All stories by Arifa Akbar on BroadwayStars

Thursday, May 22, 2025

Mrs Warren’s Profession review – Imelda Staunton in formidable form as brothel-keeper by Arifa Akbar

Garrick theatre, London Filial tangles, played with the actor’s real-life daughter Bessie Carter, bring George Bernard Shaw’s once-banned drama to life This is not the first production o…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:24PM

The Crucible review – Miller’s resonant tale of terror given radical sense of humour by Arifa Akbar

Shakespeare’s Globe, LondonDirector Ola Ince brings absurdist comedy to Arthur Miller’s classic drama of Salem witch-hunting, now told partly through song There is never a time when Arth…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:36AM
Wednesday, May 21, 2025

Little Brother review – remarkable migrant memoir falters on stage by Arifa Akbar

Jermyn Street theatre, LondonIbrahima Balde’s desperate journey to find his brother should make for essential theatre, but this production lacks the emotional intensity of the book Ibrahim…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:54AM
Sunday, May 18, 2025

The Last Incel review – the hate, horror and comedy that lurk online by Arifa Akbar

Pleasance theatre, LondonJamie Sykes’ queasily entertaining play dramatises the contemptible views found in ‘incel’ forums – but also elicits sympathy for its characters, whose loath…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:24PM
Friday, May 16, 2025

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry review – life-affirming musical reckons with death by Arifa Akbar

Minerva theatre, Chichester Mark Addy plays the Bunyanesque everyman whose trip to the postbox becomes a spiritual journey set to glorious foot-stomping songs The…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:24AM
Wednesday, May 14, 2025

Insane Asylum Seekers review – likably droll telling of generational trauma by Arifa Akbar

Bush theatre, London Laith Elzubaidi’s autobiographical one-man play explores the lingering pain of his family’s flight from Iraq with a standup’s humour In the w…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:32AM
Thursday, May 8, 2025

Here We Are review – Sondheim’s desperate diners have a double helping of Buñuel by Arifa Akbar

Lyttelton, LondonThis energetic look at the charmed lives of the 1% features some signature sparks, but the class satire is not potent enough in the composer’s swansong Stephen Sondheim’…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:18PM
Sunday, May 4, 2025

Romeo and Juliet review – star-crossed lovers transported to the wild west by Arifa Akbar

Globe theatre, LondonDirector Sean Holmes’s high concept production shows that the frontier works surprisingly well as Shakespeare’s fractious Verona The warring Houses of Montague and C…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:36AM
Thursday, May 1, 2025

Scenes from a Repatriation review – 12 ingenious questions about cultural ownership by Arifa Akbar

Royal Court theatre, London Singaporean Joel Tan’s play revolves around the fate of an ancient statue, in disparate scenes of thrilling complexity played by a zesty cast Controversies ove…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:06PM
Wednesday, April 30, 2025

Titus Andronicus review – Simon Russell Beale is sublime amid epic horrors by Arifa Akbar

Swan theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonEchoes of Gaza and Guantanamo ripple through the violence of Shakespeare’s paradoxically poetic play, immaculately staged by the RSC It is not just heads t…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:42AM
Tuesday, April 29, 2025

My Master Builder review – Ewan McGregor’s cheating starchitect is torn down by Arifa Akbar

Wyndham’s theatre, LondonIbsen is moved to the Hamptons in Lila Raicek’s play, co-starring Kate Fleetwood and Elizabeth Debicki, about the destruction wreaked by adultery Henrik Ibsen’…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:32PM

Paul Mescal, Stormzy and the return of rep – National Theatre boss reveals her risky debut season by Arifa Akbar

With star names, a Hamlet in shades, orgiastic murder and a miners’ strike musical, Indhu Rubasingham promises something for all. But can she attract newcomers while keeping diehards happy…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:06PM
Monday, April 28, 2025

‘A mix of vaudeville and David Lynch’: the hit play about a giant rabbit on a psychoanalyst’s couch by Arifa Akbar

Booker-nominated writer Deborah Levy is thrilling audiences with her play about a psychoanalyst dealing with a very unusual patient, seized with anxiety about modern life. She explains how i…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:24AM
Saturday, April 26, 2025

Krapp’s Last Tape review – Gary Oldman’s arresting one-man Beckett is a startling piece of theatre by Arifa Akbar

York Theatre RoyalOldman gives an emotional encounter with his past selves as he single-handedly directs, set-designs and performs Samuel Beckett’s existential monologue Gary Oldman’s de…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:54PM
Friday, April 25, 2025

The Brightening Air review – shades of Vanya as a Sligo family squabble, tease and wrestle by Arifa Akbar

Old Vic, London Terrific performances from Chris O’Dowd and Rosie Sheehy lead a populous family drama hinging on a broken-down country farmhouse Conor McPherson’s family dysfunctional dr…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:32AM
Thursday, April 24, 2025

The Great Gatsby: A New Musical review – what a swell party this ain’t by Arifa Akbar

Coliseum, London F Scott Fitzgerald’s classic jazz age novel ought to be the perfect basis for a musical, but no amount of Charlestons from a fine cast can put the fizz into this There is …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:32PM
Wednesday, April 16, 2025

‘To hell with RP’ … how surprise Olivier nominee Rosie Sheehy is following in Richard Burton’s footsteps by Arifa Akbar

