Tanya Moodie attacks the script with her highlighters, Pétur Jónasson starts at the end of a score and Sarah Lamb gets a good sleep. They explain how to avoid the moment all performers d…
Coliseum, London Aided by partner Natalia Osipova and designer David LaChapelle, Polunin throws himself into a trio of precise, deeply felt dances about himselfSergei Polunin is a dance star…
Tchaikovsky's ballet of betrayal has inspired Darren Aronofsky's psycho-horror, Matthew Bourne's feral males and a shocking tale of Irish clerical abuse. Beneath the sparkle, why does the da…
Playing Thatcher? Dab on Bluebell. Got a part in Hairspray? Reach for the Madame Rochas. We lift the lid on how actors use smells " from the finest fragrances to cheap tinned mackerel " to n…
West Yorkshire Playhouse, LeedsReece Dinsdale is increasingly nasty as the predatory architect heading for catastrophe in Zinnie Harris's sharp rebootSomeone texts the master builder: "I kno…
The brainbox of British dance is creating choreography from his own genetic code in an adventurous new show. It's the latest experiment at his hi-tech dance HQ, where the lift changes colour…
From mapping the journey of The Curious Incident's teen hero to putting Shakespeare in prison and erecting a towering newsroom for Ink, Bunny Christie talks through five of her creationsBunn…
Royal Opera House, LondonThis cape-swirling, fan-clacking production is full of enthusiasm and excellent dancing " but where has our heroic knight gone?Traditional Russian ballets can be bag…
Hacktivists in ball pools, teenagers riding unicorns and a world powered by actors on bikes … Chloe Lamford's playful sets take audiences by surprise. She explains how she creates them"Mak…
Assembling a distinctive programme of work is a balancing act for directors. The team at Richmond's Orange Tree theatre explain how they pair revivals of quirky classics with bravura experim…
From a play about Edward Snowden to an opera about Anna Nicole Smith, Miriam Buether's stage designs always astonish audiences. She talks through six of her greatest creationsEnter the theat…
As she becomes the first black woman to play Cleopatra at Stratford, Josette Simon explains why there is so much more to the queen than a strumpetAs Josette Simon neared the end of her drama…
Designer whose stagings of classic ballet created an atmosphere of delicate enchantmentBy the time he came to design an elegantly Edwardian Nutcracker for English National Ballet in 2010, Pe…
Coliseum, LondonCojocaru brings exquisite precision to her performance in English National Ballet's atmospheric and richly picturesque productionThis is an inspired piece of curation. Englis…
Don't expect to be in control, never stop looking for the next role: Siân Phillips, Timothy West and Janet Henfrey on how they turned acting into a life's workActors don't retire, they ju…
Sadler's Wells, LondonAn aspiring ballerina falls under the spell of a charismatic impresario in a vivid stage version of the classic tale of artistic ambitionsWhen Powell and Pressburger's …
Coliseum, LondonLeanne Stojmenov's tomboyish vigour transforms Cinders into a resilient and exuberant heroine in this deliciously designed productionCinderella is a story about building a fu…
Birmingham HippodromeJessica Lang's rippling Wink, inspired by the sonnets, leads a set of pieces paying tribute to the great playwrightBirmingham Royal Ballet will unveil a full-length Temp…
She helped Scott shake his hips like a rock god in Birdland and set Fiennes boogying in A Bigger Splash. For actors, Ann Yee has all the right movesRalph Fiennes struts like a chicken, shimm…
Millennium Centre, CardiffValery Gergiev hares through Alexei Ratmansky's brain-fizzing dance of dejection before plunging into Sasha Waltz's ash-filled end of daysRussia's great ballet comp…
Rarely cast for frivolity, the star of Intimate Apparel is now seizing the role of Gertrude opposite Paapa Essiedu in the RSC's Hamlet. She talks about going 'cross-eyed with concentration' …
Theatre director who brought Brechtian principles and puritanical rigour to his productionsProductions by the theatre director William Gaskill, who has died aged 85, were praised for their r…
Theatre directors and writers' estates do not always see eye to eye. As a new generation seeks to reinterpret Arthur Miller's work, we lift the lid on the scandals, bans and breakthroughsA s…
National TheatreAn expansive production of Timberlake Wertenbaker's penal colony play bristles with hope and indignationWelcome to Australia, so far from home. In the late 18th century, Brit…
Coliseum, LondonThe evil sorcerer looks as if he has escaped from a Cher tribute act and Tchaikovsky's stirring score loses its pulse in the St Petersburg Ballet Theatre's desperately ordina…