473 stories by "Mark Lawson"
Actors on drugs, a booze ban for Derek Jacobi, stars not speaking … as his Midsummer Night's Dream hits the stage, director Michael Grandage tells Mark Lawson his highs and lowsReading a n…
From a vanishing Hayley Atwell to a script-reading Oedipus, welcome to the season of the understudyA surprise piece of computer dialogue greets anyone buying tickets online for the current r…
Premium tickets over £100. A £1,500 access-all-Ayckbourn luxury package. £10,000 for lunch with the director of the National. Welcome to the curious world of the 'premium' theatre t…
A prescient memoir by the theatre's former chief suggests that when it comes to this prestigious yet demanding post, candidates have always been thin on the groundWhen Ronald Reagan was shot…
Four recent shows show how design razzmatazz can charm the senses " and also draw attention to holes in the writingIn cinema, the term "high production values" has long been code for the sor…
David Mamet has now had six box-office letdowns in a row. Is Broadway's insatiable desire for big talking-point plays to blame?Critics often commend theatres for going off-piste and staging …
Mamma Mia! it wasn't, but at least Judy Craymer's Spice Girls stageshow escaped the fate of the musical Kelly, which closed on opening nightThe plot of Mel Brooks's 1968 movie The Producers …
Nicholas Hytner is stepping down as artistic director of the National Theatre. Who will take his place? It's a crowded field " with some surprise inclusionsThe National Theatre's artistic di…
The stage world's response to the death of Richard Griffiths shows certain theatrical traditions have an enduring relevanceA friend who went to see the Alan Bennett double bill Untold Storie…
Audiences today often don't know the name of a play until just before its run starts. But would you book a ticket for a show without a title?With a new play, audiences never quite know what …
Audiences today often don't know the name of a play until just before its run starts. But would you book a ticket for a show without a title? Continue reading...
With only four great plays to Chekhov's name, what are British theatres to do? Write some new ones, of course ...In the days when record shops existed widely, music fans were prone " as Nick…
Taboo-busting musical The Book of Mormon isn't anti-Mormon: it also has Jews, Starbucks, gay people and Africans in its sights. As the show debuts in London, Mark Lawson asks its American st…
A Chorus Line " being revived in London " is one of several successful shows that put the focus on theatre itselfReaders and critics are traditionally sniffy about novels about novelists: a …
No matter how good the understudy, the withdrawal of a leading name is almost inevitably bad news for a stage productionNormally the question star-seeking theatregoers ask is "Who's in it?" …
No matter how good the understudy, the withdrawal of a leading name is almost inevitably bad news for a stage production Continue reading...
Stage actors " with minimal scope for makeup or prosthetics between scenes " tend to find it easier to age down than upThere are various ways of measuring a play: the number of characters or…
With Hymn and Cocktail Sticks, Alan Bennett joins a tradition " including Dario Fo and David Hare " of writers putting versions of themselves into the frayAn American TV viewer once wrote to…
From Simon Gray to Alan Ayckbourn, many playwrights have kept their most interesting roles out of sight " but very much in mindRowan Atkinson dominates the posters for a West End production …
Are rich patrons easier to entertain? And are those in the cheap seats more discerning?Coughing, texting, talking and rustling sweets are all ways in which audiences can affect a performance…
From John Osborne to Howard Brenton, many fine playwrights have suffered periods of neglect " but, as Peter Nichols's resurgence shows, dramatic fortunes can rise as well as fallIt's notorio…
As Merrily We Roll Along extends its run at the Menier Chocolate Factory, Stephen Sondheim offers rare proof that it's possible to create a show that sinks before it swimsStephen Sondheim's …
As Merrily We Roll Along extends its run at the Menier Chocolate Factory, Stephen Sondheim offers rare proof that it's possible to create a show that sinks before it swims Continue reading...
Rarely have theatre critics doled out so many ill-starred reviews, from the Donmar's Julius Caesar to the Spice Girls' Viva Forever!. Strangely, sometimes producers rely on themAlthough it's…
New West End shows The Bodyguard and Viva Forever! feature plenty of female whooping at male nudity. Would it be acceptable the other way around?Is it all right for theatregoers to be sexual…
