2,436 stories by "Michael Billington"
The Threepenny Opera gets a high-finance update, a mighty solo effort illuminates Finnegans Wake, but Beckett fails to spark at the Dublin theatre festivalThe Threepenny Opera by Bertol…
Almeida, LondonRichard Eyre's first-rate revival of Ibsen's play grabs you by the throat and never releases its gripThe most radical feature of Richard Eyre's first-rate revival of Ghosts is…
Finborough, LondonAn intriguing look ahead to retribution in Zimbabwe following the reign of Robert Mugabe opens up new dramatic territoryAnders Lustgarten is a rare animal: a political play…
Tricycle theatre, LondonA very funny portrait of a relationship between monarch and prime minister that clearly wasn't made in heavenThe Queen and Margaret Thatcher are becoming a familiar t…
Curve, LeicesterRudkin's darkly riveting play brilliantly demonstrates the way Hitchcock's art is the key to his lifePlays and films about the private life of Alfred Hitchcock are a growth i…
(King's Head, London)This premiere of a Dickens adaptation co-written by Terence Rattigan and John Gielgud is brisk yet brilliantly stagedThis, somewhat surprisingly, is the professional pre…
Menier Chocolate Factory, LondonNicky Silver's play about a Jewish family preparing for the worst doesn't follow through with enough forceNicky Silver is a prolific New York dramatist who is…
Royal Court, LondonRachel De-lahay weaves together tales of immigration limbo and national identity, but neglects to thread in some angerRachel De-lahay made a sharp impression with her mosa…
Minerva, ChichesterJulian Mitchell's 1981 play on ways public schools in the 1930s bred betrayal is highly perceptive in this astute productionSchool plays seem to have a magnetic attraction…
Theatre 503, LondonYou would expect a play about six Welsh miners trapped underground to offer a display of quiet heroism. But the good thing about this remarkable first full-length work by …
Old Vic, LondonI am the last person to complain about senior citizens being given free rein. I also hold Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones in high regard and thought their performances i…
Bush, LondonActor Rory Kinnear's first play may not be startlingly original but it has meaty roles and a clear understanding of family tensionRory Kinnear seems unfairly talented. Not only i…
Arcola, LondonBertolt Brecht's rarely performed play about human isolation is bewildering but comes from a hauntingly original imaginationEven dedicated admirers of Bertolt Brecht are often …
Brecht's belief that drama should present moral ideas through action is unfashionable, but as theatre becomes ever more narcissistic, audiences are seeking him out againIt's that man again: …
Noel Coward Theatre, LondonEver since the Polish critic, Jan Kott, wrote a famous essay viewing Shakespeare's play as a nightmarish fantasy, directors have been exploring the dark side of Th…
Wyndham's, LondonAs a piece of black comedy, Clive Exton's play is neither sufficiently dark nor consistently funnyClive Exton made a name for himself writing black comedies for ITV in the e…
Orange Tree, RichmondSusan Glaspell's convoluted exploration of US involvement in the second world war is kept afloat by an adroit castThis is the fifth full-length play by the American femi…
Lyric Hammersmith, London A new version of Woyzeck plays out like a compendium of avant garde cliches, catching little of the desperation that drives Büchner's hero to murderI get the idea …
Royal Court, London A City suit sells his soul in this enjoyable if slightly unsubtle morality tale by Matilda the Musical's Dennis KellyVicky Featherstone's Royal Court regime begins with a…
Royal & Derngate, NorthamptonAyub Khan-Din's adaptation of ER Braithwaite's autobiography features strong performances but could do with more dramaThe most moving part of the evening came a…
Finborough, LondonJB Priestley's tale of a post-nuclear Britain is prescient, with its premonitions of modern life, and quietly passionate about this island's charmsInside that burly pragmat…
Yvonne Arnaud, GuildfordThe Original Theatre Company revives Peter Shaffer's bittersweet 1962 comedy double bill that explores the tension between order and passionThe conflict between dessi…
Mark Ravenhill's take on Voltaire's satire is an extraordinary piece, despite its overwhelming profusion of ideasMark Ravenhill has taken Voltaire's laconically witty satire on 18th-century …
Olivier, London John Heffernan convinces as king in a visually vibrant revival, yet the lyrical beauty of Marlowe's verse is lost in the mixI've argued countless times that "director's theat…
As a theatrical form, farce is infinitely flexible, timeless and revelatory … and several recent shows prove it's ripe for a revivalFarce is in the ascendant right now. We've just had Feyd…
