All stories by Rachel Halliburton on BroadwayStars

Monday, September 4, 2023

As You Like It, Shakespeare's Globe review - vibrant, ebullient fun in a forest where anything goes by Rachel Halliburton

A production that feels as if it could erupt into cabaret at any moment To proclaim that you’re playing gender games with Shakespeare’s As You Like It seems a little like announcing that…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 02:19PM
Monday, June 19, 2023

Romeo and Juliet, Almeida Theatre review - muscular action interspersed with moments of telling stillness by Rachel Halliburton

The scenes overlap so that characters are besieged by their past, present and future Rebecca Frecknall’s Romeo and Juliet burns like ice, paring back and tightening the script so that love…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 05:07AM
Saturday, November 26, 2022

Henry V, Shakespeare's Globe review - anatomy of a violent, murky world of leadership by Rachel Halliburton

The play is stripped down to expose sinister undercurrents of nationalism and honour-culture It begins in darkness. All that can be heard is the sound of a human struggling painfully for bre…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:36AM
Thursday, October 6, 2022

The Boy with Two Hearts, National Theatre review - poignant yet humorous story of family forced to flee Afghanistan by Rachel Halliburton

Engaging adaptation and sympathetic playing still leave viewers longing for more detail It’s particularly poignant to watch this story in the knowledge that a little over a year after US-l…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:19AM
Friday, September 16, 2022

The Snail House, Hampstead Theatre - perplexing new drama that lacks bite by Rachel Halliburton

The central character is put in the dock but has ample evidence to get out Hell hath no fury like a teenager scorned. In this perplexing play, we see a highly successful doctor put on trial …

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 10:03AM
Friday, September 2, 2022

I, Joan, Shakespeare's Globe review - a non-binary retelling that's as ebullient as it's irreverent by Rachel Halliburton

The fact is that Joan of Arc was, by anyone’s standards, unique This raw, joyous, irreverent take on Joan of Arc made headlines before opening night for its depiction of the fifteenth-cent…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:25AM
Thursday, July 28, 2022

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Gillian Lynne Theatre review - the puppetry is all part of the magic by Rachel Halliburton

Multi-talented musical cast delivers va-va voom in Sally Cookson’s reimagined Narnia This bold reimagining of Sally Cookson’s innovative 2017 production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wa…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:42PM
Wednesday, July 13, 2022

Patriots, Almeida Theatre review - a brilliant drama from Peter Morgan about rampant Russian power games by Rachel Halliburton

Tom Hollander as powerbroker Boris Berezovsky switches between brazen charm and hubristic rage To watch a Peter Morgan drama is to have a fly-on-the-wall’s perspective of modern history. O…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:54AM
Saturday, July 2, 2022

The Making of Pinocchio, LIFT 2022, Battersea Arts Centre review - witty, ingenious exploration of gender transition by Rachel Halliburton

How physical transition is etched into the story of our world Pinocchio is one of our most irreverent metamorphosis stories, and in this visually ingenious blend of film and stage performanc…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 04:33PM
Monday, June 20, 2022

King Lear, Shakespeare's Globe review - eviscerates emotionally while illuminating a society rotten with lies by Rachel Halliburton

The disconnect between rhetoric and genuine meaning feels very contemporary Kathryn Hunter’s performance as Lear forges its heat from contradictions. She is as frail as she is strong, as d…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:24AM
Friday, June 10, 2022

The Wedding, Gecko Theatre, Barbican review - eccentric, ebullient exploration of our contract with society by Rachel Halliburton

Gecko boldly sculpts surreal alternative realities to our predicted worlds You never forget your first Gecko production. I experienced mine almost 20 years ago at the Battersea Arts Centre, …

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:24AM
Friday, May 27, 2022

Henry VIII, Shakespeare's Globe review - unashamedly vulgar take on our last split with Europe by Rachel Halliburton

A ten-foot golden phallus is launched from the musicians’ gallery Boris Johnson was of course not the first British leader to engineer a split with Europe for personal gain. This strikes y…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 12:18PM
Wednesday, May 18, 2022

The House of Shades, Almeida Theatre review - Anne-Marie Duff blazes in Beth Steel's excoriating new drama by Rachel Halliburton

Inter-generational story from a Northern mining town melds naturalism and tragedy Anne-Marie Duff blazes across the stage like a meteorite in Beth Steel’s excoriating drama about the chang…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 11:06PM
Monday, May 16, 2022

The Breach, Hampstead Theatre review - profoundly uncomfortable work that burns like ice by Rachel Halliburton

Naomi Wallace's writing is brave and uncompromising Jude is the kind of girl that no-one would want to mess with – she can dance like a demon to Eric Clapton, skewer an ego in seconds and …

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:24AM
Monday, May 2, 2022

Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare's Globe review – a perfect piece of escapism for our uncertain summer by Rachel Halliburton

This production carries as much emotional heft as it exudes riotous comedy Lucy Bailey’s joyous, visually ravishing Much Ado About Nothing opens on a sombre note. On stage there is laughte…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 05:48AM
Monday, April 25, 2022

Punchdrunk's The Burnt City, One Cartridge Place review - thrilling, discombobulating vision of an ancient world by Rachel Halliburton

