2,878 stories by "Lyn Gardner"
Butetown, CardiffThere are some places where you are acutely aware that you are walking over layers of human history. Butetown, close to Cardiff docks, is one of them, an area that has seen …
Theatre Royal, BathLenny Henry got away with murder playing Shakespeare's Othello, but he holds the stage as Troy Maxson, the grizzled anti-hero of August Wilson's 1987 drama about black Ame…
Royal Exchange, ManchesterBearing more than a passing resemblance to Ian McEwan's The Cement Garden, Janice Okoh's Bruntwood prize-winning play takes us to a flat on a south London estate wh…
Royal Exchange, Manchester Continue reading...
National Theatre Wales's first show of the year is the Somali poet-inspired De Gabay in Cardiff, plus Rachel Corrie in Edinburgh and Lenny Henry in BathScotland and Northern IrelandThe Seafa…
National Theatre Wales's first show of the year is the Somali poet-inspired De Gabay in Cardiff, plus Rachel Corrie in Edinburgh and Lenny Henry in Bath Continue reading...
West Yorkshire Playhouse, LeedsHell isn't just other people: it's backstage in this new version of the story of the scholar who sold his soul to the devil. Here, the third and fourth acts of…
New Vic, Newcastle under LymeThe facts are not in dispute. On 11 April 1955, Ruth Ellis shot and murdered her lover, David Blakely, outside a Hampstead pub. Ellis was found guilty and became…
Tron, Glasgow"How do they expect me to fight two wars at once?" asks Lily Litvak early in Peter Arnott's play. Not only is she the star pilot in a Red Army squadron of "lady bombers" facing …
Open thread: A new ruling means that theatres have to be upfront about booking fees. But why should we pay them at all?Theatre-goers often put up with a great deal but they will forgive cram…
Soho theatre, LondonCharlotte Josephine and Luke Barnes are two young writers who are going places. These monologues were both first seen at the Edinburgh fringe last summer, and while they …
Every performer has a horror story about auditions " a bullying director, falling over, not having done their homework. But what's the secret of nailing that part?Last September, Alice …
DH Lawrence's The Daughter-in-Law sashays into Sheffield, The Book of Mormon previews in the West End and Bristol Old Vic stages a filthy puppet version of the DreamScotland and Northern Ire…
A new report shows that funding cuts are paralysing theatre programming and scuppering tours, which in turn could have a devastating effect on TV, film and radioJack Bradley has seen the fut…
Tobacco Factory, BristolRichard III should probably thank Shakespeare. The playwright may have destroyed his reputation but, in doing so, he ensured the last Plantagenet lived on in the popu…
Southbank centre, LondonEveryone knows the Queen wears a crown. But did you know that she also has a pair of knickers for every occasion? There are knickers to wear while riding, knickers fo…
Sheffield LyceumScreen-to-stage adaptations are two a penny (and often worth even less), but Simon Beaufoy's play, inspired by his own screenplay for the 1997 movie about a group of unemploy…
Unicorn, LondonWe are always told that we should tell the truth " but then it didn't do Cordelia in King Lear much good. Fourteen-year-old Grace (Danusia Samal) lives near the Olympic Park w…
New faces in leading institutions are a welcome sight " but we might need to redefine what we mean by mainstreamAndrew Dickson's feature today about the new generation of directors leading B…
Tom Thumb theatre, Margate Continue reading...
Tom Thumb theatre, MargateIf Nancy Dell'Olio's vagina got dressed up, it would wear Harry Winston diamonds. At least, it would according to Eve Ensler's show, inspired by interviews with hun…
Rose, KingstonNoël Coward didn't just have a talent to amuse: he had a talent to shock. This 1924 play was the Look Back in Anger of its day, a drama that dismayed the upper classes who s…
Lenny Henry straddles Fences in Bath, the story of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Britain, comes to Newcastle-under-Lyme, and Mike Bartlett's Bull charges into SheffieldScotland …
An increasing number of shows are dispensing with the traditional midway break. Can our brains, and bladders, cope?Few of the reviews for Robert Lepage's disappointing Playing Cards 1: Spade…
Theatre 503, LondonOrlaith, almost 14, singlehandedly looks after her dad, who hears voices. Sive cares alone for her bedbound, crippled mother. On a young carers' respite outing to the seas…