To survive in acting, she thought she had to nail received pronunciation. Then she remembered Port Talbot’s extraordinary lineage, reverted to her native accent – and everything changed …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:18AM
Monday, April 14, 2025

Super troupers! How do stars of long-running hits from Mamma Mia! to The Lion King keep the pizzazz pumping? by Arifa Akbar

Can you imagine starring in Mamma Mia! for 10 years? Or The Lion King for 17? Or Blood Brothers for 26? Theatre’s epic endurance performers reveal how they keep the magic alive night after…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:24PM
Sunday, April 13, 2025

Speed review – comic tale of road rage and race is approachably provocative by Arifa Akbar

Bush theatre, LondonMohamed-Zain Dada’s play set at a speed awareness course bristles with humour and snarls with home truths about the bigotry experienced by British Asians Representation…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:06AM
Friday, April 11, 2025

Shanghai Dolls review – treachery and affinity between the women of Mao’s world by Arifa Akbar

Kiln theatre, LondonAmy Ng’s ‘untold true story’ of two friends, who become China’s foremost theatre director and Mao Zedong’s wife, is a story of survival and a play of ideas It b…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:03AM
Thursday, April 10, 2025

Midnight Cowboy: A New Musical review – gigolo and conman bromance builds to a shocking climax by Arifa Akbar

Southwark Playhouse Elephant, LondonWhile the story of broken dreams and desperation can’t make the leap to an all-singing all-dancing setting, there are great moments among the bleakness …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:18PM
Tuesday, April 8, 2025

‘The violence is relentless. I don’t understand it’: Simon Russell Beale faces up to Shakespeare’s goriest play by Arifa Akbar

The celebrated actor has long struggled with the murder and dismemberment at the heart of Titus Andronicus. Now, at 64, he is finally tackling a play that ‘teeters on the edge of acceptabi…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:18AM
Sunday, April 6, 2025

Container review – avant-garde experiment evokes the vocalised sound of online scrolling by Arifa Akbar

New Diorama, LondonWriter-director Alan Fielden and his talented performers explore people smuggling, ancient imperialism and the sound of globalisation It starts off with single words being…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:36AM
Friday, April 4, 2025

The Play’s the Thing: A One-Person Hamlet review – soliloquies that make the skin tingle by Arifa Akbar

Wilton’s Music Hall, LondonEvery character is distinct in this bewitching solo performance by Mark Lockyer, a masterclass in pacing and emotional clarity Shakespearean performance has been…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:54AM
Thursday, April 3, 2025

Just Between Ourselves review – Ayckbourn’s marital malaise comedy has a proto dark side by Arifa Akbar

Theatre Royal WindsorWhile it might have been revealing to 1970s audiences, this domestic drama featuring cliche characters and a wavering tone fails to pack the same punch Watching Alan Ayc…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:03AM
Wednesday, April 2, 2025

Rhinoceros review – Ionesco’s absurdist classic is taken around the horn by Arifa Akbar

Almeida, LondonDespite some delightful clowning, Omar Elerian’s version of this timely tale of conformity has too many ideas and lacks focus Omar Elerian clearly has an aptitude, and appet…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:18PM
Tuesday, April 1, 2025

(This Is Not a) Happy Room review – Amanda Abbington on the guest list for toxic reunion by Arifa Akbar

King’s Head theatre, LondonA dysfunctional brood gather at a wedding-cum-funeral in actor-writer Rosie Day’s dark comedy A wedding is repurposed into a funeral in writer-actor Rosie Day�…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:32AM
Friday, March 28, 2025

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Musical review – no frights, no thrills … this mashup is a mystery by Arifa Akbar

Theatre Royal BathDespite its cleverly conceived monochrome set and some compelling songs, this series of stories from the master of suspense is a letdown Alfred Hitchcock had confirmed his …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:48AM
Thursday, March 27, 2025

North By Northwest review – Emma Rice takes Hitchcock in delightful new directions by Arifa Akbar

York Theatre RoyalFun, intelligent and powered by Rice’s joyful whimsy, this playful take on the spy movie is a crowd-pleaser Mistaken identity fires Alfred Hitchcock’s Kafkaesque 1959 s…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:18PM
Wednesday, March 26, 2025

‘I don’t buy it’ … Ava Pickett on her play about Anne Boleyn’s treason and incest by Arifa Akbar

Was the second wife of Henry VIII really guilty of the crimes she was beheaded for? Pickett’s award-winning new play takes a sideways look at her downfall – by imagining its impact on ev…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:32AM
Sunday, March 23, 2025

Playhouse Creatures review – backstage banter with the pioneering first women of theatre by Arifa Akbar

Orange Tree theatre, LondonCamaraderie, comedy and a love of the trade shine through in April De Angelis’s group portrait of Nell Gwyn and the other female actors who were the first to be …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:54AM

All that Chat

2024-2025 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 05, 2024: Home - Todd Haimes Theatre
Jul 30, 2024: Job - Hayes Theater
Sep 12, 2024: The Roommate - Booth Theatre
Nov 14, 2024: Tammy Faye - Palace Theatre
Nov 17, 2024: Elf - Marquis Theatre
Dec 12, 2024: Cult of Love - Hayes Theater
Dec 19, 2024: Gypsy - Majestic Theatre
Mar 17, 2025: Purpose - Hayes Theater
Apr 10, 2025: Smash - Imperial Theatre