27 stories by "Jonathan Watson"
Doctor Who looms large as usual and elsewhere 'tis the season to be morbid - even granny has become a gangster. At least this year Downton might spread a little sunshine...
Old Red Lion, London: Set in a flat above a disused fur factory in a gothic East End, Ridley's antihero, Cougar Glass, is every bit the grotesque and spotlessly narcissistic fiend that …
Arcola Theatre, London: "I have come to see it as a kaleidoscope," director Amelia Sears confesses in her note to David Storey's Home, which is rather fitting considering the …
Courtyard Theatre, London: Perhaps it's the number of antique doors encircling Franciso Rodriguez-Wile's attractive set that prompts director Bronagh Lagan to cross so many dramati…
Arcola, London: Bertold Brecht suggested that this play was an alienating beast, only suitable for courageous theatres. Nazi supporters threw stink bombs during an early staging in the 1920s…
During a recent commentating slog on BBC 5 Live's Test Match Special, former England captain Michael Vaughan bemoaned the loss of now-defunct gameshows, in particular Jim Bowen's Bullseye. "…
The Rose Lipman Building, London: Part II of Retz theatre company's reimagining of Franz Kafka's The Trial in London's East End has each person in the audience implicated for …
Shoreditch Town Hall, London: A poker-faced receptionist tells everyone to sit down in the grand entrance of Shoreditch Town Hall. She reads the names out, one by one, and you are led into a…
Finborough Theatre, London: After helping the Finborough on its way to The Stage's fringe award in 2011 with And I And Silence, Caitlin McLeod is back with a belter of politically charg…
Arts Theatre, London: It's easy to see the influence of Richard Vergette's career as a drama teacher on his writing. Here is a play about the American penal system that tests the a…
In the build-up to Christmas, Selfridges spent buckets on 'glitz' for its flagship store on Oxford Street. It deployed 50 'elfridges' to tell us what to buy, hired an 80-strong flash mob cho…
Jonathan Watson talks to Warwick Davis about sharing the stage with Priscilla Presley in this year's panto at Wimbledon New Theatre
Jonathan Watson talks to John Lithgow about The Magistrate, his theories on acting and roles from Shakespeare to TV serial killers
Courtyard, London: Solaris is a Stanislaw Lem novel from 1961, one that helped invent sci fi. It then spawned two circuitous, mind-bending sci fi films, both delicious eye candy for their ti…
Soho Theatre Upstairs, London: Young Man, Man and Old Man pick up tools and start digging at a mound of rubble in the middle of the stage. As they lift the tools above their heads in symphon…
White Rabbit Cocktail Bar, London: It's safe to say Andy McQuade now reigns as Stoke Newington's resident theatrical sadomasochist.
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St Leonard's Church, London: In Jill Paton Walsh's Booker prize-nominated novel Knowledge of Angels, the author asks whether any of us would come to know God if we'd grown up witho…
Old Red Lion, London: According to the Mental Health Foundation, one in four people in the UK will suffer from a psychological condition in the course of a year.
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Southwark Playhouse, London: Joanna Lumley once told an interviewer that the best actors take "bloody good care to breathe into every corner they find in their character". She has …
Finborough, London: Olivia and Arthur go to the park on a sunny afternoon to hold hands by the pond and feed the ducks. Then, border policeman Reiver appears out of nowhere and, with all the…
Vibe Bar, London: When it comes to interviewing, I guess there are two ways of getting exactly what you want out of your subject. There's the John Humphrys way, where you pull informati…
Arcola Tent, London: I'm torn by Ade Solanke's new play. It's firecracker theatre that, in places, is as touching as is it hilarious. Setting such a provocative story in the A…
White Bear, London: John Osborne's autobiographical plays are all self-destructive thrillers of sorts. Look Back in Anger centres on the catastrophic downfall of his first marriage. Ina…
Finborough, London: Before there's any action on the stage at the Finborough, we get an apology. The original actor playing the lead was struck down with illness only two weeks ago, and…
Rosemary Branch Theatre, London: Peter Nichols has said, in no uncertain terms, that the theatre community has been shunning him for decades. After seeing Creative Cow's gem at the Rose…
