2,436 stories by "Michael Billington"
Curve, LeicesterSome people argue this is the greatest Broadway musical. That's open to debate. But there is no dispute that Arthur Laurents's book, Jule Styne's music and Stephen Sondheim's…
Actor of poise and beauty who enjoyed a rich and productive career on both sides of the AtlanticFaith Brook, who has died aged 90, was an actor of remarkable elegance, poise and beauty. She …
Lyttelton, London"This is Islamophobic shit," cried an angry spectator two-thirds of the way through DV8's investigation of multiculturalism. I was later told that the intervention was a "st…
The dream of a national theatre has happily come to pass, not only in England but in Wales and Scotland, too. But is regional theatre under threat as a result?I was very struck by something …
Etcetera, LondonWhat kind of future London do we see? Francis Beckett, a political journalist and periodic playwright, has devised one in which policing is privatised, hospitals are reserved…
Young Vic, LondonSound and Fury are a rare company in that they combine an experimental process with rich content. In their last show, Kursk, they took us inside the bowels of a nuclear subm…
Menier Chocolate Factory, LondonMike Leigh has often been accused of condescension towards his characters. Lindsay Posner's perceptive revival of this 1977 landmark reminds us that we are no…
Hampstead theatre, LondonI am normally wary of any new play that could be called "Chekhovian": it implies something fragile and wispily atmospheric. But Richard Nelson's extraordinary p…
Crucible/Lyceum, SheffieldSheffield is one of the few theatres to devote seasons to living writers. Now it is the turn of Michael Frayn. With Democracy still to come, it is already possible …
Finborough, LondonLast year this venturesome venue gave us a riveting portrait of Belfast's Protestant culture in St John Ervine's Mixed Marriage (1911). Now it crosses the border to sh…
Long gone are the happy days when the musical was a source of innocent pleasure. They have become cultural juggernauts, devoid of risk-taking and, like the banks, too big to failMusicals are…
Trafalgar Studios, LondonAn air of glamour surrounds this French-Canadian import by François Archambault. The cast, including ex-supermodel Agyness Deyn, is glamorous. The audience is gla…
Royal Court, LondonOne thing intrigues me about this fine play, presented as part of the Young Writers festival: how come its 26-year-old author, Luke Norris, knows so much about senior citi…
Bush, LondonThis is a first full-length play by a former Middlesbrough cab-driver, Ishy Din. Even if its plot is formulaic, it has plenty fresh to say about the aspirations of young Pakistan…
Richard Bean's West End hit is transferring to New York. Let's hope American audiences get served the full English version in all its improvisatory gloryRichard Bean's One Man, Two Guvnors t…
Rose theatre, Kingston-upon-ThamesJoely Richardson is very brave. In playing Ellida, the mysterious heroine of Ibsen's 1889 drama, she takes on a role already made famous by her mother and l…
Duke of York's, LondonThanks to the TV series Scrubs and the film Garden State, Zach Braff clearly enjoys cult status in Britain. His first appearance in his own play, All New People, is gre…
The age of the genuine theatrical stinker is over. But there are still plenty of terrible things to watch out for ...In all the recent controversy about whether British theatre has become mo…
Noel Coward, LondonHoward Davies has a gift for revitalising Coward's comedies. Having put the sexuality back into Private Lives, he now visually redefines Hay Fever and pulls off the daring…
Young Vic, LondonWhen Angus Jackson's fine production of Edward Bond's bony masterpiece was first seen in Chichester two years ago, a respected colleague attacked the author for his assumpti…
Royal Court, LondonBasildon has always been a key political barometer. But, although David Eldridge's riveting new play has its roots in this allegiance-shifting Essex town, he also uses it …
Barbican, London"Try everything once except incest and folk-dancing," runs an old Scottish adage. In fact there is plenty of both in Declan Donnellan's revival of John Ford's 1633 tragedy, a…
The largely forgotten Polish professor, who drew a connection between Shakespeare and 20th-century European theatre, had a huge impact on modern-day theatrical cultureDoes anyone still read …
Tricycle theatre, LondonNicolas Kent bids farewell to the Tricycle with a characteristically grand project: a two-part history of the nuclear bomb consisting of 10 separate plays. Obviously …
Union theatre, LondonThis is the third all-male version of Gilbert and Sullivan that Sasha Regan has directed at this tiny Southwark theatre. But, while the result is as "blithe and gay" as …
