
Ustinov Studio, BathHenry Goodman is utterly convincing in Alan Franks’ one-man play about Lucian Freud, with stories of his models, from the Krays to the QueenA solo play about a painter …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:12AMTraverse, EdinburghDomestic friction and a guilty history set the scene for powerful performances in Douglas Maxwell’s new playSubtlety is not the prime asset of Douglas Maxwell’s new pl…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:36AMAlbert Finney sobbed like an animal, Harold Pinter ramped up the terror and John Hurt even resembled Beckett himself. Now, at the Edinburgh festival, Barry McGovern takes on the role that ne…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:54AMThe Scottish playwright’s take on an Ionesco classic comes with added festival gags, while her drama Meet Me at Dawn looks at the difficulty of letting goThree works by the Scottish dramat…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:24AMChurch Hill theatre, Edinburgh Two boys endure stormy seas and slave labour as they journey from Kabul to London this highly imaginative productionHow do you begin to recreate the refugee ex…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:04AMTrafalgar Studios, LondonThe West Wing and Grease star takes the lead in this revival of Alexi Kaye Campbell’s play, but is let down by unresolved contradictionsStockard Channing, star of …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:33AMGarrick, LondonNeal Foster has created a gentle, genial show based on the bestselling book about a boy and his gran joining forces for a heist at the Tower of LondonDavid Walliams bounced on…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:12AMA theatrical adaptation of the Hitchcock classic finds clever ways to rework film techniques – and is the latest example of how the screen is influencing the stageHollywood in its infancy …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:32AMRoyal Court, LondonLemn Sissay stars in a revival of Jim Cartwright’s 1986 account of a community scarred by unemployment that couldn’t be more relevant or rousingJim Cartwright’s play…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:36AMFinborough theatre, LondonCicely Hamilton’s feminist play from 1911, exposing the plight of women forced to use marriage to gain their independence, is full of attackCicely Hamilton (1872-…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:54AMMenier Chocolate Factory, LondonWith the help of a vibrant ensemble, Luke Sheppard tells the earnest diarist’s much-loved story with wit, craft and crackling Cuban dance numbersSurprisingl…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:18AMOld Vic, LondonA superb cast use Bob’s back catalogue to glorious effect in Conor McPherson’s astonishing cross-section of hope and stoic suffering in Depression-era MinnesotaThis is the…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:48PMDorfman, LondonOlivias Williams and Colman give a spellbinding account of sibling strife in this wonderfully ambitious play set during the Higgs boson breakthroughLucy Kirkwood has proved, w…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:48AMNovello, LondonWhat difference does it make that Tennessee Williams's play is performed by a black cast in Debbie Allen's Broadway production? It undoubtedly gives the work a new dynamic. Bu…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:06AMApollo, LondonBenedict Andrews’s radical update of the classic delivers emotional intensity shot through with humour – and a blistering performance by Jack O’ConnellThis is a classic e…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:06AMThe Globe’s new artistic director may have little directing experience. But as an actor, she had a huge range, a fierce intelligence and a profound understanding of Shakespeare’s languag…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:04AMMinerva Theatre, ChichesterDeborah Bruce’s play follows the fallout of a friendship between a young boy and an autistic, eccentric hoarder as police, press and property hunters prey on the…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:04AMDuke of York's, LondonIt's a well-known fact that Peter Nichols's play, which first appeared in 1981, forms part of an unofficial trinity of dramas about infidelity: it came after Pinter's B…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:04AMMick Lally theatre, Galway Mark O’Rowe’s three-hander turns the Irish idyll into a seething mass of lust, junkies, pimps and wimpy husbandsDramatists from JM Synge to Martin McDonagh hav…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:12AMBlack Box, GalwayThe anguish and torment of Büchner’s tragedy and Schubert’s song cycle Winterreise are fused to brilliant effect in this pioneering piece of music-theatre Georg Büchne…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:54AMSouthwark Playhouse, LondonOliver Cotton’s explosive new play explores wealth and morality as a luxurious dinner party is interrupted by an intruderOliver Cotton is not afraid to tackle bi…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:42AMPark theatre, LondonIn his final play, which takes place over three summers, Elyot explores passions and pressures before and after the decriminalisation of homosexuality Related: Kevin Elyo…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:24AMYoung Vic Studio, London Rating: **Sam Shepard was once regarded as the quintessential American playwright. But, on the evidence of the recent revival of the rambling A Lie of the Mind and t…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:06PMRegent’s Park Open Air theatre, LondonCharles Dickens’ 1859 novel simply does not lend itself to a modern-day reinterpretation featuring border police and demonstrationsIt is part of the…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:54AMRoyal Court, LondonThis family drama confronts a host of dilemmas but is at its best when it allows a fine cast to express the characters’ strained relationshipsVivienne Franzmann has in t…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:33AMTheatre Royal Haymarket, LondonHelen Edmundson’s account of the power struggle between the pious monarch and her ambitious friend Sarah Churchill is a rousing hymn to female agencyRomola G…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:06AMIt’s true that plays often defy instant analysis but Mamet’s attempt to prevent post-show discussions perpetuates the notion of theatre as a sanctified templeIt would be easy to mock Dav…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:54AMHome, ManchesterThe Homeland star impresses in Thomas Ostermeier’s engrossing staging of a memoir about political change and the left’s disregard of the working classThe title suggests a…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:18AMAudiences struggled to relate to the 50-year-old Profumo scandal. Lloyd Webber needs to focus on passionate love• Matt Trueman: Stephen Ward to close after four months• Xan Brooks: Steph…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:12PMThis thrilling play about three sons who go home to their dads – and their childhoods – shows verbatim theatre’s power to heed the forgottenThe scene: a wine-bar close to the Royal Exc…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:24AMRoyal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonA terrific cast give a masterclass in power and paranoia in this tremendous modern-day revival of Shakespeare’s tale of revengeBlanche McIntyr…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:42AM

