All stories by Mark Fisher on BroadwayStars

Thursday, June 1, 2023

I, Daniel Blake review – Kafkaesque benefits story rekindles righteous anger by Mark Fisher

Northern Stage, Newcastle upon TynePoliticians’ glib statements frame the struggles of one man confounded by a bewildering welfare system, in an adaptation of the Ken Loach film that both …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:36AM
Tuesday, May 30, 2023

Edinburgh international children’s festival review – the playful inner child v the serious grownup by Mark Fisher

Various venues, EdinburghFor children wondering what their parents do all day, many of the delightful shows programmed here will show them that they’re not really so grown up How curious t…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:06AM
Monday, May 29, 2023

Encore! Surefire shows returning for the Edinburgh festival in 2023 by Chris Wiegand, Anya Ryan, Brian Logan, Mark Fisher, Kate Wyver, Arifa Akbar and David Jays

In the run-up to the festival, our writers will choose new productions that have caught their eye – but here’s a selection of those we’ve already reviewed Richard Marsh has clearly see…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:24AM

Gypsy review – the ultimate stage mother rules with hard-bitten brashness by Mark Fisher

Pitlochry festival theatreMama Rose drags her two daughters from one vaudeville fleapit to the next in a bulldozer of a role There’s something of the Mother Courage about Mama Rose. Like B…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:48AM
Friday, May 26, 2023

‘My instinct is to look for the gag’: Martha Watson Allpress takes Lady Dealer to the Edinburgh fringe by Mark Fisher

The writer of the acclaimed Patricia Gets Ready… returns with a lockdown-inspired comedy drama about a drug dealer having a power cut The trigger for a play can be many things: a moral dil…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:06AM
Thursday, May 25, 2023

The Lies review – from tooth fairy fibs to colonial myths by Mark Fisher

Alphabetti theatre, NewcastleDegna Stone’s ambitious play moves from the imperial to the domestic in its exploration of the legacy of untruths You can’t fault playwright Degna Stone for …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:32AM
Friday, May 19, 2023

Dear Billy review – brilliant tribute to the Big Yin by Mark Fisher

Traverse, EdinburghGary McNair delivers verbatim interviews and misremembered Connolly routines from ordinary people in this love letter There is an air of Nick Park’s Creature Comforts ab…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:32AM
Thursday, May 18, 2023

Anna Karenina review – sparky feminist reading of Tolstoy by Mark Fisher

Royal Lyceum, EdinburghLesley Hart’s adaptation of the classic novel is driven with tremendous energy following its tragic heroine as she discards bourgeois convention It must be Saturday …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:42AM
Wednesday, May 3, 2023

Protest review – schoolgirls unite with the power of dissent by Mark Fisher

Northern Stage, NewcastleThis show for young audiences builds to a stirring drama of waking up to injustice and trying to right it Hannah Lavery constructs her play from simple sentences. He…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:06PM
Friday, April 28, 2023

Big Aunty review – regrets and raucous partying as siblings deal with death by Mark Fisher

Belgrade theatre, CoventryCorey Campbell’s impressionistic production can lose focus but it benefits from engaging performances We never get to see Vivienne Mavis Taylor in this devised pr…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:18AM
Thursday, April 27, 2023

A Thong for Europe review – hilariously subversive Eurovision celebration by Mark Fisher

Royal Court, LiverpoolAn inspired parody of coming-out dramas meets a deliciously daft plot involving Sonia in Jonathan Harvey’s comedy Who would have thought Jonathan Harvey would write a…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:12AM
Wednesday, April 26, 2023

The Killing of Sister George review – cruel comedy is an uncomfortable watch by Mark Fisher

New Vic theatre, Newcastle-under-LymeShould we sympathise with Hayley Carmichael’s irascible radio soap star as she risks being axed, or condemn her as she bullies her young vulnerable you…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:18AM
Sunday, April 9, 2023

Stornoway, Quebec review – outlaws settle scores with Gaelic swagger by Mark Fisher

Traverse, Edinburgh Calum L Macleòid’s western-style drama pits a gunslinging Elspeth Turner against a notorious fugitive in a peculiarly Scottish corner of Canada On the back wall of Bec…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:12AM
Thursday, April 6, 2023

Around the World in 80 Days review – wittily inventive travelogue speeds along by Mark Fisher

Theatre by the Lake, KeswickAn eight-strong cast and a revolving stage take us on an extraordinary adventure for adults and kids, with time-keeping as a theme Jules Verne’s 1872 novel trad…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:32AM
Monday, April 3, 2023

Kidnapped review – razzle-dazzling Robert Louis Stevenson by Mark Fisher

Beacon Arts Centre, GreenockThere’s an optimal mix of irreverence and affection in this bracing adaptation of the swashbuckling classic With the long-running Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:42AM
Friday, March 31, 2023

