Thursday, September 26, 2019
Caryl Churchill's latest offering is wonderfully bright and incisively perceptive
At the age of 81, Caryl Churchill, Britain's greatest living playwright, is still going strong. Her latest i…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 04:06PMWednesday, September 25, 2019
Excellent acting in a play that tickles the senses by morphing from one genre to another
Are first ladies second-class citizens? Do they always have to stand behind their husbands? What are …
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:24PMThursday, September 12, 2019
New docu-drama about a distressing case of 1990s corruption and cover-up
New artistic directors are popping up all over British theatre. Every week seems to usher in a refreshingly new talen…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:48PMSaturday, September 7, 2019
Lively gig theatre revival of a 1980s account of the black lesbian experience
Identity politics has been around for decades. One of the great things about the Bush Theatre in West London is …
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 05:42AMThursday, September 5, 2019
Experimental exploration of belief and determinism is touched by genius
Playwright and performer Tim Crouch is one of Britain's most innovative creatives, with a big back catalogue of chall…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 11:12PMWednesday, September 4, 2019
Debut play about the parliamentary ruling class is timely, but ultimately unsatisfying
In the current feverish atmosphere at Westminster, with arguments about Brexit becoming increasingly sh…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 01:48AMTuesday, August 20, 2019
Juliet Stevenson is brilliant in an ethical debate that is both thrilling and challenging
After six years, associate director Robert Icke bids farewell to the Almeida Theatre. In this time h…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:24PMThursday, August 8, 2019
Rare Philip King play turns a farce into a serious drama - and it doesn't work
Theatre legends die hard. Playwright Philip King, who passed away in 1979, was once hailed as the monarch of th…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:12PMWednesday, July 17, 2019
Star cast deliver a terrific revival of Tennessee Williams's last masterpiece
One of the glories of contemporary London theatre is its revivals of classic American drama. Year after year, a…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 12:06AMMonday, July 8, 2019
Bright new two-hander about an internet troll is intelligent, provocative and funny
Few theatres have done as much to promote new young talent as the Royal Court; few theatres have done as m…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:12PMMonday, July 1, 2019
New play about an extramarital affair is short, but emotionally truthful
The best kind of two-hander is the play about couples. And the most dramatic way of saying something about relationsh…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:48PMFriday, June 28, 2019
Magnificent revival of David Greig's 1990s visionary classic is both tough and tender
In the middle of the current decade, there was a mild vogue for reviving a handful of the great plays o…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 01:36AMWednesday, June 26, 2019
Striking stage version of Thomas Vinterberg and Tobias Lindholm's 2012 film
For a while, child abuse has been banished from our stages. After all, there is a limit, surely, to how much pain …
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:54PMWednesday, June 19, 2019
The most controversial play of the year is shaping up to be the worst
John Malkovich is back in town - and he's starring in the most controversial play of the year. Trouble is, it might well…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 09:24PMTuesday, June 18, 2019
A poetic journey through time and space in Dublin is beautifully written
Irish playwright Dylan Coburn Gray's new play won the Verity Bargate Award in 2017, and his reward is a fine product…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 08:42PMTuesday, June 4, 2019
Decade-hopping story about sexual identity also celebrates the art of theatre
In one lifetime, the many loves that once dare not speak their names have become part of everyday chatter. But i…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:06PMTuesday, May 28, 2019
Revival of Githa Sowerby's 1912 classic of industrial patriarchy is worthy but inaccessible
Githa Sowerby is the go-to playwright if you want a feminist slant on patriarchy in the industrial…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 08:33PMTuesday, May 21, 2019
Intriguing Cold War thriller is thoroughly immersive, but lacks a convincing sense of history
Stasiland is a fascinating mental space. As a historical location, the former East Germany, or G…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:32PMFriday, May 17, 2019
One woman's journey to explore the slave trade is both personal and provocative
Most of the facts about the Atlantic slave trade are well known; what is less easily understood is how history…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:03PMThursday, May 16, 2019
New satire about the cosmetics industry and race is only mildly funny
Artistic Director Vicky Featherstone's commitment to staging a diversity of new voices is very laudable, and with White …
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:03PMFriday, May 3, 2019
Stage version of Andrea Levy's classic Windrush story is too pedestrian
Novelist Andrea Levy's 2004 masterpiece, Small Island, is a tribute to the Windrush Generation, those migrants to Eng…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 05:33AMThursday, May 2, 2019
New tragi-comedy about a Syrian refugee's Oxford dreams is just too gnomic
Edward Hall bids farewell this venue, where he has been artistic director since 2010, with this production of a new…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 08:42PMTuesday, April 30, 2019
Poetic two-hander combines epic myth, family relationships and gender politics
If British theatre often seems to lack ambition, the same cannot be said of The Half God of Rainfall, a galaxy-…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:04PMTuesday, April 23, 2019
Arthur Miller's classic family drama has one outstanding performance - and one dud
Superstar Sally Field has come to town. With two academy awards and countless other accolades, the actor wh…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:30PMTuesday, April 16, 2019
Chekhov classic from the team behind the West End hit Summer and Smoke
About a year ago, director Rebecca Frecknall electrified this venue with an award-winning revival of Tennessee William…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:30PMFriday, April 12, 2019
This memoir of a Berlin secretary in the Nazi era is the theatre event of the year
Maggie Smith is not only a national treasure, but every casting director's go-to old bat. Now 84 years you…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:09PMMonday, April 8, 2019
New play about the freedom struggle in Tibet is a bit too unclear for its own good
Theatre can give a voice to the voiceless — but at what cost? Abhishek Majumdar, who debuted at the Roya…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:01PMWednesday, April 3, 2019
Enjoyable high-definition revival of Caryl Churchill's 1982 feminist classic
Caryl Churchill is a phenomenal artist. Not only has she written a huge body of work, but each play differs in bo…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:35PMThursday, March 28, 2019
Adaptation of Max Porter's contemporary classic gets the big-stage treatment
Wow, what a collection of talent: this show stars Peaky Blinder Cillian Murphy, and Enda Walsh's adaptation, Grie…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:01PMMonday, March 25, 2019
Resonant new play about genetics is well-written and excitingly staged
Contemporary British theatre loves time travel — and not just to the past. It also enjoys imagining the future, espec…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:01PMThursday, March 21, 2019
Triumphant, if crude, West End transfer of a heartfelt account of a Renaissance woman
Emilia Bassano Lanier is not a household name. But maybe she should be. Born in 1569, she was one of the…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:30PM 
