All stories by Rachel Halliburton on BroadwayStars

Thursday, October 7, 2021

Metamorphoses, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse review - punchy, cleverly reworked classic by Rachel Halliburton

Any figure in Roman mythology today would be at the pointy end of cancel culture Ovid was exiled – or to put it in twenty-first century terms, ‘no-platformed’ – by an indignant Emper…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 08:03AM
Wednesday, September 15, 2021

Indecent, Menier Chocolate Factory review - cabaret-style depiction of a rapidly changing world by Rachel Halliburton

An intriguing if flawed evening, boosted by ebullient ensemble work Indecent is a play wrapped inside a news story about stigma. Playwright Paula Vogel was at Cornell University when she s…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:54AM
Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Once Upon A Time In Nazi Occupied Tunisia, Almeida Theatre review - flawed theatre but a great experiment by Rachel Halliburton

Playwright Josh Azouz's absurdism owes as much to Sacha Baron Cohen as to Beckett An ageing Nazi, stuffed into a slightly too tight white linen suit, sits at the opposite end of the dining …

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 08:24AM
Monday, July 19, 2021

Mr and Mrs Nobody, Jermyn Street Theatre review – as comfortable as afternoon tea with jam puffs by Rachel Halliburton

Edward Baker-Duly seems to have sprung fully formed from the pages of 'Punch' If you’re looking for a distraction from the apocalyptic headlines that seem to be the norm right now, then it…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 12:36PM
Saturday, July 10, 2021

Romeo & Juliet, Shakespeare's Globe review - unsatisfactory mix of clumsy and edgy by Rachel Halliburton

Too many of the messages seem reductive and irrelevant "It is dangerous for women to go outside alone," blares the electronic sign above the stage of the new Romeo and Juliet at Shakespeare'…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 09:36AM
Wednesday, June 30, 2021

Bach & Sons, Bridge Theatre review - humorous and deeply intelligent by Rachel Halliburton

Raine beautifully evokes how music captures the mess of life In John Eliot Gardner’s magnificent wide-ranging biography of Bach, Music In The Castle of Heaven, he tells the story of the co…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:36AM
Friday, June 4, 2021

Death of a Black Man, Hampstead Theatre review - blistering theatre with an unflinching vision by Rachel Halliburton

Uncomfortable truths beneath the poisoned patter This blistering, fearless play about an 18-year-old black entrepreneur on the King’s Road raises a myriad of uncomfortable questions that r…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:36PM
Saturday, May 29, 2021

A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare's Globe review - a blast of colour from our post-vaccine future by Rachel Halliburton

A production that revels in the joyously absurd while hinting at the play's darker edges A little less than two years after Sean Holmes’s kick-ass Latin American carnival-style A Midsummer…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:54AM
Monday, May 3, 2021

Money, Southwark Playhouse online review - ethical dilemmas for the Zoom generation by Rachel Halliburton

A vivid and credible production that is also limited by its form To accept or not accept a donation: that’s certainly the burning political question of the moment.

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 04:03AM
Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Dream, RSC online review - gaming version unleashes revolutionary potential by Rachel Halliburton

Co-production with Manchester International Festival, Marshmallow Laser Feast and Philharmonia Orchestra brings Shakespeare's metaphor to life Which of Shakespeare’s plays is most plagued …

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:03AM
Monday, February 22, 2021

The Color Purple - at Home, Curve online review – life-affirming musical retelling of Alice Walker's novel by Rachel Halliburton

Celie learns how to live from the strong, rebellious women she encounters This production of The Color Purple is an extraordinary testimony to the fact that many of the twentieth century’s…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:33AM
Wednesday, February 17, 2021

All On Her Own, Stream.Theatre online review - a vivid monologue on bereavement by Rachel Halliburton

The tilt between our actual selves and our idealised selves will never cease to be an existential tension This stunningly delivered online monologue from a bereaved widow to her husband feel…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:03AM
Thursday, December 10, 2020

Nine Lessons and Carols, Almeida Theatre review – spiky portrayal of a world turned upside down by Rachel Halliburton

Skilfully interwoven accounts of a life in which togetherness is forbidden How do you create a secular version of the Nine Lessons and Carols? The original can feel like a formulaic trot thr…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:48AM
Saturday, December 5, 2020

The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk, Wise Children review – ravishing vision of Chagall's early life by Rachel Halliburton

An ingenious depiction of the artist's gravity-defying love One of Marc Chagall’s last commissions was for a stained-glass window in Chichester Cathedral, which channelled his characterist…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 04:03PM
Friday, October 23, 2020

The Great Gatsby, Immersive London review – a warm and electric tribute to the book by Rachel Halliburton

It's a true achievement to feel the chemistry of a cast whirring into action again The Prohibition-era setting of The Great Gatsby brings an appropriately illicit feel to this bold decisio…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 05:03AM
Friday, September 11, 2020

The Outside Dog & The Hand of God, Bridge Theatre review - gems of frustration and disquiet by Rachel Halliburton

Alan Bennett's monologues make us reflect on our own little worlds For some of us, it doesn’t take a lockdown to imprison us in our own hellish little world. Since his first series of dram…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:02AM
Sunday, August 30, 2020

Beat the Devil, Bridge Theatre review – Ralph Fiennes delivers an arresting account of Covid-19 by Rachel Halliburton

