Through his piercing intellect, the late British actor John Wood redefined every role he playedI've been very lucky in my professional life. And one of my greatest strokes of good fortune wa…
Open Air, Regent's Park, LondonIf this enjoyable 1992 musical has a slightly synthetic feel, it is hardly surprising. Ken Ludwig has rewritten the book of a 1930 Gershwin musical, Girl Crazy…
Donmar Warehouse, LondonJude Law is the big draw in this outstanding revival of Eugene O'Neill's 1921 play. But Law's is only one in a triptych of fine performances, the others coming from R…
The Scoop, LondonIn a concrete amphitheatre surrounded by the gleaming towers of capitalism, Phil Willmott has had the wit to stage Brecht's most explicitly communist play. And even if histo…
Finborough, LondonRebecca Gilman is an American dramatist who writes about hot topics with unsensational honesty. Having dealt with stalking in Boy Gets Girl and racism in Spinning into Butt…
Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonI feel slightly sorry for RSC directors of Shakespeare's most popular comedy. Every three years or so they are expected to come up with a brand-…
As the RSC stage a new production of The Homecoming, find out how much you know about Pinter's play " and the restMichael Billington
Swan theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonIt was the RSC that premiered Harold Pinter's play in 1965, so it seems fitting that the company should revive it as part of its 50th birthday celebrations. …
Minerva, ChichesterAs anyone who had the luck to see Saturday, Sunday, Monday or Napoli Milionaria will know, Eduardo de Filippo was one of the great figures of European theatre. But his pen…
Distinctive actor often cast as harassed establishment figuresIt was the destiny of the actor Richard Pearson, who has died aged 93, to be remembered for his role in one of the most famous t…
Returning to the Shaw and Stratford Shakespeare festivals in Ontario after 25 years was a revelation, with Jesus Christ Superstar and The President helping me to see the lightBack in the lat…
Legal action against a 'malicious' book review has revived an old question: can critics stay honest without giving offence?I was out of the country last week and have only just caught up wit…
Theatre Royal BathIt is now widely accepted that these two plays represent the twin summits of William Shakespeare's genius. Peter Hall, returning to them for the first time since he directe…
Theatre Royal, BathWatching this rare revival of Noël Coward's lower-middle-class comedy, I was unexpectedly reminded of Arnold Wesker's Chicken Soup With Barley. Coward's play trace…
Chichester Festival TheatreIs sexual discretion the better part of aesthetic valour? To put it more bluntly, is a gay writer obliged to come out publicly or entitled to write in code? It's t…
Chichester Festival TheatreIt is a well-documented fact that the play was partly inspired by the suicide of one of Rattigan's former lovers. But it transcends gender specifics to become Ratt…
Piccadilly, LondonMusicals based on movies are a dime a dozen, but Ghost is the first I've seen that feels like a film. It is not just that Bruce Joel Rubin's book adheres closely to his mov…
Young Vic, LondonThe Palestinian theatre company ShiberHur made a big impact last year with I Am Yusuf and This Is My Brother. Now it is back with an hour-long version of Kafka's 1916 short …
Tricycle, LondonBilly Roche made his name with the unforgettable Wexford Trilogy. But while his new play deals with a rundown roadshow in a manner reminiscent of Brian Friel's Crystal a…
Regent's Park Open Air theatre, LondonNatalie Abrahami's production does exactly what it says on the tin. Billed as "Pericles reimagined for everyone aged six and over", what we get is a viv…
Talented actor Janie Dee knows how to make cabaret come alive: by making every word countI rarely go to cabaret: not out of any high-minded principles but because the form itself, like intim…
Apollo, LondonShould political comedy acknowledge current events? You can't expect nightly rewrites, but it seems odd, given that it has a protagonist named Hacker, that this piece by Antony…
If a rabbit-skinning scene caused uproar, how will New York handle the underage sex and other video nasties that pepper Shakespeare's work?There are more ways than one, they say, to skin a c…
Finborough, LondonThis theatre's annual, unsung Vibrant festival offers a month of staged readings of new plays. One beneficiary of the process in 2009 was Nick Gill's Mirror Teeth, which no…
Menier Chocolate Factory, LondonThis is the European premiere of a musical by Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman that has gone through multiple rewrites. It sta rted in 1999 as Wise Guys, was…