378 stories by "Nick Smurthwaite"
Talking to six times BAFTA winner Eileen Diss is like trawling through a history of BBC television drama. Now in her 80s,
If you didn't know what Timothy Sheader did for a living you might think he was a trendy young academic, with his
No fewer than five shows in the present Young Vic season have been directed by beneficiaries of the Genesis Foundation. If it
Some early advice from a West End producer set Michael Cabot on a different path. He gives a glimpse of the pleasures,
From Brief Encounter to Tristan and Yseult, Kneehigh's co-director Emma Rice has devised a string of successful productions. As her latest show
Nobody sets out to be a stage door keeper, yet it is one of those theatre jobs that attracts a dogged and
You'd think growing up with actor parents, witnessing at close range their insecurity, heartbreak and paranoia, would be enough to put you
Despite having moved into performing arts management 20 years ago, Louise Jeffreys, chair of the Association of British Theatre Technicians, says she
If you were to dream up a title to encourage more Scots to attend the theatre, you couldn't really do better than
This is a story of youthful impetuosity, passion, chutzpah and, let's face it, insanity. The setting is the summer of 2005. The
In a head-spinning six months, Rachel Edwards has gone from running a shoestring theatre company in south London to being the producer
The Beatles were top of the charts with All You Need is Love and Alan Ayckbourn had his first big stage success
In its smart new Whitechapel home, Cardboard Citizens is looking anything but destitute. The place is bright and spacious and buzzing with
Orange Tree, Richmond, London: Alison is furious with her partner Teddy because he has ripped out the staircase in their house on the beach in order to let in more light. In its place is a l…
Rose Theatre, Kingston upon Thames: From the brilliantly choreographed opening scene, showing the four Pevensie siblings being evacuated to the country, this musical take on the familiar chi…
Orange Tree Theatre, London: In recent years, the Orange Tree may have acquired a reputation for decorously produced relics of Victorian and Edwardian theatre watched by an ageing audience i…
Orange Tree Theatre, London: Oliver Prout's excellent photograph of three thirty-something women screaming with laughter on the programme cover indicates that The Distance, a sharply wr…
Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond upon Thames: Paul Miller's debut as the Orange Tree's first new artistic director for 43 years is this rarely staged DH Lawrence play, written in 1914…
Nick Smurthwaite takes a look back at the life and career of actor and director Richard Attenborough With his energy, ebullience and enthusiasm, Richard Attenborough often seemed to have bou…
Like all great writers, Dennis Potter was a deeply complex and contradictory character, not helped by the crippling skin and arthritic condition that plagued him all his adult life. Marking …
"This show may yet be worth all the agony," Leonard Bernstein wrote to his wife as he struggled to bring West Side Story to the stage in 1957. The gestation of all stage musicals is…
Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond upon Thames: As the curtain falls on Sam Walters' 43-year reign at the Orange Tree - Paul Miller takes over as artistic director in July - this little know…
Being funny is a serious business. How many times have I heard actors say that playing comedy is a lot harder than playing drama? Listening to the late, great Alan Coren in BBC Radio 4…
Rose Theatre, Kingston upon Thames: Being shown to your seat by ushers clad in full academic regalia sets the tone for this spirited revival of Michael Frayn's 1976 farce about an Oxbri…
Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond-upon-Thames: Nobody could accuse Australian playwright Stephen Sewell of a lack of ambition in this quirky comedy about powerlessness and the end of civilisatio…
