Thursday, August 14, 2014
Current shows The Importance of Being Earnest and The Play That Goes Wrong use the conceit of provincial players biting off more than they can chew. It's a trope with a venerable history Con…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:14AMMonday, August 11, 2014
Getting the ticket for the show is the easy bit it's finding the right queue in the Edinburgh labyrinth that can be tricky Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:59AMThursday, August 7, 2014
Loyalty and distrust with gags and wordplay feature strongly in this year's line-up as Scotland's independence vote looms Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:35AMTuesday, August 5, 2014
Christie's material about yoghurt-advert rape fantasies and female genital mutilation is astonishingly complex and uproariously funny Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:44AMMonday, July 28, 2014
The female lead in David Mamet's play, previously portrayed by Madonna and Elisabeth Moss, is ideal for actors with little stage experience Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:08AMThursday, July 17, 2014
Feisty, quick-witted actor and singer acclaimed as the 'first lady of Broadway'During her seven decades as an actor and singer, Elaine Stritch, who has died aged 89, became indelibly associa…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:21PMTuesday, July 15, 2014
Oliver Cotton and Nick Payne have joined the exclusive club of dramatist-performers whose past members include Noël Coward and Harold PinterDramatists who act in their own plays form one of…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:44AMTuesday, July 8, 2014
Putting new lyrics to songs from living musicals, this long-running hit is relentlessly, cleverly, breathtakingly funny A male Wicked, a female Billy Elliot? It's West End Recast Although Br…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:02PMFriday, July 4, 2014
Sophie Okonedo is one of Britain's most accomplished and acclaimed actors but most of her job offers come from the US, where last month she won a coveted Tony award for a Broadway role. So …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:04AMTuesday, July 1, 2014
Rapid-response theatre is phenomenally difficult. How did the National's Great Britain, which stars Billie Piper as a tabloid journalist, pull it off? Read Michael Billington's review of Gre…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:27AMSaturday, June 21, 2014
If Mr Burns, a provocative vision of post-apocalyptic America, has been slammed, it's because theatre critics know more about Homer than Homer Simpson. More fool them.One of the most tantali…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:00AMWednesday, June 18, 2014
An early hit can be both a blessing and a curse for celebrated young writers such as Polly StenhamThe word "promise", as anyone who has been a partner or a parent knows, always ris…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AMSaturday, June 7, 2014
Travel may be tough to stage, but whether it's the car in Driving Miss Daisy, the bus in Circles or the barge in Bring Up the Bodies, vehicles are theatre's most potent propsIn contrast to t…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:00AMThursday, May 29, 2014
Critical acclaim has greeted Boublil and Schönberg's show second time around, but repeat success is not guaranteed when a hit returns to the stageThe enthusiastic reviews for the new produc…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:53PMWednesday, May 21, 2014
David Henry Hwang's new play is the latest in a series of interlinked works including Madame Butterfly that question racial and social attitudesThere's a phenomenon in pop music of the &qu…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:00AMSunday, May 18, 2014
Aldwych Theatre, LondonPoulton has created two darkly comic plays that have learned from those earlier masters but will also not disappoint fans of modern political dramas such as House of C…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:38AMMonday, May 12, 2014
From Privacy to Eat Pray Laugh, getting theatregoers on stage is growing in popularity. Does participation always add value to a theatre production, or can it be a laborious distraction? Rea…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:35AMFriday, May 9, 2014
The writer remains nationally visible and professionally treasured, just don't be fooled into using the obvious label B is for Betty's, S is for splother ... An A-Z of Alan BennettAlan Benne…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:19AMTuesday, May 6, 2014
While musicals are closing, Wicked marches on and is about to start a 10th anniversary tour of Australia. So what's its secret?The recent closure of three big-budget West End musicals after…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:38AMMonday, April 28, 2014
The popularity of Simon Cowell's TV talent shows peaked a couple of years ago. Harry Hill and Steve Brown's show was staged too late and felt conflicted. We were asked to laugh at the vacuo…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:55AMWednesday, April 23, 2014
This clever PG Wodehouse tribute reproduces the manners of the Edwardian English upper classes, while cunningly sending them up Bertie Wooster or Jez from Peep Show? Take our quiz Mark Heap …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:00PMFriday, April 18, 2014
In the week the Almeida won eight Oliviers, Mark Lawson traces the turbulent history of one of the leading lights of London studio theatre The Almeida theatre's top 10 productions in pictur…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:30AMWednesday, April 16, 2014
From the Queen and Margaret Thatcher to the Prince of Wales and Simon Cowell, contemporary personalities are currently rife on stage and sometimes the subject of a bio-play will be sitting …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:06AMTuesday, March 25, 2014
The producers of the comedian's ailing show are clearly trying to revamp it to play to the comedian's strengths. What do Graham Norton and Jonathan Ross have that he doesn't?Last night's thi…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:57AMWednesday, March 19, 2014
From Urinetown to Cat on a Hot Tin Roof via Other Desert Cities and Betty Blue Eyes – does a title become famous because of a play or a play become famous because (or despite) of its title…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:30AMTuesday, March 11, 2014
The Globe's Hamlet tour has been criticised by Amnesty for stopping off at North Korea. But theatre does not always legitimise its hosts – it can be a weapon against oppressionDoubts about…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:38PMWednesday, March 5, 2014
Theatregoers are being brought to their feet – but not in a good way – in numbers not seen since the 1950s. But what is provoking today's outraged early exits?Theatrical sound effects ha…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:43AMWednesday, February 26, 2014
The theatre director and playwright talks to Mark Lawson about his new play, Versailles, which explores the impact of the first world war on one familyTwo of the landmarks in the career of P…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:07PMThe theatre director and playwright talks to Mark Lawson about his new play, Versailles, which explores the impact of the first world war on one familyTwo of the landmarks in the career of P…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:07PMMonday, February 10, 2014
In the latest in our series on writers' favourite shows, Mark Lawson explains his potentially controversial choice of this verbatim musical about the Ipswich serial murdersFavourite musicals…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AMMonday, February 3, 2014
Parents criticising the use of Vivienne Franzmann's play as a set text forget one thing: Waiting for Godot never caused us to take to the road as trampsThe latest of the periodic spats over …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:10AM 
