Theatre

Artistic achievements that changed the world

22 October 2022 9:00 am

‘Astonish me!’ was the celebrated demand that the impresario Sergei Diaghilev made of Jean Cocteau when he was devising Erik…

This production needs more dosh: Good, at the Harold Pinter Theatre, reviewed

22 October 2022 9:00 am

Good, starring David Tennant, needs more dosh spent on it. The former Doctor Who plays John, a literary academic living…

Mirthless, artless farrago of jabber: The Doctor, at Duke of York's, reviewed

15 October 2022 9:00 am

The Doctor is an acclaimed drama from the pen of writer-director Robert Icke. We’re in a hospital run by a…

How politics killed theatre

15 October 2022 9:00 am

Zoe Strimpel on how identity politics is killing theatre

A show for politicians: John Gabriel Borkman, at the Bridge Theatre, reviewed

8 October 2022 9:00 am

Clunk, clunk, clunk. John Gabriel Borkman opens with the obsessive footfalls of a disgraced banker as he prowls the attic…

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…

A masterpiece: P Word, at Park Theatre, reviewed

24 September 2022 9:00 am

Look at this line. ‘I’m 80 years old. I find that unforgivable.’ Could an actor get a laugh on ‘unforgivable’?…

A tremendous show that will attract serious attention from the West End: Rehab – The Musical reviewed

17 September 2022 9:00 am

Rehab: The Musical opens with a boyband star, Kid Pop, getting busted for possession of cocaine. The judge sentences him…

Rhapsodic banalities: I, Joan, at the Globe, reviewed

10 September 2022 9:00 am

‘Trans people are sacred. We are divine.’ The first line of I, Joan at the Globe establishes the tone of…

Our prison culture is more barbaric than it was in 1823: Elizabeth Fry ‘The Angel of Prisons’ reviewed

3 September 2022 9:00 am

The Angel of Prisons dramatises the life of the penal reformer Elizabeth Fry, who lived near Canning Town. She married…

The show works a treat: Globe's The Tempest reviewed

27 August 2022 9:00 am

Southwark Playhouse has a reputation for small musicals with big ambitions. Tasting Notes is set in a wine bar run…

A four-way race between poet, actor, video artist and sound engineer: Edinburgh Festival's Burn reviewed

20 August 2022 9:00 am

In a new hour-long monologue, Burn, Alan Cumming examines the life and work of Robert Burns. The biographical material is…

No, Boris Johnson isn’t ‘missing in action’

20 August 2022 9:00 am

Someone in the Guardian wrote that Boris Johnson had his ‘out of office’ on, and the Chancellor was ‘missing in…

The Dane gets an interpretive dance makeover: Ian McKellan's Hamlet reviewed

13 August 2022 9:00 am

Ian McKellen’s Hamlet is the highlight of Edinburgh’s opening week. In this experimental ballet, Sir Ian speaks roughly 5 per…

Why Merseyside is the natural home for a Shakespearean theatre

6 August 2022 9:00 am

A neglected little town in Merseyside is the natural home for Shakespeare North, says Robert Gore-Langton

What do ‘catcalls’ have to do with cats?

6 August 2022 9:00 am

‘A law against catcalls?’ asked my husband sceptically. ‘What next, criminalising booing and hissing?’ He often gets the wrong end…

Stupendously good: Much Ado About Nothing, at the Lyttelton Theatre, reviewed

30 July 2022 9:00 am

Simon Godwin’s Much Ado About Nothing is set in a steamy Italian holiday resort, the Hotel Messina, in the 1920s.…

An entertaining display, clearly destined for Netflix: Patriots, at Almeida Theatre, reviewed

23 July 2022 9:00 am

Patriots, by Peter Morgan, is a drama documentary about recent Russian history. And though it’s a topical show it’s not…

Hytner hits the bull's eye: The Southbury Child, at the Bridge Theatre, reviewed

16 July 2022 9:00 am

The Southbury Child is a comedy drama set in east Devon featuring a distressed vicar, Fr David, with a complex…

Right play, wrong place: The Fellowship, at Hampstead Theatre, reviewed

9 July 2022 9:00 am

Roy Williams’s new play is a wonky beast. It has two dense and cumbersome storylines that aren’t properly developed. Dawn…

If you see this show you’ll want to see it again – directed properly: The Glass Menagerie, at the Duke of York's Theatre, reviewed

2 July 2022 9:00 am

The Glass Menagerie directed by Jeremy Herrin is a bit of an eyeball-scrambler. The action takes place on a huge…

An actor’s recipe for insanity

2 July 2022 9:00 am

I’m on the road, a very proper place for an actor to be. Never mind all those jokes about some…

The ancient Greek art of theatre criticism

2 July 2022 9:00 am

Last week Lloyd Evans was wondering whether it was about time audiences started booing dramatic productions of which they disapproved.…

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…

Three cheers for booing in the theatre

25 June 2022 9:00 am

Are modern theatre-goers too polite?