2,436 stories by "Michael Billington"
Orange Tree theatre, LondonThe playground setting is a distraction, but Adam Barnard's series of vignettes offers some innovative observationsAdam Barnard's first full-length play is clearly…
Barbican, LondonThree of the great Irish playwright's later works are superbly performed in these precise productionsBeckett's later works seem to me as much art installations as drama: one …
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, LondonA reminder of the power of Racine's 1667 exploration of obsessive love in ancient Greece, Edward Kemp's excellent new translation has an impressive young…
Chichester Festival Theatre Continue reading...
Vaudeville, LondonThe unfairly talented actor recalls a career that has taken him from Olivier's National to British film comedies and Broadway in this exuberant solo showCan it be true? The…
It wasn't just his remarkable intellect that enabled Wood to portray both the youthful and aged Henry Carr; it was also his ability to capture Carr's essenceIntelligence in acting takes many…
Theatre Royal Haymarket, LondonCooper puts across the romantic sensibility of John Merrick in a well-presented production featuring Patricia Clarkson and Alessandro NivolaBradley Cooper is v…
Barbican, LondonGiant plastic cubes glide around the stage, bringing to life a dream world of Hegel-quoting sex-workers and a cat-seeking holy foolThe great Japanese director Yukio Ninagawa,…
Donmar Warehouse, LondonSimon Russell Beale plays the dean of St Paul's with exquisite finesse, in a play that asks big questions about the role of the church in the modern world Continue re…
Olivier theatre, London George Farquhar's comedy plays its Restoration feminist cards with a generous heart in an exhilarating Simon Godwin production Continue reading...
Alan Seymour's probing 1960 drama about the generational and class conflicts that rear up within one family on Anzac Day gets an excellent and timely revival Continue reading...
Forget Boris Karloff with a bolt through his neck. Forget even Peter Boyle as the new, improved monster singing Puttin' On The Ritz in the Mel Brooks pastiche. What you get in Danny Boyle's …
'Keep off the stage when you're on duty'"Imprisoned in every fat man,"
Allam stole the best actor crown and Smith was queen of musicals, but new plays were thin on the ground. And funding cuts were the ghost at the feast
A number of productions are dragging British theatre away from the grip of realism - with sensational results
The Victorian theatre of spectacle is alive and well, and residing at the London Palladium. But although this adaptation of the Frank Baum book and the 1939 movie, with additional songs by A…
High ticket prices are fuelling this rise in box-office takings, and London theatre can't just rely on spin-offs and musicals
Globetrotting directors can produce good work on the move, but it's chiefly those running buildings who enact a vision for theatre
The old, three-tiered auditorium reflected the class structures of its age; the new one will, one trusts, be a more democratic space
The National Theatre is to rename its smallest space after philanthropist Lloyd Dorfman. Wouldn't it be more fitting to celebrate an artist instead?
The old, three-tiered auditorium reflected the class structures of its age; the new one will, one trusts, be a more democratic space
Open Air theatre, Regent's Park, LondonTimothy Sheader and Liam Steel's clever new production, set in a military hospital, soars with ingenuity but doesn't reach the magic height of JM Barri…
With its mix of sensuality and intelligence, her portrayal of Hester Collyer at London's Almeida in 1993 towers above all othersWhy is Penelope Wilton not more acclaimed? She did, admittedly…
Nuffield, Southampton Far from simply retreading familiar ground, this brilliantly designed adaptation highlights the Coens' debt to 1920s American theatre Continue reading...
Royal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonNothing much adds up in Polly Findlay's production, which fails to anchor Shakespeare's play in a specific location Continue reading...
