2,878 stories by "Lyn Gardner"
Southwark Playhouse, LondonBeau Willimon's play about political machinations in modern-day Washington DC suffers in this rather low-energy productionFarragut North is the name of the metro s…
English Touring Theatre is on a mission to find the nation's best-loved theatre piece. Let's give them a helping handLeafing through an old theatre guide to playwrights, living and dead, whi…
Hampstead theatre, LondonTerry Johnson's farce about DalÃ's meeting with Freud is not just clever and funny, it's unexpectedly moving, tooIn 1938 the surrealist painter Salvador Dalà p…
The old adage says that some actors are so mesmerising that people would flock to watch them even if they were reading the telephone directory. Tell us who you would pay to see in any showIn…
Charing Cross, LondonThis supposed fright-fest is incoherent, poorly written and as scary as a wet sock"Not suitable for children under 12, those of a nervous disposition or for those suffer…
A critic who tweeted the title of the Lyric's new season sparked outrage " and possibly drove audiences to the theatreI love going to the theatre when I don't know very much about a show, wh…
Young Vic, LondonWith flashes of fitful brilliance, Theatre O's political thriller has come a long way since its Edinburgh fringe debutThere is a remarkable moment in Theatre O's latest " a …
Finborough theatre, LondonA set of intertwined fishy tales spanning the centuries on a Suffolk shingle spit makes for entrancing viewingIn the early 1970s during the cold war, Orford Ness, a…
The comic timing and dynamic of spectators are just as important as the performances on stage.We've all experienced audiences behaving badly, whether it's talking on their mobile phones, cou…
Southwark Playhouse, LondonThe macabre literary bent of the Jacobean playwright John Webster is celebrated in Shakespeare in Love, which briefly depicts the young Webster torturing mice. TS …
Jermyn Street, LondonA clunky snippet of a play ponders Ted Hughes's relationship with Assia Wevill with uninspiring resultsIn 1966, the poet Ted Hughes and his lover, Assia Wevill, escaped …
Sean Foley, who is directing a musical based on The X Factor, believes we're too snobby about adaptations. But theatre is getting smarter at page-to-stage translationsIf William Shakespeare …
Belgrade theatre, CoventryA story of war, pop and prison shared between father and two sons is a great idea for a musical but lacks power on stageThe Gibsons are an old army family. Colonel …
St James, Piccadilly The struggles of a cross-dressing female pope with morning sickness make for a rollicking medieval soap operaThe 21st-century Church of England still ties itself up in k…
One commentator has suggested that productions such as Nirbhaya present rape as entertainment. But violence in theatre makes us contemplate something we may prefer to ignore"You can pay to s…
Mercury, ColchesterAnimals, the first world war, unashamed sentimentality " this is familiar Michael Morpurgo territory, but that's no complaintCross The Lion King with War Horse and you get…
There's an unspoken assumption that critics should never discuss the show they're reviewing. Isn't it all a bit ... outdated?Some years ago I took my dad with me to the theatre. There were i…
Zoo Southside, EdinburghIt's not entirely clear what Little Bulb's exuberant show about a 1980s TV production company is really trying to say, but there's no denying its energyHeading into t…
Dance Base, EdinburghThis new verbatim dance-theatre piece looks at a disappearing way of life in the Fens with beautifully stark resultsThe title hints of something lost, but choreographer …
Heading to the theatre on your own is no longer unusual " and seeing a show alone can be more fun than going with companyTheatre is often perceived a sociable activity, best done in pairs or…
This account of the Tolpuddle martyrs' struggle for higher wages and justice is heartfelt, but should trust its audience rather moreThe Tolpuddle martyrs were a group of 19th-century Dorset …
C nova, EdinburghA pairing of wartime plays show off the work of this young company to fine effectThere was no Belt Up at Edinburgh this year, but this double bill of plays from the Bunker T…
Royal Lyceum, EdinburghBarry McGovern illuminates Beckett's dark vision in a one-man show that still feels fresh after 30 years"You can't leave. You're afraid to leave. It may be worse elsew…
Bedlam, EdinburghTucked In's inventive father-and-son adventure lets the audience take as much or as little as they want from itGiven its willingness to tackle difficult subjects, it's good …
Royal LyceumAfter the triumph of Krapp's Last Tape, Michael Gambon is back in a crueller Beckett piece about an elderly man being tormented for his sinsWritten for TV in 1965, Samuel Beckett…
