All stories by Chris Wiegand on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Theatre director Michael Bogdanov dies aged 78 by Chris Wiegand

Welsh director was best known for The Romans in Britain, which led to an obscenity trial, and for co-founding the English Shakespeare CompanyMichael Bogdanov, the bold theatre director who s…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:06AM
Thursday, March 30, 2017

New cast announced for West End hit Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by Chris Wiegand

Stage adventure of JK Rowling’s grown-up wizard prepares to refresh its lineup, while Broadway production is in the worksThe new cast has been announced for Harry Potter and the Cursed Chi…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:31AM
Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Peppa Pig’s Surprise review – a squirting, snorting, exhausting show by Chris Wiegand

Duke of York’s theatre, LondonA puppet Peppa and her family have fun around the house in a touring stage version that stays close to the TV series and gets the kids singing and giggling �…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:42PM
Tuesday, February 21, 2017

So you want to be an artist? Then let the pros show you how it's done by Interviews By Chris Wiegand, Dave Simpson and Homa Khaleeli

DBC Pierre wrote in a fever, Frank Turner dabbled in thrash and Nikki Amuka-Bird jumped off a cliff. Artists reveal how they got to the top – and how you can tooThe actor: Nikki Amuka-Bird…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:54PM
Thursday, January 26, 2017

From Lisbon with love: Regina Advento on Pina Bausch's portrait of Portugal by Chris Wiegand

How do you capture the spirit of Lisbon? With a show featuring fado, sunbathing dancers and an enigmatic walrus. The Tanztheater Wuppertal star recalls making Masurca FogoIt’s bitterly col…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:42AM
Sunday, January 8, 2017

Perfume seller wins Bruntwood prize for play about welfare cuts by Chris Wiegand

Katherine Soper awarded £16,000 and residency at Royal Exchange for ‘first proper play’ about mental health and changes to the benefits systemThe UK’s biggest playwriting competition …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:33AM
Friday, December 30, 2016

The Guardian's Shakespeare Solos series continues with six new films by Chris Wiegand

Joanna Lumley plays Viola, David Threlfall is Prospero and Daniel Mays sees a dagger before him in our latest set of videos to mark the 400th anniversary of the playwright’s deathSix more …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:48PM
Saturday, December 10, 2016

Queen musical We Will Rock You to close in London after 12-year run by Chris Wiegand

Critically panned but hugely popular jukebox musical to close doors after 4,600 performances at Dominion theatreTwelve years after it opened, the Queen and Ben Elton musical We Will Rock You…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:24PM
Friday, December 2, 2016

Simon Russell Beale webchat – full Q&A by Chris Wiegand

The great Shakespearean answered your questions on his extraordinary careerSimon Russell Beale joined us to talk about tackling King Lear – a mountain of a role, as Peter Brook once called…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:42AM
Saturday, October 22, 2016

Flick Colby obituary by Chris Wiegand

Choreographer behind Pan's People, the dance troupe loved by Top of the Pops fansWhen 15 million viewers tuned into Top of the Pops each week during the show's 1970s heyday, the appeal exten…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:09PM
Friday, October 21, 2016

Shakespeare’s Globe appoints Emma Rice as new artistic director by Chris Wiegand

Rice will follow Mark Rylance and Dominic Dromgoole in top job at the theatre when she takes over in April 2016The job description demanded “visionary and charismatic leadership”, the ab…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:55PM
Friday, October 14, 2016

Damian Lewis returns to West End for revival of Edward Albee play by Chris Wiegand

Homeland and Wolf Hall star will appear in The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? at Theatre Royal Haymarket in spring 2017Damian Lewis is to star in the second West End revival of an Edward Albee play…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:48AM
Friday, October 7, 2016

Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Fleabag to return to Soho theatre by Chris Wiegand

The filthy comedy – a hit for the BBC this summer – will be staged at the venue where it first started out as a monologueFleabag, this year’s breakout TV anti-heroine, is returning to …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:46AM
Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Let's Fly review – featherlight adventure for kids by Chris Wiegand

Little Angel theatre, London A companion piece to the puppet theatre’s autumn show Emily Rising delivers some escapist fun for the under-sixes Shakera Ahad is one of the busiest puppeteers…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:08AM
Saturday, September 24, 2016

Morrissey or Shelagh Delaney? – quiz by Chris Wiegand

Hull Truck's A Taste of Honey, starring Shameless's Rebecca Ryan, is the second major revival this year of Shelagh Delaney's hugely influential debut. As Morrissey once observed, "At least 5…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:25PM
Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Harry Enfield to make theatre debut as movie mogul in Hollywood satire by Chris Wiegand

Once in a Lifetime leads Young Vic season that includes a ‘grownup’ Midsummer Night’s Dream and a new show devised by sex workersHarry Enfield is to make his theatrical debut in a revi…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:44PM
Saturday, September 10, 2016

