Theatre
Humour, horror, beauty
Fans of Chekhov have to endure both feast and famine. Feast because his works are revived everywhere. Famine because he…
Shakespeare for laughs
It’s hilarious. It’s also annoying that it’s so hilarious. Jonathan Munby’s earthy and glamorous production of Antony and Cleopatra goes…
Touching from a distance
Lionel is a king of the New York art scene. An internationally renowned connoisseur, he travels the world creating and…
Dazzling caper
Joan Littlewood’s greatest disservice to the theatre was to champion ‘the right to fail’, which encouraged writers and directors to…
Brain power
How do you write a play? Here’s one theory. Put a guy up a tree, throw rocks at him, get…
Failed experiment
The Silver Tassie is the major opening at the Lyttelton this spring. Sean O’Casey’s rarely staged play introduces us to…
Tangled up in blue
Off to the Gate for a special treat: a pious anti-war monologue from the prize-winning American George Brant. Curtain up.…
Class act
Cripes. How did I get that one wrong? A few issues back I blithely predicted that Harry Hill’s musical I…
Mothers’ ruin
Rewrite the history books! Tradition tells us that kitchen-sink drama began in 1956 with Look Back in Anger. A season…
Scholastic challenge
Another Country was an instant response to Anthony Blunt’s exposure in 1979 as a Marxist spy. Julian Mitchell set out…
Hard lessons
You may not have heard of Goldie. He’s an actor and singer whose name refers to the bullion with which…
Songs of praise
I Can’t Sing! is a parody of The X Factor, which already parodies itself at every turn. Quite a tough…
An eye for the ladies
Ray Cooney, the master of farce, is back. These days he’s in the modest Menier rather than the wonderful West…
Male order
Here’s a great idea for a play. Turn the polygamy principle upside-down and you get a female egoist presiding over…
Diligent drudgery
What’s the quickest way to create a hit musical? Base it on a bestselling book. The writers of The A-Z…
Freak factory
Interesting times at Soho Theatre. One of its outstanding shows of last year, Fleabag, was an offbeat Gothic love story…
Sweet talk
Tracy Letts, of the Chicago company Steppenwolf, has written one of the best plays of the past ten years. August:…
Misdirected rage
Here it is. Fifty years late. Oh What a Lovely War was originally staged at Stratford East in 1964. It…
Putin’s poison
Sochi 2014 is the least wintry Winter Olympics ever. Yes, there’s a bit of downhill shimmying going on in the…
Tales from Oxford
Why, oh why, the producers ask, are the national press so reluctant to cover the London fringe? The snag is…
Lear for masochists
Directors appear to have two design options when approaching a Shakespeare tragedy. Woodstock or jackboot. Woodstock means papal robes, shoulder-length…
Art vs profit
Here’s a heartwarming tale from the London fringe. A company named Above the Stag was merrily plying its trade at…
Long division
Of all the West End’s unloved venues the loveliest is the Arts Theatre. It specialises in creaky off-beat plays like…
Putney boy come good
Three things you might not expect of the RSC’s adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s Tudor novels. First, Mike Poulton’s plays have…
Going for a duck
It’s taken me a few months to catch up with the political farce The Duck House. Then again, it’s taken…
