Saturday, November 29, 2025

Tom Stoppard, playwright of dazzling wit and playful erudition, dies aged 88 by Claire Armitstead

A theatrical sensation since the 1960s, whose dramas included Arcadia, The Real Thing and Leopoldstadt, Stoppard also had huge success as a screenwriter Tom Stoppard: a life in pictures A b…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:06PM

Tom Stoppard: a brilliant dramatist who always raised the temperature of the room by Michael Billington

The self-described ‘bounced Czech’ created cerebral works centred by a core of genuine emotion – and always understood the ways of our world All the best dramatists extend the frontier…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:06PM

With his restless imagination, Tom Stoppard showed us a mind on the move by David Jays

The questing Czech-born playwright gave us plays that explored arcadias, utopias and affecting notions of home Tom Stoppard’s breakthrough play opened on a bare stage, with two characters …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:06PM
Friday, November 28, 2025

‘The new Hamilton’? Show with Mary Todd Lincoln as drunken first lady comes to London by Nadia Khomami Arts and Culture Correspondent

The one-act play Oh, Mary! – ‘the stupidest, funniest thing possible’ – to open after blockbuster run in New York What if, in the final weeks before Abraham Lincoln’s assassination…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:42PM

Arthur Miller? Snore! Audiences want new plays – why are theatres scared of them? by Brian Logan

A new report suggests playwriting is in crisis after Covid, with producers retreating into safe old classics. Well, not from where I’m standing Crisis? What crisis? British Theatre Before …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:42PM

A Midsummer Night’s Dream review – nightmarish take brings the brutal undercurrents roaring to the surface by Kate Wyver

Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, LondonDirector Holly Race Roughan transposes the summer tale into the darkest of winters as the fairies’ feud over the stolen child leaves the snow smeared with bl…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:12AM

A Child’s Christmas in Wales review – exquisite Dylan Thomas adaptation has magic in every scene by Miriam Gillinson

The Lucky Chance, FromeJoy radiates from the stage as an ensemble cast from the Emma Rice Company bring Thomas’s twinkling poem to life Dylan Thomas’s beautiful Christmas poem has that a…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:02AM

The Sound of Music review – a rich, relevant revival big on the bangers by David Jays

Curve theatre, LeicesterA full-throttle Maria, a memorably forlorn Captain von Trapp and the carousel of classic hits make Nikolai Foster’s production something to savour You know what to …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:02AM
Thursday, November 27, 2025

The one change that worked: I was trembling with anxiety when I found a fun, free way to get calm by Olivia Petter

I can’t dance. Not even a little bit. But the terrible moves my friends mock are an antidote to the racing heart and quivering breath that arrive in my more anxious moments The first time …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:36PM

Ring Ring review – La Ronde reimagined as a carousel of modern anxieties by Kate Wyver

White Bear theatre, LondonWriter Gary Owen stitches together glimpses of contemporary life with a spin on Arthur Schnitzler’s classic that doesn’t quite coalesce Gary Owen’s gentle dan…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:06AM

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy review – flimsy extravaganza needs deeper thought by Arifa Akbar

Riverside Studios, London The madcap sci-fi tale is retold on a lavish scale, complete with in-show merch, but it never really blasts off Douglas Adams’s sci-fi comedy about Earth’s dest…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:06AM

Jill Freud obituary by Emma Freud

My mother, Jill Freud, who has died aged 98, was a dynamic actor and producer, and the founder of one of the UK’s most cherished summer rep theatres. On graduating from the Rada drama scho…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:54AM

Jack Shepherd obituary by Michael Coveney

Versatile actor, director and playwright who found television fame in the detective series Wycliffe The actor Jack Shepherd, who has died aged 85, was, in his own quiet and modest way, a Ren…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:48AM

The Little Mermaid review – underwater wonders cast a spell in mid-air by Chris Wiegand

New Vic theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme A fresh telling of Hans Christian Andersen’s story deploys circus skills and inventive design to create a memorable merworld The Little Mermaid is big…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:42AM

Move over Ebenezer! Ebony Scrooge gets Dickens dancing with a hip-hop Christmas Carol – in pictures

The classic novel is given a new spin with this festive spectacular at Sadler’s Wells East following the fortunes of a fashion designer encountering ghosts of the past, present and future …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:42AM
Wednesday, November 26, 2025

Secrets of the cow-skulled scarecrow: did one man’s cruel tales inspire Paula Rego’s best paintings? by Claire Armitstead

When the great artist saw a shocking play by Martin McDonagh about the torture of children, she asked him for more dark stories. As the vivid, extraordinary works they triggered go on show, …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:48PM

David Copperfield review – Dickens distilled into an inventive three-hander by Arifa Akbar

Jermyn Street theatre, LondonAbigail Pickard Price’s stripped-back staging conjures ghost stories, seaside dreams and Dickensian tragedy through three performers’ dazzling transformation…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:06AM

Petty Men review – understudies plot their own version of Julius Caesar by David Jays

Arcola theatre, London Hanging around backstage while their chances to play Brutus and Cassius fade, two unnamed actors start to act out their own drama This is no glam…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:06AM
Tuesday, November 25, 2025

Post your questions for Tom Felton by Rich Pelley

As the Harry Potter actor brings Draco Malfoy to Broadway and is set to star in a Jimmy Carr-penned spoof period drama alongside Damian Lewis, the eternal bad boy will answer your questions …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:24AM

Clive Owen and Saskia Reeves’s screen history makes their stage reunion all the more emotional | Chris Wiegand by Chris Wiegand

Stephen Poliakoff’s 1991 film Close My Eyes, about incestuous siblings, echoes as the actors return in David Eldridge’s End, playing a couple facing a cancer diagnosis First there was Be…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:24AM

‘A nucleus of a community’: the five-hour stage play about Dungeons & Dragons by Jesse Hassenger

In Initiative, a group of young people in the early 2000s finds themselves via the role-playing game, the latest example of its undying popularity It sounds like a big ask, the idea of prese…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:02AM

The Firework-Maker’s Daughter review – Philip Pullman’s fairytale is explosive fun by Lucinda Everett

Polka theatre, LondonThis spellbinding adaptation uses a bulging dramatic toolbox of clever effects and manages to be both epic and intimate Some children’s books – simple stories from f…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:42AM
Monday, November 24, 2025

Tatsuya Nakadai obituary by Phil Hoad

One of the greatest actors of Japanese cinema best known for Ran, the 1985 film adaptation of King Lear Though he had the well-appointed bone structure of the 1950s matinee idol, it was Tats…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:24AM

From Wicked: For Good to Stranger Things: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead by Guardian Staff

Ariana Grande sparkles in the concluding part of the Wicked Witch tale, and the first batch of final episodes of the retro sci-fi juggernaut are unleashed Wicked: For GoodOut nowWas the deci…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:24AM

Can’t tech a joke: AI does not understand puns, study finds by Steven Morris

Researchers say results underline large language models’ poor grasp of humour, empathy and cultural nuance Comedians who rely on clever wordplay and writers of witty headlines can rest a l…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:24AM

‘The world is such a nice thing!’: Matt Maltese, the songwriter for pop’s A-list … and Shakespeare by Shaun Curran

After getting dropped by a major label, the Leonard Cohen-influenced south Londoner kept going, and has now won fans in Rosalía, Sabrina Carpenter and more. But writing for the Bard is the …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:24AM

Jack and the Beanstalk review – sass, sparkle and fee-fi-fo fun sock it to the baddies by Anya Ryan

Lyric Hammersmith, London A sinister giant computer and a meat-eating headmaster have a sinister plan for shy Jack and his schoolfriends. Meanwhile, the Fairy Godfather has the hots for the …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:54AM
Sunday, November 23, 2025

Gallus in Weegieland review – hilarious show sends Alice down a class rabbit hole by Mark Fisher

Tron theatre, Glasgow There are jokes aplenty in Johnny McKnight’s panto update of Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland story, played with delirious daftness by an ebullient cast More than the odd…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:48AM

I Dream of Theresa May review – willing immigrant’s political conversion spurs stiff debate by Arifa Akbar

Tara theatre, London A young, gay Indian man learns steps to Britishness from a phantom vision of the Tory politician, but the result is less sinister a satire than it should be Remember Th…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:36AM
Saturday, November 22, 2025

‘The ad libs had us shaking behind the camera’: Corbyn and McKellen cameos raise panto’s profile by Nadia Khomami Arts and Culture Correspondent

Star turns are boosting ticket sales this season, including Islington show featuring MP’s Wizard of Oz and Olivier winner’s Toto We’re a third of the way through the fabulously camp pr…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:42PM

Jurassic review – a roaring clash of logic and lies with duelling dinosaurs by Kate Wyver

Soho theatre, LondonTim Foley’s conspiracy-fuelled comedy pits reason against delusion as a palaeontology lecturer faces a dean who believes Jurassic Park is real Logic and reason are torn…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:24AM

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