Friday, March 4, 2022
Leeds PlayhouseWith striking design and compelling leads, Amy Leach directs a triumphant version of Shakespeare’s tale of murderous deeds
The first time we meet the Macbeths in Amy Leach�…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:54AMThursday, March 3, 2022
York Theatre RoyalThe story of Rohingya ‘limbo kid’ Subhi, born in an Australian detention centre, is powerful but awkwardly adapted from Zana Fraillon’s book
Stories are powerful. Tha…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:48AMThursday, December 9, 2021
Royal Exchange theatre, ManchesterDavid Grieg’s rowdy, informal yarn makes a pleasingly oddball antidote to the classic Christmas show
Devils may not seem very festive but David Greig’s …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:18AMWednesday, December 8, 2021
York Theatre RoyalPaul Hendy’s cast deliver a dependable mix of song and dance, spectacle and silliness, as well as a brilliant, bin-toting Buttons
For decades, the Theatre Royal panto has…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:24AMThursday, December 2, 2021
Hope Mill theatre, ManchesterWith belting vocals and dazzling dance, this musical update jumps into a vivid Oz full of street art and neon lights
Director Matthew Xia’s updated staging of …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:42AMFriday, November 12, 2021
Leeds PlayhouseWhen a pupil confronts his teacher after she fails to defend him from police, more questions are raised than can be contained in this drama
What does solidarity look like? In …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:12PMWednesday, October 27, 2021
Available onlineA solitary woman finds a strange new presence in her remote house in this audio play which debates people v the planet, nature v culture
The stranger on the threshold is a dr…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:06AMThursday, October 21, 2021
Leeds PlayhouseWilson’s play eavesdrops on the lives of an African American taxicab crew in a quietly compelling snapshot of men on the margins in the 1970s
Single-location dramas are all …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:03AMThursday, October 7, 2021
York Theatre RoyalA scrambled script and an over-reliance on dry ice leave this version of Sleepy Hollow tired and empty
Outside Sleepy Hollow, a sign implores visitors: “Don’t pass by. …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:03PMThursday, September 16, 2021
York Theatre RoyalTonderai Munyevu reflects on the men who have loomed large in his life in a thought-provoking show
‘Where are you from?” It’s a question that writer and actor Tondera…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:42PMWednesday, September 15, 2021
Oastler Market Car Park, BradfordBradford-based performers use their passion for modified motors to explore the challenges faced by Muslim men in Britain today
There’s a striking moment in…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:03PMTuesday, July 13, 2021
Rowntree Park, YorkA retiring park keeper seeks meaning in the wake of trauma in Mike Kenny’s story of wartime loss
Last summer, York’s outdoor Park Bench Theatre provided an emotional …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:03AMFriday, July 2, 2021
Royal Exchange theatreLauryn Redding weaves the musician’s swagger with the storyteller’s confiding tone to depict a thrilling summer of love
One of the reasons we go to the theatre is t…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:24AMMonday, June 14, 2021
Scarcroft Allotments, YorkThe performers’ tail-wagging joy at being back in front of audiences can’t sustain this uneven history of the canine show
In many ways, Mikron’s touring model…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:12AMSunday, May 23, 2021
Leeds PlayhouseThe poet and actor are among six writers whose short monologues span the theatre’s 50 years – from the Yorkshire Ripper to a post-lockdown future
As Leeds Playhouse welco…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:06PMTuesday, May 18, 2021
York Theatre RoyalA mix of music, dance, comedy and poetry delivers a bittersweet reminder of what lockdown deprived us of – and a joyous celebration of live performance
On the screen at t…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:33AMFriday, April 30, 2021
Available onlineThis ingenious show featuring Mel Giedroyc casts its audience as board members of a charity and gives them a dilemma
It’s a classic question: what would you be willing to o…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:33AMSunday, March 14, 2021
Available onlineWhile outrage against misogyny flares up once more, this collection of audio works by the Royal Exchange theatre celebrates marginalised and unsung female figures
This year,…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:42AMWednesday, January 27, 2021
Available online Viewers collaborate to chase clues and solve a deadly mystery in the follow-up to last year’s Jury Duty
Online adventure and puzzle games – the socially distanced cousin…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:12AMFriday, October 9, 2020
Leeds PlayhouseImitating the dog reinvents medieval wagon theatre for the 21st century – but it’s more of an idea than a fully fleshed out story
Credit to imitating the dog for looking a…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:18AMSunday, September 6, 2020
Old Vic: In CameraThe Sherlock and Fleabag actor is transfixingly tender in Stephen Beresford’s skilful monologue, performed against an eerie, empty auditorium
Three Kings is an unusually…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:48AMSunday, August 16, 2020
Rowntree Park, York This tangled monologue – delivered to a socially spaced audience with emphatic charm by Chris Hannon – is a diverting way to bring open-air theatre back to life
First…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:54AMWednesday, August 12, 2020
Available onlineThis half-hour play about call-centre workers is an unsettlingly effective study of the isolation inflicted by coronavirus
The best theatre and dance to watch online
This new…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:32AMTuesday, July 7, 2020
As the writer and actor takes I, Cinna (the Poet) on to Zoom, he talks about how the pandemic may result in shaking up the structure of theatre for the better
‘I always fly the flag of li…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:54AMMonday, June 22, 2020
Available online Manchester’s Home stages a lockdown all-nighter exploring students’ dreams, alongside time-capsule plays about spiralling social media horrors and disrupted lives
‘We…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:03PMThursday, April 30, 2020
Available onlineJames Phillips’s clash of near-future and Arthurian legend imagines patriotic nostalgia taken to extremes, if your nerves can take it
Extra tension is, understandably, som…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:24PMFriday, April 17, 2020
Reinventing courses that rely on physical contact is a challenge, but digital training could be the perfect curtain-raiser into theatre’s brave new world
Like so much else in this current …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:54AMFriday, March 27, 2020
This experimental piece plays out in comment threads delivered direct to camera and raises important questions about theatre on the internet
It’s an odd bit of coincidence that Kieran Hurl…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:18AMWednesday, March 11, 2020
Everyman, LiverpoolJosie Lawrence stars in Jonathan Harvey’s story of the Domingo clan who have plenty of skeletons in their cupboards
As messed up families go, the Domingos are off the ch…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:03AMTuesday, March 3, 2020
Hope Mill theatre, ManchesterAn asteroid is hurtling towards Earth in Alison Carr’s new play, where everyone takes part in a pub quiz
The local boozer might not be a bad place to wait for …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:12PMSunday, March 1, 2020
Leeds PlayhouseWith echoes of the murder of Stephen Lawrence, Mel Pennant’s new play focuses on the mothers who are left behind
Racism, as Mel Pennant’s new play explores, does not come …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:42PM 
