I'm know my review may impact on the box office, but I don't think that should influence what I writeOne of the many lovely things about being a theatre critic is that when you turn up at so…
Christmas season is taking hold but there's plenty of serious stuff too with Michael Grandage's last show starting at the DonmarSouthYou have until tomorrow to catch Chris Goode's Keep Breat…
Cambridge Theatre, London Continue reading...
Cambridge Theatre, LondonThose who think that the West End is always dumbing down and that an intelligent musical is an oxymoron will have to stay behind for detention with the diabolical Mi…
Propeller take Henry V on tour while Lenny Henry's Comedy of Errors is at the Olivier. Elsewhere, seasonal offerings aboundSouth, south-west and WalesGood shows continue to stack up down sou…
Soho, LondonPlays with songs, rather than fully fledged musicals, are very much the fashion these days, and Soho played host to a cracker in David Greig and Gordon McIntyre's blissful Scotti…
Only a few organisations have demonstrated the knack of staying afloat through poverty and plenty. How do they do it?Why do some arts organisations survive and thrive while others wither and…
Be sure to catch taboo tale Blackbird as it swoops into Glasgow, and Ex marks the hotspot in London for a new British musicalScotlandLet's start in the wintry north. Sound and Fury's Going D…
It's one of the quietest weeks of the year but there's still masses of theatrical treats, from Brighton to Birmingham and beyondIt's one of the quietest weeks of the year in theatre, with ju…
Lyric Hammersmith, LondonHare can't handle deferred gratification. When the carrots are planted, he wants them to sprout immediately; when he goes fishing, he wants to get a bite at once; an…
Only Connect, LondonNigerian Eric (Kereem Dauda) is no angel. But he dreams of a new life in England. He makes it to London, but as an illegal immigrant his new life is full of dark shadows …
Oval House, LondonCan a country " or city " ever really escape its past? The hefty baggage of physical and psychic geographies weigh down the characters in this ambitious play from Belf…
Union, LondonThe trouble with this 1978 musical about a long-established, much-loved brothel, the Chicken House, facing closure from a Bible-thumping moralist is that it is so full of vices …
Theatre Royal Stratford East, LondonGermany in the 1930s and the Jewish Weissmann family are facing increasing hostility. Into their lives comes Ike, a black German, who becomes as much a me…
London waits quietly for the arrival of Michael Sheen's Hamlet, which leaves space for drama lovers to run riot at Halloween " but things are hotting up in the rest of the countryThere are a…
The Pit, LondonIt's not quite magic, but there is a great deal of enchantment in this installation-cum-performance for the over-eights from Danish company Teatret Gruppe 38. The Danes, pione…
New Diorama, LondonWhy would a young Swedish woman, Susanne (Jessica Claire), suddenly abandon her husband and one-year-old child, catch a flight to Israel and turn up at the offices of the …
Crucible Studio, SheffieldM and W " thirtysomething, educated, thoughtful and a little neurotic " are queuing at Ikea when he suggests they have a baby. She's so caught off guard " "It's lik…
Rudry Parish Hall, WalesWith a winning disregard for elitism, "a good night out" was what John McGrath, the legendary founder of the 7:84 theatre company, aimed to give audiences " and his n…
The next seven days could add up to any number of great new plays, from Mike Bartlett's 13 to Abi Morgan's 27, not forgetting Blake Morrison's We Are Three SistersClearly playwrights have a …
Curve, LeicesterEllen Cairns's design is the real star of this revival of the well-worn but still serviceable stage adaptation of Ken Kesey's 1962 novel. The perspective on the day room in t…
Ustinov, BathIphigenia is not a happy young woman. Who can blame her? Her father, the great hero Agamemnon, was prepared to sacrifice her to the gods to ensure a fair wind for his Troy-bound…
Royal Exchange, ManchesterThe road to Auschwitz is paved with good intentions for John Halder. A university professor, he teaches Faust in Germany during Hitler's rise. He's a good father, a…
Lee Hall's play about the miners who discovered the power of painting is as powerful as ever " but I doubt it could happen nowI saw Lee Hall's The Pitmen Painters again last week, and althou…
Victoria & Albert Museum, LondonFrom the moment perky flight attendant, Miss Pat, tells us to "fasten your shackles" and insists that there must be "no drumming", it's clear it's going to be…