2,878 stories by "Lyn Gardner"
Murrays' Mills, Manchester"The mills lead us to no further destination than death," says the weaver Stephen Blackpool in Charles Dickens's novel, set among the misery and ignorance of Coketo…
It's the hottest ticket at this year's Manchester festival, a Doctor Who adventure in which you have one terrifying hour to save the world. The catch? It's only for kids. Director Felix Barr…
Royal and Derngate, NorthamptonStella Kirby (a bewitching Charlotte Emmerson) ran away to be an actor eight years ago. Now she has unexpectedly returned to the family home, Eden End. But the…
Oval House, LondonPromise comes with a name attached: Arinze Kene. A Nigerian-born actor turned playwright, Kene follows up the award-winning Estate Walls with a trio of intercut monologues …
Northern Stage, NewcastleTheatres are often wary of programming new work, convinced it will not do well at the box office. But as micro-festivals have proved, if new work is packaged in inte…
Sheffield CrucibleThere's plenty to make Christopher Luscombe's revival of Harold Brighouse's 1915 comedy well worth a ticket. One reason is simply that this play is absolutely bomb-proof. F…
From Avon Calling to Zu Aerial, there's plenty of theatrical activity all around the UK worthy of your attentionGood things may be coming to an end over the coming week including Mike Bartle…
Curve, LeicesterScratch-and-sniff theatre comes to family audiences with this musical adaptation of David Walliams's best-selling children's novel about the homeless Mr Stink, "the stinkiest…
A quiet holiday weekend still spells the start of the Midlands' Neat festival, as a second Much Ado gets under way in LondonAnother bank holiday spells a slightly quieter theatre week ahead,…
From the Pulse festival in Ipswich to Brighton's 5x5, regional theatre is reaching beyond the mainstreamKeep It Local is the title of a debate that just took place at the New Wolsey in Ipswi…
Finborough, LondonUgliness and beauty sit side by side in Naomi Wallace's play set in segregated America in the 1950s. Taking its title from an Emily Dickinson poem, it's a drama that brings…
A bumper week opens with the close of the NNF and features Tennant and Tate being much outdone by a rival pairingThere's a lot happening in the east of the country this week, as the Norwich …
Minerva, ChichesterThere is an exquisite moment near the start of Stephen Mear's revival of this soppy 1963 Broadway musical about two squabbling parfumerie assistants in the 1930s who don't…
Brighton festival fringeIt's not often I find myself closeted with a naked man in a bathroom, but that's the set-up for Theatre North's theatrical excavation of Herman Melville's unfini…
With Michael Sheen's The Passion uniting Port Talbot, and the Gulbenkian Foundation offering a new award, participatory theatre is on the up. But is it always as good as it can be?Many years…
Brighton FestivalBoth Pinter and site-specific theatre emerge as winners from Hydrocracker's deeply unsettling 75-minute piece played out in the dizzying heights and dank depths of Brighton …
One of Britain's leading female playwrights known for Piaf, Queen Christina and StanleyIn her best-known work, Piaf, the playwright Pam Gems, who has died aged 85, developed a new form somew…
'Want to read an in-depth review of a star performance? Turn to the sports pages' Continue reading...
'Want to read an in-depth review of a star performance? Turn to the sports pages'A few weeks ago, there was a symposium at Kent University with the title: What Is Theatre Criticism For? No s…
Royal and Derngate, NorthamptonYou can't get a Hamlet without breaking a few eggs, suggests one of the characters in this frisky musical homage to the great play. And indeed I suspect it wil…
Brighton festival is buzzing but there's action all over the place, such as a three-day walking performance in the Yorkshire DalesBrighton was buzzing when I visited earlier in the week, whe…
Norfolk and Norwich festival"We're late, and it's still quite early. Let us leave no bird unstoned," says the Queen of Hearts, otherwise known to the Mad Hatter as "your angina". Her vivacio…
Arts, LondonBy 1962, two of the silver screen's great leading ladies, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, were has-beens. The women " both famed for playing strong independent characters, both wi…
The Basement, Brighton festivalNot all the artists taking part in this performance require balls, but the audience does. Part of the Brighton festival, 5x5 is a series of brief performance e…
Hilary Westlake's groundbreaking dinner party-cum-performance of Alice in Wonderland has passed into theatrical legend. Lyn Gardner can't wait to fall back down the rabbit holeThe White Rabb…
