2,878 stories by "Lyn Gardner"
Sheffield CrucibleNasty, brutish and short, Mike Bartlett's 55-minute three-hander, playing in the Crucible's studio space, can be seen as a companion piece to his 2009 Royal Court play, Coc…
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Director Jonathan Miller claims he isn't offered directing work because of his advanced years "Â but is it as simple as that?The Pope may be too frail in body and mind to go on, but not di…
Royal and Derngate, NorthamptonLaurie Sansom's tenure at Northampton began with Sondheim's great masterpiece of middle-age regret, Follies. For his leave-taking (Samson is soon off to run th…
The box office power of some movie actors is affecting the types of plays staged on Broadway. Should they hold such sway?When it was announced that David Tennant would be playing Richard II …
A Fake Moon rises over Bristol at the IBT festival, Philip Pullman's I Was a Rat! scurries into Birmingham, and James McAvoy tackles the Scottish play in LondonNorthThe big opening this week…
Vaudeville theatre, LondonA young unknown called Alan Cumming played Pip in Jo Clifford's adaptation of Charles Dickens' novel, first produced for Glasgow's wonderful TAG Theatre back in 198…
Bush theatre, LondonIt is said that on the day Lehman Brothers collapsed, US treasury secretary Hank Paulson looked out of his office window, saw the future " and threw up. Queenie and Casin…
Perhaps we should start being more honest when something we've paid good money for has bored the pants off usIn an interview in the Observer last weekend, the director Marianne Elliott " who…
A new website aims to rate the comfort of West End theatre seats, Trip Advisor-style. But doesn't that miss the point?Some of my best nights in the theatre have occurred when sitting in the …
Jonathan Miller revives the feminist classic Rutherford & Son, A Chorus Line previews at the London Palladium and The Animals and Children Took to the Streets heads out on tourScotland and N…
Being forewarned about plot twists can ruin your enjoyment " but sometimes it adds to the funMany of us know who the culprit is in The Mousetrap. But it would probably take the Spanish Inqui…
Gate theatre, London"Does it hurt?" asks eight-year-old Kayleen when she meets classmate, Doug, in the school sick bay. He rode his bike off the school roof and she is suffering from st…
Lancaster counts down to The Zero Hour, Mare Rider gallops into London and Laurie Sansom bows out of Northampton with One for the RoadNorthImitating the Dog go out on tour with Pete Brooks a…
Barbican, LondonZimmermann & de Perrot's 2010 show Oper Opis was set on a tilting stage in which the performers had to negotiate the ground shifting beneath their feet. The stage was not jus…
David Tennant is preparing to play Richard II for the RSC " but how will he measure up to past kings, from the regal Gielgud to the poignantly unready Eddie Redmayne?Announcing that David Te…
Lyric HammersmithIt's almost seven years since David Farr and GÃsli Örn Garðarsson's highly physical version of Kafka's short story premiered at the Lyric, and it returns better th…
From Sheridan's Sneer to Stoppard's Birdboot, fictional critics are often portrayed as monsters. We review some of the bestReading on a mobile? Watch hereWho'd be a critic? "Like eunuchs in …
I love being first to arrive in an echoing auditorium, exploring the eerie twilight world between everyday life and make-believeI love nothing more than a theatre full of people leaning forw…
Soho, LondonSmall doesn't have to mean insubstantial, and this tabletop puppet show from Invisible Thread, one of the new adult puppet companies to emerge after the demise of …
Soho theatre, LondonBlind Summit are the UK's puppet masters, a company whose shows, such as Low Life and the brilliant The Table, have proved that puppetry doesn't have to come either with …
Lucy Bailey revives The Winter's Tale in snowbound Stratford, a touring Twelfth Night hits Northampton, and Manchester's fringe is on fine formNorthMy, it's quiet. At the end of the week, Al…
Unicorn, LondonA Winter's Tale for two-to-four-year-olds? If you think that sounds impossible, then you probably haven't encountered the work of Oily Cart, a remarkable company which has cre…
A bad production can put you off a play for life " but even the most sublime shows can be a case of once bitten, twice shyAfter a school theatre trip to see King Lear as a teenager, I was co…
The Print Room, LondonThe intimate new upstairs space at the Print Room is a winner, made all the more cosy by the hot-water bottles handed out to the audience. I wish I could feel as warmly…
