Theatre

Sam Mendes's King Lear is a must-see for masochists

1 February 2014 9:00 am

Directors appear to have two design options when approaching a Shakespeare tragedy. Woodstock or jackboot. Woodstock means papal robes, shoulder-length…

If you can figure out the mind-boggling plot of Ciphers — join Mensa

25 January 2014 9:00 am

Here’s a heartwarming tale from the London fringe. A company named Above the Stag was merrily plying its trade at…

The play to watch if your country is breaking up

18 January 2014 9:00 am

Of all the West End’s unloved venues the loveliest is the Arts Theatre. It specialises in creaky off-beat plays like…

The Thomas Cromwell plays would be stronger if they made him weaker 

18 January 2014 9:00 am

Three things you might not expect of the RSC’s adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s Tudor novels. First, Mike Poulton’s plays have…

Ben Miller as Robert Houston MP in ‘The Duck House’

The Duck House is the best show in the West End

11 January 2014 9:00 am

It’s taken me a few months to catch up with the political farce The Duck House. Then again, it’s taken…

On the train with Emil Tischbein and his precious cargo

Get tickets for Emil and the Detectives, and opera glasses — some of the child actors are tiny

4 January 2014 9:00 am

It starts with a brilliant joke. We’re in the Weimar Republic in 1929. Little Emil Tischbein is listening to his…

How to get your child hooked on theatre (hint: don't rule out Peppa Pig)

14 December 2013 9:00 am

Mike Shaw on what (and what not) to do when taking children to the theatre

Jude Law's Henry V is a buccaneer leading a stag-night raid across the continent — but he'd be a great Macbeth

14 December 2013 9:00 am

Henry V is the final show in Michael Grandage’s first West End season. The theatre was full to bursting on…

You can't have Mojo and your money back

7 December 2013 9:00 am

In 1992 Quentin Tarentino gave us Reservoir Dogs. At a stroke he reinvented the gangster genre and turned it into…

Martin Shaw's flaws make him perfect for Twelve Angry Men

30 November 2013 9:00 am

Strange actor, Martin Shaw. He’s got all the right equipment for major stardom: a handsome and complicated face, a languid…

Ben Miller interview: 'Everyone was doing alternative comedy. I thought I'd distinguish myself by just telling jokes'

30 November 2013 9:00 am

Lloyd Evans talks to Ben Miller about politics, physics and his part in The Duck House

Finally — a play about insomnia that cures insomnia

23 November 2013 9:00 am

Athol Fugard is regarded as a theatrical titan but I usually need a microscope to find any trace of greatness…

Highly alluring: Gemma Chan as Athena in ‘Our Ajax’

'Keeler' is not just about Tory bigwigs chasing nymphettes around the pool

16 November 2013 9:00 am

It’s an unlovely venue, for sure. Charing Cross Theatre, underneath the arches, likes to welcome vagrant plays that can’t find…

Johnny Flynn

The sickeningly talented Johnny Flynn

16 November 2013 9:00 am

James Mumford talks to the sickeningly talented actor and folk singer Johnny Flynn

British empire? What British empire?

9 November 2013 9:00 am

Here’s a tip for play-goers. When the curtain goes up on a garden, prepare for some feeble plotting. The glory…

Terrific: Barnaby Kay (Keith) and Tamzin Outhwaite (Briony)

Toffs rule! 

2 November 2013 9:00 am

This is a strange one. Simon Paisley Day’s new play feels like a conventional comedy of manners. Three couples pitch…

David Tennant plays Richard II like a casual hippie

2 November 2013 9:00 am

Gregory Doran, now in command at Stratford in succession to Sir Michael Boyd, launches his regime with Richard II, intending…

The Light Princess badly needs a mission

26 October 2013 9:00 am

There are many pleasures in The Light Princess, a new musical by Tori Amos. George MacDonald’s fairy story introduces us…

Bullied by a swaggering Conservative: Sam (Simon Lennon)

Did gay Conservatives have it easier in the past? Tory Boyz makes me think they did

19 October 2013 9:00 am

Bang! The race is on. James Graham is the celebrated author of This House, a superb examination of Labour’s administrative…

An audience with the Queen and Mrs Thatcher

12 October 2013 9:00 am

A feast of pleasures, and some annoyances, at the Trike. Handbagged, by Moira Buffini, is a fictional account of the…

The peril with Brecht is that he will always be Brecht

5 October 2013 9:00 am

Brecht in the West End? Quite a rarity. Jonathan Church’s zippy and stylish version of The Resistible Rise of Arturo…

Barking in Essex: a hit with hen-night hysterics

28 September 2013 9:00 am

How appropriate. Barking in Essex, a farce about gangsters, has been dishonestly billed as ‘a new comedy’. The script was…

Hysteria is a pile-up of unmotivated absurdities

21 September 2013 9:00 am

Terry Johnson’s acclaimed farce Hysteria opens in Sigmund Freud’s Hampstead home in 1938. The godfather of psychobabble is ambushed by…

Mark Ravenhill’s take on Voltaire’s Candide

21 September 2013 9:00 am

Ah yes, Candide, the adventures of an innocent abroad in ‘the best of all possible worlds’, as philosophers of the…

Gender bender: Sophie Crawford as Pope Joan

Theatre review: Fleabag's scandalous success

14 September 2013 9:00 am

Suddenly they’re all at it. Actors, that is, writing plays. David Haig, Rory Kinnear and Simon Paisley Day are all…