’s lovely to be here in Colchester, says Ro…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:42AM
Sunday, May 5, 2024

Dugsi Dayz review – young Muslim answer to The Breakfast Club fizzles out by Arifa Akbar

Royal Court, LondonFour south London girls tell stories during detention at a mosque in Sabrina Ali’s play, which ends before we know much about them Four British Somali girls are thrown t…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:36AM

Much Ado About Nothing review – frothy fun to please the purists by Arifa Akbar

Globe theatre, LondonThere’s no whiff of stuffiness in a Sean Holmes’ production characterised by warm summer euphoria, Elizabethan-era magic and entrancing music The Globe so often come…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:18AM

Cara Delevingne: ‘It’s a lot easier now I’m not the new hot young thing’ by Michael Hogan

The actor on catching the theatre bug playing Sally Bowles in Cabaret, being a football fan, and dealing with a fire that destroyed her home in LA London-born Cara Delevingne, 31, began mode…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:54AM

Kevin Spacey hits back at fresh allegations in new Channel 4 documentary by Vanessa Thorpe

TV head hopes programme will spark ‘a #MeToo moment for men’ ahead of two-part show on the Oscar-winning actor One of the producers of a Channel 4 documentary that contains fresh claims …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:54AM

York International Shakespeare festival review – the bard without borders by Clare Brennan

York St John University, YorkFootsbarn Travelling Theatre’s Twelfth Night and a Turkish Macbeth rubbed shoulders with manga, memoir and a Ukrainian scratch show at this boundary-defying fe…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:54AM

The week in theatre: The Buddha of Suburbia; Love’s Labour’s Lost – review by Susannah Clapp

Swan; Royal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonA new era at the RSC opens with a potent staging by Emma Rice and Hanif Kureishi of his classic everyman tale and a clever take on Shakesp…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:06AM

Sunday with Lou Sanders: ‘A fireside pub table for games – Bananagrams, Scrabble’ by Michael Segalov

The comic snuggles her cats, goes to gymnastics, squeals in delight at vegan Yorkshire puddings Sunday mornings? I recently bought this book called Morning Miracles. It’s all about getting…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:48AM
Saturday, May 4, 2024

Spirited Away, the stage spectacular: ‘Every 20 minutes there’s something that would be another play’s finale’ by Kate Wyver

The theatre adaptation of Studio Ghibli’s beloved animation sold out in Japan in four minutes. As it comes to the UK, we meet the international team of creatives bringing its giant dragons…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:48PM

Boy Blue: Cycles review – a constantly shifting hip-hop high by Sarah Crompton

Barbican theatre, LondonThe company’s exploration of the act of dancing ebbs and flows loose-limbed precision – and some astonishing pyrotechnics It will soon be 50 years since hip-hop e…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:48AM
Friday, May 3, 2024

The Cherry Orchard review – Benedict Andrews brings Chekhov bang up to date by Arifa Akbar

Donmar Warehouse, LondonNina Hoss stars in a kookily immersive production but the devastating hammer blow of the Russian tragicomedy is not lost in translation It is initially hard to fathom…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:36PM

John Bishop: Back at It review – a meandering mess-about by Brian Logan

Cliffs Pavilion, SouthendThe standup delivers an unstructured show with autobiographical anecdotes and routines about henpecked husbands and women called Fanny How hard should a comedian try…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:36AM

Lily Allen to star in new version of Hedda Gabler ‘absolutely for now’ by Chris Wiegand

Matthew Dunster, who directed Allen in her West End debut 2:22: A Ghost Story, will write and direct the show for Bath’s Ustinov Studio next year Lily Allen is to play Hedda Gabler in a ne…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:18AM

Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith announce stage version of Inside No 9 by Chris Wiegand

The pair, whose final season of the hit horror-comedy will air on the BBC this month, say the West End production will feature familiar characters and fresh surprises As the ninth and final …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:18AM

42 Balloons review – charming musical about reaching for the sky by Catherine Love

Lowry, SalfordJack Godfrey’s witty show is about a lovable dreamer who took flight in a garden chair attached to helium balloons ‘What makes a man try to fly in a lawn chair?” sing the…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06AM

Multiple Casualty Incident review – thorny questions in humanitarian aid drama by Kate Wyver

Yard theatre, LondonEven in times of peace, the medical staff training to go into a war zone can’t avoid conflict in Sami Ibrahim’s engaging play Questions of crisis spiral in Sami Ibrah…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06AM
Thursday, May 2, 2024

John Cleese cut N-word from Fawlty Towers revival because people ‘don’t understand irony’ by Lanre Bakare Arts and Culture Correspondent

Speaking at launch for West End adaptation, Cleese complains about literal-minded viewers ‘not playing with a full deck’ John Cleese said that he decided to cut the N-word from a scene i…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:48AM

Marie Faustin: Sorry I’m Late review – an irresistible hour from a stellar standup by Brian Logan

Soho theatre, LondonA lesser act might have struggled to follow the brilliant Sydnee Washington, but Faustin’s swaggering, gossipy shtick is superb Has Marie Faustin blundered? Support act…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:36AM

Sweat review – chilling vision of a divided, alienated America by Chris Wiegand

Royal Exchange theatre, ManchesterThis timely return of Lynn Nottage’s 2015 play that anticipated Trump’s presidency has powerful performances despite never finding the right rhythm Alth…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:32AM

Boy Blue: Cycles review – dazzling hip-hop dance alchemy by Sanjoy Roy

Barbican, LondonIn ragged rocksteps and snaredrum springs, choreographer Kenrick Sandy and composer Michael Asante catch the connections between sound and movement Founded in 2001, Boy Blue …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:24AM

‘Just let us audition’: UK transgender actors appeal to be cast in non-trans roles by Kate Wyver

Kim Tatum, Mariah Louca and Reece Lyons combine to call for trans women to be put on an equal footing for cis roles Kim Tatum dreams of playing Norma Desmond, Sunset Boulevard’s exquisite …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:12AM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards