2,436 stories by "Michael Billington"
Royal Court, London A well-written ode to community life in London is thwarted by its snapshot formatThis show does what it says on the tin. It consists of 10 five-minute episodes of a soap …
Shakespeare's Globe, LondonJessica Swale's first play leaves you astonished at the prejudices the pioneers of women's education had to overcomeJessica Swale has chosen, for her first play, a…
King's Head, LondonSentimentality sits uneasily alongside the truth in a new musical about the Texan outlaws that fails to deglamorise the killers"They're young, they're in love … and they…
Park theatre, LondonBen Travers' joyous farce creates an alternative universe in which panic lurks just below an innocent surfaceThark at the Park? It has a rhyming inevitability to it. But …
Personal passion meets global political drama in Lucy Kirkwood's exhilarating epic. And it survives the transfer across London with its five-star rating intactTransferring a five-star hit pl…
Theatre Royal, BathThis production of Feydeau and Desvallières' play is diverting, but rarely reaches the dizzying dementia of great farceFor those of us who regard farce as the quintessenc…
Trafalgar Studios, LondonAlexi Kaye Campbell's play reminds us that despite the sexual sea-change in Britain since the 1950s, prejudice is still with usLast Saturday, Whitehall in London was…
The ShedBased on more than 30 hours of interviews, Nadia Fall's production provides a vivid picture of life in a homeless hostelOne virtue of verbatim theatre is that it takes us behind clos…
Sadler's Wells, LondonBy keeping faithful to the Broadway original, the brilliance of this powerful Romeo and Juliet adaptation is rediscoveredThere's nothing radical or revisionist about th…
Stephen Joseph, ScarboroughAlan Ayckbourn may have written funnier plays, but few are more affecting than this Beckett-inspired tale of terrorismWhat astonishes you about Alan Ayckbourn is h…
Lyttelton theatre, LondonRichard Eyre's staging of the lusty Pirandello village comedy is nuanced, yet its Irish accent is ultimately discomfitingThis play by Luigi Pirandello is not what yo…
Donmar Warehouse, London Nick Payne's excellent new play takes us into the world of no-win, no-fee accident cases, as a dubious claimant gives two lawyers the runaroundIf I reveal that Nick …
Open Air theatre, Regent's Park, LondonIs it possible for a musical's numbers to be too familiar? At the preview I attended of Rodgers and Hammerstein's popular classic, several spectators a…
St James's Studio, LondonIn the bowels of this spanking new theatre lurks an intimate performance space, with a well-stocked bar: the ideal setting for this 70-minute, one-man play, written …
Tom Stoppard's fierce, unrelenting opposition to the abuse of human rights makes him the ideal recipient of the Pinter/PEN prizeIn Antonia Fraser's book, Must You Go?, detailing her life wit…
Theatre Royal, BathDavid Haig, like the late Nigel Hawthorne, follows an acclaimed performance in Alan Bennett's The Madness of George III by playing Shakespeare's deranged monarch. But, alt…
King's Head, LondonTV has given us The Vicar of Dibley and Rev, but the Church of England rarely gets a look-in on the British stage. For that reason alone it is refreshing to see Nicola Bal…
Royal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonShakespeare's supposedly difficult comedy yields easily the best production of the current Stratford season. Director Nancy Meckler treats the p…
Royal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonShakespeare's supposedly difficult comedy yields easily the best production of the current Stratford season. Director Nancy Meckler treats the p…
Theatre in the Park, ChichesterChichester has acquired a 25-metre-high big top to stand in for the temporarily closed Festival theatre. It would seem appropriate that it opens with a revival…
Theatre in the Park, ChichesterChichester has acquired a 25-metre-high big top to stand in for the temporarily closed Festival theatre. It would seem appropriate that it opens with a revival…
Shakespeare's Globe, LondonMost theatre falls into familiar categories. This, however, is a piece that gloriously defies definition. It can best be described as a series of short plays by Sa…
Bush, LondonCountless artists, from Diana Ross to Beyoncé, have been inspired by the story of the legendary dancer and singer Josephine Baker, who was born in St Louis and became the toast …
Park theatre, LondonHow much should one reveal? That is the critic's eternal dilemma. It's especially acute in a play such as Oliver Cotton's Daytona, which deals with deception and depends …
Actor Paul Bhattacharjee, who has died, was better known for his role in EastEnders but he was most impressive on stageThe disappearance, and possible death, of Paul Bhattacharjee gave me, l…
