878 stories by "Ian Foster"
Ian Bonar's consummate skill as a performer in Be Prepared at The Vaults means you're deeply touched but the overall impact proves a little relentless, even if this is the intention.
With more clear-sighted and affecting work like this, Katie Arnstein's Bicycles & Fish could well be a voice to add to the list of Oprah Winfrey and Jo Brand. Definitely recommended.
Long Day's Journey Into Night is a titanic piece of writing (and a production that is now even longer than it was in Bristol) but when it is of this quality, it really doesn't matter.
Most families have a story or three, the kind of tales that go down in folklore, destined to be repeated at family events no matter embarrassing for the parent/sibling/etc involved.
Think of England at The Vaults is impressive work from Anonymous is a Woman and a highlight of the festival so far for me.
It takes a biographical slant on the novelist's life, focusing on the apparent sparseness of her romantic affairs and how, if at all, this impacted on the richness of her writing, concerned …
It is rarely a play that moves you and so it is here, even though Nicholas Hytner's production of Julius Caesar at the Bridge Theatre, London does provide moments of intellectual stimulus.
"What kind of person isn't interested in politics"A black man, a woman and a young gay lad walk into an Ohio bar - it may sound like the set-up for a joke but as they start to talk about how…
Austin Pendleton's production of Woman Before a Glass, created here by Tom McClane-Williamson as the opening salvo in the Jermyn Street's Scandal season, is a vibrant and fascinating delight…
On the one hand, that the VAULT Festival has expanded to over 300 shows running over eight weeks is fantastic news for the emerging theatremakers that it supports.
That this is Michael Longhurst's debut in this theatre makes it all the more impressive and I wouldn't be surprised if his name doesn't soon become one of the ones bandied around the round o…
It is always fascinating to revisit the early work of writers who have gone on to bigger things and Tiny Dynamite offers that chance with Abi Morgan, screenwriter of such hits as Shame, The …
Set in the East End of yore, Steven Berkoff uses his bastardised Shakespeare'n'slang prose style to depict the lives there with an extraordinary vigour.
Well, we made it, just. 2017 passed by with just the 346 visits to the theatre, I don't really know why I do it to myself! Out of those, 33 were return visits to shows I'd already seen and I…
It is great news indeed that this Orange Tree production will be gaining further life in 2018 with a transfer to the National Theatre in the summer. I really hope that as much of the origina…
How to split these three? Why would you even want to. Their effortless grace, their ferociously detailed complexity, their heart-breaking connectivity, all three will live long in my mind.
To pick someone out of this prodigiously talented ensemble almost feels unfair, but Ellams' narrative did repeatedly land on Peckham and the contested ownership of that salon was given blist…
Thinking about this most well-received of plays, it is the role of Aunt Maggie Faraway who lingers most in my mind, the elegiac beauty of her speeches an elegant way of folding in traditions…
Behold the 2017 fosterIAN award nominations, recognising the acting performances that stood out for me, the ones that made me sit up, and sometimes stand up.
"You want all my love and my devotion"... As Dreamgirls is now into its second year in the West End and has recently welcomed a new cast into the Savoy, what better time to revisit this most…
The main reason for traveling to Birmingham Rep for The Hundred and One Dalmatians was to see Cruella De Vil played by Gloria Onitiri, an actress who I've enjoyed following since the Avenue …
Proving that you don't need to win the reality show that you're in to set your career, and that it's your talent that matters, Rachel Tucker's success is testament to just how far hard work …
There are all sorts of big productions arriving in the months to come (Long Day's Journey Into Night, the return of Amadeus, PATTI LUPONE!), but I'm using this spot to highlight some of the …
As ever, the wait for the end-of-year lists of favourite plays and performances has to continue until I've actually stopped seeing theatre in 2017. But in the meantime, here's a list of 11 o…
Released in time for Christmas, From The Top contains zero surprises. If you were thinking of getting for someone who likes him, then they are going to be satisfied.
