The public and creators are often at odds when picking favourite plays " plus the mobile phone menace reaches new heightsDoes parental love blind playwrights?For all writers the plays and no…
The Cut, HalesworthA night of thoughtless petty criminal activity turns dark, then darker still, in this exhilarating three-hander focusing on three Essex teenagers hiding out from the polic…
Arcola, LondonMartin really does seem like a nice young man; such a caring smile, and beautiful manners, too. "You speak so beautifully, Martin," says Amy Bates, "almost as if you were Patie…
Chariots of Fire is hitting the stage " with nine races on an indoor athletics track. Lyn Gardner finds out what happens when performers are pushed to the limitWhen actors James McArdle and …
Globe, LondonA play of pulsating poetry and politics, performed in 1601 on the eve of the Earl of Essex's attempted coup against Elizabeth I to some of those actually involved in the plot, t…
Review: The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, The Cut, Halesworth"How often do we wish that more things were handmade?" asks American monologist Mike Daisey. He stares us in the eye. "Now…
From Manchester to Merthyr, there are festivals everywhere this week. Oh, and check out the Antarctic Zoo in EdinburghScotland and Northern IrelandThe new MAC in Belfast has a hit with Titan…
Some works are of their time, some are for all time, and others find their time. It's not always obvious which are whichLooking back over old awards can be fascinating. The best new play of …
Unicorn, London★★★★/★★★Decisions, decisions! Hard to make, and their consequences often prove hard to take in these Sophocles plays reimagined for y…
Arcola, LondonIt is often in the tiniest moments that hope is found. At the end of Edward Bond's play Saved, a chair is picked up to be mended. In Manfred Karge's The Conquest of the South P…
Wilton's Music Hall, LondonRecognisably Gatsby, but certainly not great, this stage version of F Scott Fitzgerald's story aches with promise unfulfilled. The audience is encouraged to dress …
Playwrights were in the spotlight last week as Dennis Kelley and Philip Ridley encouraged them to tear up the conventional mapPassion, not pitchingLast week I took part in a roundtable discu…
Shakespeare's Globe, LondonGiven that it features so many productions, one of the best ways of coming to terms with the Globe to Globe season might be less in measuring the success of each i…
How should I review improvised shows or those that evolve over time?Tonight at 8.10pm, on numerous stages across the country, exactly the same events will take place at the same time as they…
It's a busy week across the nation, with Mayfesto kicking off at the Tron and Andrew Hilton's Cherry Orchard continuing at the Tobacco FactoryScotlandI'm looking forward to reading the revie…
Roundhouse, LondonA great idea, but one that's largely thrown away, the final show in the Roundhouse's CircusFest2012 takes us back to the sideshows of the early 20th century. Between the 19…
Lyric Studio, LondonEdward Bond has seen the future and it isn't working. Perhaps it's no surprise that one of our greatest living playwrights is back in fashion. Bond, whose masterpiece Sav…
The best of the weekend's theatrical activity saw theatre walk tall on the streets of Liverpool, spread its wings on YouTube and go global for Shakespeare's birthdayYou'll never walk alone w…
LiverpoolLondon had its Sultan's Elephant in 2006, and Liverpool had its spider, La Machine, in 2008. Merseyside has clearly developed a taste for street theatre and decided that outsized pu…
There's lots going on in theatre this week, from Royal de Luxe's giant puppets in Liverpool to a global, UK-wide Shakespeare-festScotlandThe big news here is Enquirer, the new verbatim prome…
Drum, PlymouthThe world ends with a bang not a whimper in this latest show from the Belgian experimental theatremakers Ontroerend Goed, which succeeds in squeezing billions of years into jus…
Matilda may have cleaned up commercially and at the Oliviers, but it would have been nowhere without subsidised theatre. Plus: a marathon year on stage, and acting as an Olympic sportTalent …
Cottesloe, LondonBrothers torn apart is becoming a recurrent theme in the work of Inua Ellams, the poet and spoken-theatre performer with a quiet, compelling presence and a tripping tongue. …
Plenty of action this week, from Bernstein's Wonderful Town in Salford to Stan's Café's Of All the People in All the World in StratfordNorthLots of action here this week, including the revi…
Soho Theatre, LondonThe title says it all. Cartoon de Salvo's latest show comes freshly minted every night using the long-form improvisation that the engaging company previously utilised in …