Theatre itself become an act of rebellion against the microbe For a riveting, cathartic – and often surprisingly humorous – 50 minutes Ralph Fiennes paces the stage at the Bridge Theatre…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 08:12PM
Friday, July 17, 2020

Amadeus, National Theatre at Home review – wild dance at the edges of sanity by Rachel Halliburton

As Mozart, Adam Gillen erupts onto the stage as a Tourette’s tornado It is 41 years since Peter Shaffer ripped off Mozart’s respectable façade to reveal a foul-mouthed verbally incontin…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 08:24AM
Friday, July 10, 2020

The Deep Blue Sea, National Theatre at Home review - hauntingly elegiac portrayal of Rattigan's world by Rachel Halliburton

Helen McCrory is the broken, irreparable heart of this production Helen McCrory is an actor who can inject a world of feeling into one syllable that many actors would struggle to muster in a…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:48AM
Friday, July 3, 2020

Toast, Lawrence Batley Theatre online review - pungent adaptation of Nigel Slater's autobiography by Rachel Halliburton

Food crimes of the Sixties and Seventies are revealed here as Michelin-starred memories I knew what a Howard Hodgkin painting would look like before I ever saw one because of Nigel Slater. T…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 04:03AM
Friday, June 12, 2020

The Madness of George III, National Theatre at Home review – a powerful, elegant depiction by Rachel Halliburton

A story told with the wit and elegance of a tune played on a harpsichord It has been the fate of George III – who on many levels was a visionary and accomplished monarch – to go down in …

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 12:24PM
Friday, June 5, 2020

Coriolanus, National Theatre at Home review – gritty 21st century update by Rachel Halliburton

The power of the mob still resonates in a production that speaks powerfully to our times An arrogant leader contemptuous of his people. Could there be a more perfect timing for Josie Rourke�…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 08:06AM
Friday, May 29, 2020

This House, National Theatre at Home review – timely revival of brilliant House of Commons drama by Rachel Halliburton

James Graham acutely perceives the obsessions and motivations of our times There is a line of argument that – unfairly – blames playwright James Graham for Dominic Cummings. Would Cummin…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 01:42PM
Saturday, May 16, 2020

Barber Shop Chronicles, National Theatre at Home review - still lively after all these years by Rachel Halliburton

Barbershop banter and the place it occupies in black male identity Barber shops – as we are all starting to appreciate in this time of lockdown – fulfil an emotional as much as a cosmeti…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:54AM
Sunday, March 15, 2020

The Seven Streams of the River Ota, National Theatre review - theatre at its transcendent best by Rachel Halliburton

Robert Lepage seizes on the fragments of human lives to build an epic If you want to pinpoint the genius of Robert Lepage’s multi-faceted seven-hour epic, that has returned to the National…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 11:48PM
Sunday, March 8, 2020

Not Quite Jerusalem, Finborough Theatre review - theatrical hit from 1980 now feels flat and stale by Rachel Halliburton

Paul Kember's play doesn't sing convincingly any more It may seem strange to watch a play about four English people on a kibbutz in the Seventies, and find yourself thinking about Brexit, bu…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 09:32PM
Friday, February 28, 2020

Women Beware Women, Shakespeare's Globe, review – wittily toxic upgrade of a Jacobean tragedy by Rachel Halliburton

In the #Metoo era, the exploitation of the female characters is particularly resonant This raunchy, gleefully cynical production takes one of Thomas Middleton’s most famous tragedies and t…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:18AM
Monday, February 10, 2020

On McQuillan's Hill, Finborough Theatre review - timely glance at Northern Irish myths and tensions by Rachel Halliburton

Joe Crilly believed in skewering the romance surrounding sectarian violence The news that the Continuity IRA created a bomb destined for England on Brexit Day has added to the timeliness of …

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 05:32AM
Monday, December 23, 2019

Girl From The North Country, Gielgud Theatre review – poignant collaboration between Conor McPherson and Bob Dylan by Rachel Halliburton

Raw depiction of a community where dreams go to die Despair hangs like mildew over the small iron-ore mining town of Duluth, Minnesota, where dreams go to die, and the living haunt the clapp…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 10:12AM
Monday, December 16, 2019

Swive, Shakespeare's Globe review – pacy, dagger-sharp rewriting of history by Rachel Halliburton

An interrogation of power, womanhood and the mythologies with which we surround ourselves History has corseted Elizabeth I with the title of “Virgin Queen” for centuries, but in Ella Hic…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 08:42AM
Thursday, December 12, 2019

The Ocean at the End of the Lane, National Theatre review - terrifying, magical coming of age story by Rachel Halliburton

A stunning tribute to the wild and wonderful life of the mind This scary, electrically beautiful adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s book about living on the faultline between imagination and real…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 03:36PM

All that Chat

2024-2025 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 05, 2024: Home - Todd Haimes Theatre
Jul 11, 2024: Oh, Mary! - Lyceum Theatre
Jul 30, 2024: Job - Hayes Theater
Sep 12, 2024: The Roommate - Booth Theatre
Nov 14, 2024: Tammy Faye - Palace Theatre
Dec 12, 2024: Cult of Love - Hayes Theater
Dec 19, 2024: Gypsy - Majestic Theatre
Mar 15, 2025: Purpose - Hayes Theater
Apr 01, 2025: Glengarry Glen Ross
TBA: Titanic