Old Vic

How politics killed theatre

15 October 2022 9:00 am

Zoe Strimpel on how identity politics is killing theatre

Worthy of Wilde: Eureka Day, at the Old Vic, reviewed

1 October 2022 9:00 am

Eureka Day is a topical satire set in a woke school in America. An outbreak of mumps has led to…

Bloated waffle: Jitney at the Old Vic reviewed

25 June 2022 9:00 am

The Old Vic’s new show, Jitney, has a mystifying YouTube advert which gives no information about the play or the…

This Trump satire is too soft on Sleepy Joe and Cackling Kamala: The 47th at the Old Vic reviewed

23 April 2022 9:00 am

Trump is said to be a gift for bad satirists and a problem for good ones. He dominates Mike Bartlett’s…

A tangle of nonsense from the sloppy Caryl Churchill: A Number, at the Old Vic, reviewed

12 February 2022 9:00 am

A Number, by Caryl Churchill, is a sci-fi drama of impenetrable complexity. It’s set in a future society where cloning…

Un-cancel Terry Gilliam!

3 November 2021 8:55 am

I am starting to wonder if the world of arts and culture is staffed, in large part if not exclusively,…

Gripping slice of old-fashioned entertainment: Old Vic's Camp Siegfried reviewed

2 October 2021 9:00 am

Boy meets girl. Girl gets pregnant. Then the entire world collapses. That’s the story of Camp Siegfried, which is set…

Theatre's final taboo: fun

17 April 2021 9:00 am

The stage has become a pleasure-free zone in which snarling dramatists fight over their pet political causes, says Lloyd Evans

Brilliantly performed twaddle: Old Vic’s Faith Healer reviewed

26 September 2020 9:00 am

The Old Vic refuses to reopen. Director Matthew Warchus says the social distancing rules make it impossible for him to…

James Graham's small new drama is exquisite: BBC Four's Unprecedented reviewed

18 July 2020 9:00 am

Let’s face it. Theatre via the internet is barely theatre. It takes a huge amount of creativity and inventiveness to…

War and plague have menaced theatres before, but rarely on this scale

28 March 2020 9:00 am

War and plague have menaced theatres before, but rarely on this scale, says Lloyd Evans

A surefire international hit: Lungs reviewed

2 November 2019 9:00 am

No power on earth can stop Lungs from becoming an international hit. Duncan Macmillan’s slick two-handed comedy reunites Matt Smith…

Funny, short and cheap to stage, Hansard is an excellent bet for a transfer

14 September 2019 9:00 am

Hansard is the debut play by actor Simon Woods, who enjoys a deep knowledge of his subject. The characters are…

Enclosure act: Es Devlin’s terrific set for The Hunt at the Almeida

A crowd-pleasing pantomime: Present Laughter at the Old Vic reviewed

6 July 2019 9:00 am

Present Laughter introduces us to a chic, louche and highly successful theatrical globetrotter, Garry Essendine, whose riotous social life is…

One of the great whodunnits: Old Vic’s All My Sons reviewed

4 May 2019 9:00 am

It starts on a beautiful summer’s morning in the suburbs of America. A prosperous middle-aged dad is chatting with his…

The worst Arthur Miller play I’ve ever seen

23 February 2019 9:00 am

All About Eve is Cinderella steeped in acid rather than sugar. Eve, or Cinders, is a wannabe star who uses…

In the pink: Luke MacGregor as Edward Cooper in Eyam at Shakespeare’s Globe

The Old Vic’s Sylvia may be the new Les Mis

29 September 2018 9:00 am

Sylvia, the Old Vic’s musical about the Pankhurst clan, has had a troubled nativity. Illness struck the cast during rehearsals.…

One of Alan Bennett’s finest efforts: Allelujah! reviewed

28 July 2018 9:00 am

Alan Bennett’s new play, Allelujah!, is an NHS drama set in a friendly hospital in rural Yorkshire. Colin, an ambitious…

Cecilia Noble as Aunt Maggie in Nine Night at the National Theatre

Flawed but often hilarious new play: Nine Night at the Dorfman Theatre reviewed

12 May 2018 9:00 am

Nine Night refers to a Jamaican custom that obliges bereaved families to party non-stop for more than a week following…

Shall we dance: the cast of Fanny & Alexander at the Old Vic

There’s much to adore about the Old Vic’s Fanny and Alexander

10 March 2018 9:00 am

Fanny & Alexander opens like a Chekhov comedy and turns into an Ibsen tragedy. Ingmar Bergman’s movie script, adapted by…

Verbal diarrhoea

5 October 2017 2:00 pm

In Beckett’s Happy Days a prattling Irish granny is buried waist-deep, and later neck-deep, in a refuse tip whose detritus…

Shirley Henderson (Elizabeth Laine) and Michael Shaeffer (Reverend Marlowe) in Girl from the North Country

Starting block

5 August 2017 9:00 am

Conor McPherson’s new play is set in dust-bowl Minnesota in 1934. We’re in a fly-blown boarding house owned by skint,…

Sarah Snook as Hilde Wangel and Ralph Fiennes as Halvard Solness in ‘The Master Builder’

A great, weird play to rival Shakespeare: Old Vic's The Master Builder reviewed

13 February 2016 9:00 am

The Master Builder, if done properly, can be one of those theatrical experiences that make you wonder if the Greeks…

Carly Bawden as Alice and Joshua Lacey as the White Rabbit

Damon Albarn’s wonder.land will not succeed at the National. It might work in Vegas

9 January 2016 9:00 am

Damon Albarn and Rufus Norris present a musical version of Alice in Wonderland. A challenging enterprise even if they’d stuck…

Going ape: Bertie Carvel as Yank

Glyndebourne caters to the lower-middle classes not past-it toffs

7 November 2015 9:00 am

What is Glyndebourne? A middle-aged Bullingdon. That’s a common view: a luxury bun fight for past-it toffs who glug champagne,…