2,444 stories by "Michael Billington"
Shaftesbury theatre, London"Highly professional". Those are the words that come to mind watching this new musical, based on James Jones's 800-page novel about life on a Hawaiian army base in…
Everyman theatre, CheltenhamAn ingenious spy thriller shows Dawn King's skill as a dramatist and echoes of John le CarréDawn King made a big impression in 2011 with the prize-winning Foxfin…
Royal Court, LondonAbhishek Majumdar's play about the human cost of the conflict in Kashmir is politically enlightening and theatrically hypnoticA play can be a means of heightening one's po…
Theatre Royal, BathThis unqualified masterpiece from 1631 by Lope de Vega is shot through with irony and ambiguityThis is the real deal: an unqualified masterpiece by Lope de Vega that, in M…
This week, Rufus Norris was appointed the new director of the National theatre. After 50 dramatic years, where does he take it from here? Guardian critic Michael Billington assesses how…
Royal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonDavid Tennant is mesmerising in the first show of Gregory Doran's six-year plan to present all of Shakespeare's worksThis show marks the start o…
Ustinov Studio, BathLope de Vega's romantic comedy has something in common with the Taming of the Shrew, and gets a lively performance here, but it leaves a somewhat acrid aftertasteLaurence…
The National Theatre's new artistic director has an air of unpredictability and will bring plenty of excitement to the job. Comment thread: Let us know what you thinkHow on earth do you foll…
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…
