Theatre
The secret to Rupert Murdoch’s strength
Going to the theatre is a joy. When you are a character on the stage, less so. Over the past…
Why actors love to play lunatics
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, adapted from Ken Kesey’s book by Dale Wasserman, is exactly like the movie but…
Almeida’s new Doll’s House is all wrong
A Doll’s House has been reconstructed at the Almeida with a new script by Anya Reiss. Torvald Helmer is an…
The torture of Michael Frayn’s Copenhagen
Copenhagen by Michael Frayn is a problem play. It debuted at the National in 1998 and ran for two years…
The National Theatre needs help
In The Print is a docudrama about the bitter war between Rupert Murdoch and the unions in the mid-1980s. Murdoch…
Self Esteem is the star of this David Hare musical
Teeth ’ n’ Smiles is not quite a musical. David Hare’s 1975 play about rock’n’roll includes a handful of tunes…
Don’t miss it: Summerfolk, at the Olivier, reviewed
Dachniki meaning ‘dacha people’ is the Russian title of the National Theatre’s new production of Gorky’s sprawling 1905 drama. Nina…
Lazy: America is Beautiful, Chapter 1 reviewed
Neil LaBute is one of America’s most provocative and interesting playwrights. His best-known work, The Shape of Things, was made…
Cynthia Erivo’s Dracula is tiresome
Interest in Dracula seems to go on for ever. Kip Williams has chosen Cynthia Erivo to star in his new…
The blandness of Hugh Bonneville
Shadowlands, by William Nicholson, is a solid and unsurprising account of the brief marriage between C.S. Lewis (known as Clive),…
Marvellously conservative: Cable Street reviewed
Cable Street is a musical that premièred last year at the Southwark Playhouse and has now migrated to the Marylebone…
If this play is correct, the Foreign Office is a joke
Safe Haven is a history play by Chris Bowers who worked for the Foreign Office and later for the UN…
What drama gets right and wrong about science
A few days after Tom Stoppard’s death last month, Michael Baum, a distinguished surgeon, wrote a letter to the Times.…
Oh, Mary!’s climax is an inspirational bit of comedy
High Noon, directed by Thea Sharrock, is a perfectly decent version of a trusty western which celebrates its 74th birthday…
The art of the transatlantic liner
Some time in the next few weeks, a great ocean liner will be lost at sea. One of the greatest,…
Why has the National got it in for Oirish peasants?
The Playboy of the Western World is like the state opening of parliament. Worth seeing once. Director Caitriona McLaughlin delivers…
I walked out of my son’s nativity play
To walk out of a public performance before the end – be it the theatre, a concert or a lecture…
One for hardcore Stoppard fans: Indian Ink reviewed
Unusual. After the press night of Indian Ink by Tom Stoppard, no one leapt up and cheered. The crowd applauded…
Paddington – The Musical is sensational
Who doesn’t love Paddington? The winsome marmalade junkie has arrived at the Savoy Theatre in a musical version of the…
Ivo van Hove tries and fails to destroy Arthur Miller
All My Sons, set in an American suburb in the summer of 1947, examines the downfall of Joe Keller, a…
The wit of Tom Stoppard
The playwright Peter Nichols created a character based on Tom Stoppard. Miles Whittier. On a car journey across London, I…
A Spectator poll: What is the greatest artwork of the century so far?
Slavoj Zizek Hegel thought that, in the movement of history, the world spirit passes from one country to another, from…
The theatre isn’t a thinktank
Readers tend not to approve of rows between columnists, but I must take issue with something Lloyd Evans wrote in…
A sack of bilge: End, at the Dorfman Theatre, reviewed
End is the title chosen by David Eldridge for his new relationship drama. Clive Owen and Saskia Reeves star as…
The babyishness of Hunger Games on Stage
The Hunger Games is based on a 2008 novel about a despotic regime where brainwashed citizens are entertained with televised…