Of All the Beautiful Things in the World review – Lorca moves to Moss Side by Mark Fisher

Home, ManchesterWriter-director Yusra Warsama relocates The House of Bernarda Alba from Andalucía to Manchester What imprisons the characters of Federico García Lorca’s The House of Bern…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:18AM
Thursday, March 30, 2023

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof review – Succession-style scheming in the deep south by Mark Fisher

Royal Exchange, ManchesterModern-day version casts Tennessee Williams’s steamy melodrama in a new light, with a focus on the corruptibility of wealth Roy Alexander Weise does not overtly c…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:36AM
Thursday, March 16, 2023

Village Idiot review – big bawdy comedy wears its intelligence lightly by Mark Fisher

Nottingham PlayhouseSamson Hawkins’s debut is part Jerusalem part This Country, bringing big laughs while asking serious questions about identity nostalgia and modernity Is it too soon to …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:08AM
Wednesday, March 15, 2023

Family Tree review – study of the mother of modern medicine falls between poetry and play by Mark Fisher

Belgrade theatre, CoventryMojisola Adebayo’s play connects Henrietta Lacks, whose cells were used in decades of vital scientific research, with the Black Lives Matter movement ‘I am a fa…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:56PM
Monday, March 13, 2023

You Bury Me review – teen rage and romance in the age of intolerance by Mark Fisher

Royal Lyceum, EdinburghKatie Posner directs a high-voltage cast in playwright Ahlam’s politically charged portrayal of a group of teens coming of age in post-Arab spring Cairo We view mome…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:00AM
Thursday, March 9, 2023

Top Girls review – Caryl Churchill’s classic gets a Toxteth twist by Mark Fisher

Everyman theatre, LiverpoolThe drama of women trying to get ahead in Thatcher’s Britain is played with kitsch period detail that can distract from its still-relevant story Some plays go th…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:51AM

The Comedy of Errors (More or Less) review – identical twins get a larky makeover by Mark Fisher

Shakespeare North Playhouse, PrescotThis cartoonish update of Shakespeare’s reunion tale, gleefully mixing in Madonna and modern language, has a great sense of fun The Wars of the Roses ar…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:03AM
Wednesday, March 8, 2023

Love It If We Beat Them review – New Labour’s first season kicks off by Mark Fisher

Live theatre, NewcastleIn 1996, campaigners in the north-east are watching their values being written out of Labour politics. But at least Kevin Keegan seems to be winning Tony Blair is on t…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:00AM
Thursday, March 2, 2023

Person Spec review – disturbing show puts audience on an interview panel by Mark Fisher

Alphabetti theatre, NewcastleIn Alfie Heffer’s frightening play, theatregoers become recruitment reps as a candidate is put through her paces In the late 1800s, Frederick Winslow Taylor se…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00PM
Sunday, February 26, 2023

Song from Far Away review – Will Young acts with melodic grace in poignant monologue by Mark Fisher

Home, ManchesterThe star performs with a musician’s sense of rhythm in this alternately arch and elegiac piece by Simon Stephens and Mark Eitzel about a bereaved brother attempting to reco…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:16AM
Sunday, February 19, 2023

The City and the Town review – two brothers clash over the state of the nation by Mark Fisher

Northern Stage, NewcastleThe family front room becomes a battleground in Anders Lustgarten’s play of ideas about class, politics and compassion At some point between the decline of British…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:32AM
Thursday, February 9, 2023

Macbeth (An Undoing) review – Lady M does what Shakespeare didn’t dare by Mark Fisher

Royal Lyceum, EdinburghZinnie Harris’s reworking has Macbeth’s wife driving the plot, rationalising a grisly campaign, while he becomes unbalanced by their murderous path To summon up w…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00PM
Wednesday, February 8, 2023

Moonset review – witchy magic swirls around a sensitive study of teen anxiety by Mark Fisher

Tron theatre, GlasgowFour girls gather around a pentangle in Maryam Hamidi’s punchy and poetic new play, which captures the vulnerability of adolescence When you see the gang of teenagers …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:03AM
Thursday, December 8, 2022

Cinderella review – a heroine with some real welly by Mark Fisher

Dundee RepCinders is a hard-working and independent-minded farmer while her prince is an environmental engineering student in Lynda Radley’s cheerful reworking You can see why Lynda Radley…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:48PM
Monday, December 5, 2022

Beauty and the Beast review – precision engineered panto by Mark Fisher

King’s theatre, GlasgowKathryn Rooney’s slick production has flawless comic banter and lavish dance routines, providing impressive festive entertainment It is tempting to grumble about t…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:03PM

A Christmas Carol review – festive classic gets a British Sign Language update by Mark Fisher

Hull Truck theatre, HullScrooge not only exploits Bob Cratchit but cruelly cuts him out of the conversation in this innovative, satisfying production Jack Lord is the meanest of Scrooges. To…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:24AM

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