378 stories by "Nick Smurthwaite"
As if putting on a big-budget musical isn't tense enough, the prospect of touring a large-scale hit musical to 10 major regional
You might expect an actor who has been appearing in a supporting role in the same West End show for 25 years to
In the face of a technological avalanche, how can we ensure that live theatre doesn't become obsolete? One solution, favoured by the
Richard Wilson was in his mid-50s when he first played Victor Meldrew, the mischief-making misanthrope of TV's One Foot in the Grave,
Knowing I was going to be interviewing Sian Phillips, I dipped into her two-volume autobiography Private Faces (1999) and Public Places (2001), the
Not only was she once the highest-paid female entertainer on both sides of the Atlantic in the 1930s, but for at least
Just as Stephen Daldry reinvented An Inspector Calls for a new generation in the early 1990s, director John Dexter changed perceptions of
While Torbens are probably two-a-penny in Denmark " Betts was named after a Danish tennis player named Torben Ulrich that his mother
When a poppy installation took over the Tower of London in 2014, people flocked to see it. Now, its designer Tom Piper
How do you capture the thrill and urgency of live theatre in an inert exhibition space? That was the big question facing
You can always rely on Neil McPherson's adventurous Finborough Theatre to pull an unexpected rabbit out of the hat. Nobody, not even
You couldn't wish for a more charming or amenable interviewee than Janie Dee. She talks openly and interestingly about her youthful passion
Heartening news for those who fear that our culture is being systematically dumbed down by mindless celebrity worship and an endless diet
Yet another crop of outstanding young designers has been anointed by the prestigious Linbury Prize for Stage Design, the biennial competition for design
The dilemma of the older actor " and this applies especially to women " is that as soon as you feel you've
If the Royal Court staged a revolution in British theatre in the 1950s, Jocelyn Herbert was a frontline activist, manning the barricades
The Technical Theatre Awards were established to celebrate the achievements of people working behind the scenes. Eighteen categories cover all disciplines of
When Jack Tripp became the first ever actor to be awarded the MBE for services to pantomime in 1996, some wag suggested
Adam Kenwright is a man with a mission. At 43, the theatre world's top marketing guru doesn't simply want to keep his
Like the best magicians, a good ventriloquist can transport us back to our childhoods. Watching the masterly Paul Zerdin at work in
If you could bottle Roy Hudd's energy and sell it over the counter, we'd all live to be 120. Interviewing the convivial
It wouldn't have occurred to him at the time, but the title of Harley Granville Barker's play Waste, which has just opened
"It's nice to think people will take a punt on a little studio theatre outside of town," says Simon Reilly, for the
In a sense we have Michael Crawford to thank for David Ian. Had he not been so good in the long-forgotten 1974
Few designer-director relationships are as close or symbiotic as that of Stewart Laing and Richard Jones, who are working together on Eugene