John Malkovich to make London debut as a theatre director by Maev Kennedy and Chris Wiegand

Actor will return to the UK in order to stage Zach Helm’s play Good Canary at Kingston’s Rose theatreThe American actor John Malkovich is heading to the UK – not to the West End stage,…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:24PM
Thursday, September 8, 2016

Paul Auster's meta-thriller City of Glass coming to the stage in 2017 by Chris Wiegand

Duncan Macmillan and 59 Productions’ adaptation of Auster’s innovative detective novel will have its world premiere in ManchesterCity of Glass, Paul Auster’s meta-detective novel about…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:28AM
Wednesday, September 7, 2016

The Railway Children review – Justin Fletcher boards first-class crowdpleaser by Chris Wiegand

King’s Cross theatre, LondonThe CBeebies favourite has been cast as Mr Perks in this imaginative adaptation of E Nesbit’s classic – but the real star of the show pulls in later“Dad?�…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:58AM
Monday, August 22, 2016

Edinburgh comedy awards 2014: the nominees in full by Chris Wiegand

Former nominees James Acaster and Sam Simmons, and last year’s best newcomer, John Kearns, are on the seven-strong shortlist for the main prize at the Edinburgh comedy awardsEdinburgh come…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:34AM
Monday, August 1, 2016

'Booed off in 17 seconds' – comedians recall their first gigs by Chris Wiegand and Anna Menin

Shappi Khorsandi felt as if she’d walked on the moon. Isy Suttie watched a man change a dressing on a wound as she spoke. Omid Djalili fell off the stage. So how did the first gigs of Paul…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:55AM
Tuesday, July 12, 2016

James Thierrée: 'Baryshnikov told me to get used to pain. It's part of a dancer's life' by Chris Wiegand

As he prepares to take his latest spectacular to the Edinburgh festival, the performer talks about the ‘magic box’ of theatre, listening to frogs’ secrets and playing an acrobatic Arie…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:29AM
Friday, July 8, 2016

Audiences invited to dress up as fish for free tickets to Mark Rylance's new play by Chris Wiegand

Seats in a private box are promised to the first theatregoers who turn up in fishing gear – or as fish – at the Oscar-winning actor’s latest West End showMark Rylance will return to Lo…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:40AM
Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Maxine Peake to star in A Streetcar Named Desire in Manchester by Chris Wiegand

Exclusive: Actor will portray Blanche DuBois in Sarah Frankcom production of Tennessee Williams playThe role was originated by Jessica Tandy, played on stage and screen by Vivien Leigh and h…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:20AM
Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Damian Lewis and Zawe Ashton among stars for new set of Shakespeare Solos by Chris Wiegand

Lewis plays Antony and Ashton performs ‘All the world’s a stage’ for our video series, which features Riz Ahmed, Laura Carmichael and Paterson JosephThe final set of films in the Guard…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:36PM

Zawe Ashton as Jaques in As You Like It: ‘All the world’s a stage’ – video by Dan Susman, Jess Gormley, Pascal Wyse, Liese Spencer, Emma John and Chris Wiegand

To mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, we asked leading actors to perform key speeches from his plays. Here, Zawe Ashton speaks Jaques’s lines on the seven ages of man fro…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:36PM

Quiz: match the stage directions to the play by Chris Wiegand

Here are 10 striking stage directions – can you identify the plays they're taken from?“Thunder and lightning. Enter Devils with covered dishes.”The CrucibleWickedDoctor Faustus“Miria…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:52AM
Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Paterson Joseph as Shylock: 'You call me misbeliever' – video by Dan Susman, Jess Gormley, Pascal Wyse, Liese Spencer, Emma John and Chris Wiegand

To mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, we asked leading actors to perform key speeches from his plays. Here, Paterson Joseph speaks Shylock’s lines from The Merchant of Ve…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:11AM

Zawe Ashton as Jacques in As You Like It: ‘All the world’s a stage’ – video by Dan Susman, Jess Gormley, Pascal Wyse, Liese Spencer, Emma John and Chris Wiegand

To mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, we asked leading actors to perform key speeches from his plays. Here, Zawe Ashton speaks Jacques’s lines on the seven ages of man fr…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:10AM

Damian Lewis as Antony in Julius Caesar: 'Friends, Romans, countrymen' – video by Dan Susman, Jess Gormley, Pascal Wyse, Liese Spencer, Emma John and Chris Wiegand

To mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, we asked leading actors to perform key speeches from his plays. Here, Damian Lewis performs Antony’s lines from act III, scene 2 of …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:10AM

Laura Carmichael as Portia: 'The quality of mercy' – video by Dan Susman, Jess Gormley, Pascal Wyse, Liese Spencer, Emma John and Chris Wiegand

To mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, we asked leading actors to perform key speeches from his plays. Here, Laura Carmichael speaks Portia’s lines from The Merchant of Ve…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:10AM

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