All stories by Michael Coveney on BroadwayStars

Monday, July 30, 2018

Bernard Hepton obituary by Michael Coveney

Actor best known for his roles in the TV series Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Colditz and I, ClaudiusNever on the front cover, but always somehow familiar, Bernard Hepton, who has died aged …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:54PM
Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Hugh Whitemore obituary by Michael Coveney

Dramatist and screenwriter who enjoyed success with Stevie, Breaking the Code and The Gathering StormThe dramatist and screenwriter Hugh Whitemore, who has died aged 82, was an accomplished …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:18AM
Monday, April 30, 2018

John Stride obituary by Michael Coveney

Founder member of the Old Vic company who lit up the London stage in the 1960s and 70s and starred in the TV series The Main ChanceJohn Stride, who has died aged 81, was a golden boy of the …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:54PM
Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Celebrating Andrew Lloyd Webber at 70: ‘He has a body of work that will not be surpassed by anyone’ by Michael Coveney

As Andrew Lloyd Webber celebrates his 70th birthday, Michael Coveney looks back at the work and legacy of a composer whose work

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 08:01PM
Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Michael Coveney: Ken Dodd was the greatest live performer I ever saw on stage by Michael Coveney

When I took my mother to see Ken Dodd at the London Palladium in the 1970s, she was banging her head against

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:58AM
Monday, March 12, 2018

Sir Ken Dodd obituary by Michael Coveney

Comedian with an endless desire to make people laugh known for his tickling sticks, Diddymen and marathon stage performancesThe last great “front-cloth” comic of our times, and the last …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:40AM
Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Kenneth Haigh obituary by Michael Coveney

Actor who took the role of Jimmy Porter in Look Back in Anger, the groundbreaking 1956 play by John OsborneThe actor Kenneth Haigh, who has died aged 86, was the original Jimmy Porter in Joh…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:21AM
Monday, January 22, 2018

Michael Coveney: John Barton punctured the myth that Shakespeare is difficult by Michael Coveney

John Barton, who died last week aged 89, was the godfather of the Royal Shakespeare Company. The director’s sonnet classes formed the

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:16AM
Saturday, December 9, 2017

Patrick Garland obituary by Michael Coveney

Director and writer celebrated for his work at Chichester Festival theatre and the BBCThe career of Patrick Garland, who has died aged 78, was as varied as it was productive. An actor, produ…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:36AM
Sunday, October 22, 2017

Rosemary Leach obituary by Michael Coveney

Stage and screen actor who was admired for her roles as Helene Hanff in 84 Charing Cross Road and Mrs Honeychurch in the 1985 film Room With a ViewThe versatile and accomplished actor Rosema…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:54AM
Monday, October 16, 2017

Roy Dotrice obituary by Michael Coveney

Veteran actor best known for playing John Aubrey in Brief Lives, Fagin in the stage version of Oliver! and a late role in Game of ThronesAs leading character actors go, Roy Dotrice, who has …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:36AM
Friday, September 29, 2017

Benjamin Whitrow obituary by Michael Coveney

Expert supporting actor equally at home on stage and screen‘Benjamin Whitrow has never given a bad performance,” said Laurence Olivier, who employed the actor in his National Theatre com…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:33PM
Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Mount Olympus: the 24-hour theatrical orgy that outdoes Dionysus by Michael Coveney

Actors who nap on stage, ecstatic dances, ravishing arias, lovers swamped in sand … Jan Fabre’s epic in a Belgrade conference centre is an endurance testThe centrepiece of this year’s …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:18AM
Monday, September 25, 2017

Sybil Christopher obituary by Michael Coveney

Welsh-born actor and Richard Burton's first wife, she moved to the US after their split and co-founded a famous New York discoSybil Christopher, who has died aged 83, was the injured party i…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:54AM
Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Michael Coveney: West End theatres aren’t run down, they’re in great shape by Michael Coveney

Forty years ago, establishing the Theatres Trust provided the impetus to revitalising the crumbling West End Theatres and ensure their futures. Michael