You go into a dimension where you operate through instinct as much as intellect Punchdrunk’s latest epic undertaking may be inspired by the legend of Troy, but this is nothing less than a …

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:24AM
Monday, April 18, 2022

The 47th, Old Vic review - ambitious Trump satire doesn't quite hit its target by Rachel Halliburton

★★★ THE 47TH, OLD VIC Mike Bartlett's ambitious Trump satire doesn't quite hit its target As a playwright, how do you handle an arse-fixated arch-disrupter? Megalomania is inherently …

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 05:24AM

Scandaltown, Lyric Hammersmith review - Restoration-comedy-style take on 21st Century shamelessness by Rachel Halliburton

Mike Bartlett's raucous chronicle of London in the age of Boris Johnson If Nero fiddled while Rome burned, then Boris Johnson has played the whole sodding orchestra. Between the parties, the…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 05:24AM
Thursday, April 14, 2022

Persuasion, Alexandra Palace Theatre review - graphic-novel-style Austen by Rachel Halliburton

The soundtrack features musicians ranging from Robyn and Dua Lipa to Cardi B Jane Austen’s waspish vision revealed the vanities, delusions and cynical financial calculations that underpinn…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 05:48AM
Monday, March 7, 2022

Small Island, National Theatre review - visually ravishing tale with an epic sweep by Rachel Halliburton

Director Rufus Norris uses the Olivier's revolving stage like a virtuoso With its violent storms, bombed out cities and stories of families ripped apart by war, Small Island feels very much …

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:54AM
Monday, February 28, 2022

Uncanny Valley, BAC review – fascinating robotic lecture on aspects of the self by Rachel Halliburton

The author Thomas Melle had his animatronic double created for this intelligent show It’s the vulnerability of the robot that strikes you in this subtle, intelligent production from the Ge…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:12AM
Tuesday, February 8, 2022

Hamlet, Shakespeare's Globe review - melancholy mash-up lacks chemistry by Rachel Halliburton

Scattergun subversion is undermined by psychological miscalculations Hamlet isn’t often played for laughs. When David Tennant took the comedic approach in the RSC’s 2008 production, it w…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 04:42AM
Monday, December 13, 2021

Best of Enemies, Young Vic review – fast-paced portrait of a clash between two titanic egos by Rachel Halliburton

A vivid and witty recreation of politics in the late Sixties No playwright has a scalpel as sharp as James Graham’s when it comes to dissecting politics; he has a brilliance and edge that …

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:48AM
Thursday, December 9, 2021

The Book of Dust, Bridge Theatre review – as much intelligence and provocation as fleet-footed fun by Rachel Halliburton

The stage magic is both ingenious and beguiling It’s been seventeen years since Nicholas Hytner first directed Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials at the National Theatre, ambitiously wh…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:54AM
Friday, December 3, 2021

Life of Pi, Wyndham's Theatre review - visually ravishing show uplifted by astonishing puppetry by Rachel Halliburton

Despite its deceptive lightness, at heart this is a dark terrifying story When the Canadian Yann Patel went to India as a young adult backpacker he fell in love – not with one person but w…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 05:18AM
Friday, November 26, 2021

Four Quartets, Harold Pinter Theatre review - brilliant Fiennes breathes air and physicality into Eliot's work by Rachel Halliburton

His earthy informality instantly anchors the philosophy Words flow like water in TS Eliot’s Four Quartets, shimmering with allusion, swirling and eddying with the ideas and fractured philo…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 05:33AM
Monday, November 22, 2021

Little Women The Musical, Park Theatre review - broad brush comedy redeemed by a talented cast by Rachel Halliburton

Musical adaptation of Louisa May Alcott classic is enjoyable but undemanding Louisa May Alcott did not think she could write a successful book for girls. After her publisher suggested this …

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 09:36AM
Friday, October 22, 2021

The Shark Is Broken, New Ambassadors Theatre review - how Spielberg's first blockbuster almost didn't happen by Rachel Halliburton

This shark-tooth-sharp comedy provides a behind-the-scenes glance at "Jaws" Jaws was the Moby Dick of late 20th century capitalism, a fantasy about fear and the unknown for a society that ha…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 05:48AM
Tuesday, October 19, 2021

Love and Other Acts of Violence, Donmar Warehouse review - snappy and tightly intelligent but flawed by Rachel Halliburton

How do traumas from former generations affect how we behave in the present? This is simultaneously a love story and an archaeology of hate, a sparky, spiky encounter between two individuals …

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:42AM
Thursday, October 7, 2021

Metamorphoses, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse review - punchy, cleverly reworked classic by Rachel Halliburton

Any figure in Roman mythology today would be at the pointy end of cancel culture Ovid was exiled – or to put it in twenty-first century terms, ‘no-platformed’ – by an indignant Emper…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 08:03AM
Wednesday, September 15, 2021

Indecent, Menier Chocolate Factory review - cabaret-style depiction of a rapidly changing world by Rachel Halliburton

An intriguing if flawed evening, boosted by ebullient ensemble work Indecent is a play wrapped inside a news story about stigma. Playwright Paula Vogel was at Cornell University when she s…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:54AM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards