2,436 stories by "Michael Billington"
Productions of Shakespeare's early play on love and rivalry should be commonplace: in practice, Crab the dog is the best thing in it. Help Michael Billington find the best productionsI reall…
Roy Williams has returned to the theatre where he started his career and produced a compelling dramaRoy Williams, who has written many fine plays, including Fallout and Sucker Punch, has ret…
It's the 'barbaric, disgusting play' that Michael Billington once demanded never be performed again. But, as well as its characters, is there a chance of redemption for the play itself?I onc…
Theatre Royal HaymarketThe actors do all they can within the script's limits, but a film that was at least a brutally effective psychological thriller has become a modern morality playThere …
Old Vic, LondonJon Robin Baitz's Christmas-set drama uses fractured nuclear families to examine the broken American psycheI was arguing with a friend the other day about whether plays should…
The Print Room, LondonJon Fosse's tale of one man's grief over the loss of his dog is well-acted, yet the play lacks dramatic tensionIn the past, I've eagerly championed the work of the Norw…
Menier Chocolate Factory, London Ray Cooney's production achieves the correct delirious momentum and gets good performances from everyone, including the playwrightWhen I first saw Ray Cooney…
Gielgud, LondonAngela Lansbury is back on a London stage after nearly 40 years, but her presence has a faintly distorting effectGood as it is to see Angela Lansbury back on a London stage af…
Orange Tree, RichmondThis abrasive comedy about the UK's recent economic belt-tightening suggests writer Torben Betts should be a bigger nameClass is the engine driving much British drama. I…
Ustinov Studio, BathAll of life's big dramas take place around the dining table in Dan LeFranc's madcap look at love and marriageMichael Boyd, after a decade with the Royal Shakespeare Compa…
Stratford East's musical will be broadcast tonight, proving radio is still doing more for the stage than TVTonight Oh What a Lovely War could be said to be coming home. The current Theatre R…
Everyman, Liverpool The reborn theatre's first production boasts a superb Malvolio in Nicholas Woodeson and Matthew Kelly as Sir Toby Belch, but could do with speeding up a bit"We want to cr…
St James's, LondonA formidable cast saves this musical pastiche from undermining its own messageFlushed with success on Broadway, where it ran for three years, this bizarre show finally make…
Lucy Kirkwood's Chimerica stands head and shoulders above the other nominees. This year's lineup confirms that British theatre's current success lies more in interpretation than in original …
Playwright Barney Norris's first full-length work for the stage sensitively captures a married couple's descent into old ageBarney Norris is a young man in his mid‑20s. I mention this…
Park theatre, LondonThis Stephen Sondheim-Richard Rodgers holiday-romance musical isn't perfect, but is put across with convictionThe fiercest critic of this 1964 American musical is one of …
Hampstead theatre, LondonDavid Lindsay-Abaire's tale of a working-class single mum explores social mobility in the US with compelling resultsI sometimes fret at the Americanisation of Britis…
Whether too avant garde, too shocking or simply unlucky, sometimes a great play doesn't find favour with the public. I'd like to see these given another run " how about you?CE Montague, a fa…
Bush, LondonArtifice and art overlap in this self-referential piece about a theatrical group trying to stage a show about an African genocideHow do you tackle a subject such as genocide in e…
Finborough, LondonPanned when it was first produced, this piece has no hint of the inequality of passion that normally drives Rattigan's playsCritically hammered on its debut in 1958, Terenc…
Stephen Sondheim's serial-killing barber may be an unsavoury hero, but the musical skilfully mixes savagery, tragedy and comedy to create a work of art that leaves one in aweThere are musica…
Donmar Warehouse, LondonWelsh playwright Peter Gill tracks the damage done to the English middle classes by the first world war in this taut and passionate dissection of the doomed 1919 peac…
Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, London This boisterous production brings Francis Beaumont's 1607 burlesque of citizen drama and chivalric romance to lifeThis dashing new theatre has already proved …
Noel Coward Theatre, LondonSimon Beaufoy's stage version of the iconic film is well directed but feels like a missed opportunity to address any of the degradation of unemploymentIn the end, …
Southwark Playhouse, LondonIsy Suttie is perkily determined, but this musical about the woman who mapped London lacks dramatic tensionIt is rare to find a new British musical that is not by …
