Cottesloe, LondonIt doesn't matter a damn what I or my colleagues say about this adaptation of Mark Haddon's bestselling novel. Last night it was greeted with a great roar of approval. And, …
Courtyard, Stratford-on-AvonThis is not the first RSC Much Ado to be set in India. Veteran playgoers will recall John Barton's 1976 production, which set the action in a garrison town during…
Donmar Warehouse, LondonExile and emigration are constant themes of Irish drama. But Brian Friel's 1964 play, beautifully directed by Lyndsey Turner, lends fresh life to a stock situation in…
Criterion, LondonUnlike those theatre producers who regard the Olympics as an obstacle, Samuel Hodges, who founded Suffolk's High Tide festival, sees them as an opportunity. Accordingly he h…
Technical triumph showed Danny Boyle's great capacity for spectacle but was marred by strange shifts in toneWatching Danny Boyle's £27m spectacular, I was reminded of an old rhyme about a…
Shakespeare's Globe, LondonHow to follow a phenomenal performance like Rooster Byron in Jerusalem? One answer is to play Shakespeare's dissembling double-Gloucester. And, although Mark Rylan…
Lyttelton, LondonHaving overcome his indifference to Shaw, Nicholas Hytner has now made the old boy a regular part of the National repertory. Once again the decision pays off handsomely, in …
Finborough, LondonIt show enormous enterprise for an unsubsidised theatre to stage a verbatim piece based on reports from inside Syria. One also has to applaud the courage of BBC corresponde…
Royal Court, LondonThis is one of the most disturbing evenings I have ever spent in a theatre. Stephen Emmott, an acclaimed scientist, stands in a re-creation of his cluttered Cambridge offi…
British Museum, LondonHow on earth do you represent Shakespeare in an exhibition? The short answer, in the exciting new show mounted by the British Museum in collaboration with the RSC, is t…
Olivier Theatre, LondonAlthough seldom seen, Timon of Athens always seems topical. It deals with a spendthrift hero who, fawned on when his credit is good, is rejected when poor and retreats…
Stephen Joseph Theatre, ScarboroughAlan Ayckbourn has always had an eye to the future, as we know from predictive pieces such as Henceforward and Communicating Doors. Now, in his 76th play, …
Three new Ibsen productions suggest our fascination with the sage of Skien hasn't waned. What keeps us so enthralled?"Do you think Shaw is coming back?" a student once rashly asked the late …
Can they rival Hamlet's final duel? And how do they channel all that concealed aggression?"A hit, a very palpable hit." How often have I heard that cry go up while watching the climactic due…
Jermyn Street, LondonImagine A Midsummer Night's Dream crossed with Gilbert and Sullivan's Patience, and you get some idea of the wonderful weirdness of this early 1851 play by Ibsen only no…
Chichester festival theatreWhile Bertolt Brecht triumphs at the Chichester Minerva with Arturo Ui, George Bernard Shaw is blandly revived in the city's main house. In its angry indictment of…
Royal and Derngate, NorthamptonIt might at first seem odd to find Ibsen's tight-structured play forming the climax to a Festival of Chaos that has already brought us The Bacchae and Blood We…
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Young Vic, LondonCarrie Cracknell's production certainly puts a new spin on Ibsen's 1879 classic. As if to remind us that this is a play about domestic revolution, Ian MacNeil's design revol…
Riverside Studios, LondonThis delightful piece, conceived by Adrian Fisher and Stuart Barham, celebrates the lives and careers of Noël Coward and Ivor Novello. They had a lot in common: b…
Swan, Stratford-upon-AvonThe best intentions sometimes go awry. On paper, it might have seemed a good idea to commission a Mexican dramatist, Luis Mario Moncada, to write a play ab…
Shakespeare's Globe, LondonToby Frow's new Shrew starts with a Bermondsey drunk clambering on stage and threatening to disrupt the evening's entertainment. Older playgoers may recall a simil…
Theatre Royal BrightonNew ventures are always welcome and this show marks an attempt to restore this handsome 1807 theatre to its function as a producing house that can feed work into the We…
A five-hour show? That's not nearly long enoughCan you ever have too much of a good thing? Audiences don't seem to think so. Advertise an event that lasts the best part of a day and you will…
Royal Court, LondonIn Some Voices and Blue/Orange, Joe Penhall dealt with society's incapacity to cope with mental illness. Now he turns to the subject of male pregnancy; and what starts out…