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:00AM
Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Peter Brook: ‘Theatre exists in the present. You can’t ignore the news’ by Michael Coveney

After rising through the ranks of UK theatre early in his career, director Peter Brook worked around the world before moving to

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 07:01PM
Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Obituary: Peter Hall by Michael Coveney

Peter Hall, who founded the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1960 and moved the National Theatre into its new South Bank premises in

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:38AM
Friday, September 1, 2017

Ann Jellicoe obituary by Michael Coveney and David Edgar

Playwright and director who scored an international hit with The Knack and pushed the boundaries of community theatreThere were two distinct, equally significant, phases to the career of the…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:36PM
Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Barbara Cook obituary by Michael Coveney

Singer, actor and Broadway star who reinvented herself on the cabaret circuitThere are few musical theatre careers that divide as sharply into two parts as did that of Barbara Cook, who has …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:42AM

Obituary: William Hoyland by Michael Coveney

William Hoyland was a distinctive and forceful actor whose career ranged across 50 years, first as a member of Laurence Olivier’s National

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 03:00AM
Saturday, July 8, 2017

Musicals we love: Jesus Christ Superstar by Michael Coveney

Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice created the 20th century's first (and last) great rock opera with flashes of Prokofiev and Stravinsky amid its hosannas – even Shostakovich was a fanUntil …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:12PM
Sunday, July 2, 2017

Heathcote Williams obituary by Michael Coveney

Poet, dramatist, visionary and pamphleteer whose muse was fuelled by a witty and beautiful angerHeathcote Williams, who has died aged 75, was a unique and brilliant writer – poet, dramatis…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:12PM
Thursday, May 25, 2017

Michael Coveney: Is our obsession with updating the classics diluting their essence? by Michael Coveney

Contemporary reboots of the great works of world theatre aim to ‘reclaim them for our time’. But is something being lost along the

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:00AM
Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Obituary: Ken Campbell by Michael Coveney

Experimental writer, theatre director and improviser, he was one of the strangest people in BritainKen Campbell, who has died suddenly aged 66, was one of the most original and unclassifiabl…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:33AM

Cosmic Trigger: Ken Campbell's daughter captures Illuminatus! spirit in trippy epic by Michael Coveney

Daisy Campbell’s version of Robert Anton Wilson’s cult book harks back to the counterculture era of conspiracies, hallucinogenic drugs and sinister ritualsThe counterculture strikes back…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:12AM
Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Michael Bogdanov obituary by Michael Coveney

Theatre director and founder of the English Shakespeare Company whose 1980 production of The Romans in Britain led to an obscenity trialThere was nothing timid or compromised about the work…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:31PM
Sunday, April 9, 2017

Tim Pigott-Smith obituary by Michael Coveney

Stage and screen actor best known for his role in the TV series The Jewel in the CrownThe only unexpected thing about the wonderful actor Tim Pigott-Smith, who has died aged 70, was that he …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:54PM
Monday, March 27, 2017

David Storey obituary by Michael Coveney

Author of This Sporting Life whose raw, realistic plays and novels reflected on family, atonement and the north-south divideDavid Storey, who has died aged 83, was an unusual literary figure…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:12AM
Friday, March 17, 2017

Ann Beach obituary by Michael Coveney

Actor who made her name with Joan Littlewood and went on to play the nosy neighbour in the 1980s sitcom Fresh FieldsNot many performers have appeared in The Archers on radio, starred opposit…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:54PM
Thursday, March 16, 2017

Declan Donnellan: ‘It’s dangerous when actors think it’s all about their feelings’ by Michael Coveney

Declan Donnellan is sitting on a sofa in the north London apartment he shares with his Cheek by Jowl designer and life

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:00AM
Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Tony Haygarth obituary by Michael Coveney

Distinctive supporting actor on television, stage and filmTony Haygarth, who has died aged 72, was a salt-of-the-earth Liverpudlian actor who became a familiar face on television in series s…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:54AM