832 stories by "Susannah Clapp"
Prince Edward, LondonThe hugely popular musical is back with its blaring, terrible songsNot so much a musical as an applausathon. Here is a famous duet: much clapping. Here is a swanky Ameri…
Everyman, Liverpool; Royal Exchange, ManchesterFour bereaved siblings wallow in the past in the terrific Hope Place, while Lily Cole is a graceful if small-voiced Helen in Simon Armitage's d…
Laugharne, CarmarthenshireThe small community that inspired Under Milk Wood hosts an intriguing but whimsical tribute to the wayward Welsh bardTo begin at the end. In the graveyard at Laugha…
Hampstead; Southwark Playhouse, LondonThe Kinks musical Sunny Afternoon is a triumph for Ray Davies and Joe Penhall. And orphans bring snot and fury to SouthwarkSunny Afternoon rocks Hampste…
Donmar Warehouse; Lyttelton, London; Watford PalaceJames Graham's electrifying new play, Privacy, could change your online lifeThere is no need to keep this a secret. Privacy is electrifying…
Dekker and Middleton's Roaring Girl fails to hold her own at the RSC against two of Shakespeare's most thoroughly male dynastic dramasThe RSC is no longer alone with Shakespeare. The Globe i…
In Mike Bartlett's fine new play at the Almeida, the Windsors acquire Shakespearean depths, while the ravages of a rock-star life dazzle at the Royal CourtThe Queen is dead; Charles is about…
Shed; Theatre Royal, both London; Tobacco Factory, BristolPoor lives make for rich drama at the Shed, while Goldie excels as a Jamaican gang leader at Stratford EastSome of the most striking…
Gielgud, LondonThe Broadway veteran plays a magnificently dotty Madame Arcati in this remarkable production of Coward's glacial comedyShe strides on in plaid tweeds, and shimmies around in a…
Everyman, Liverpool; West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds Twelfth Night doesn't quite echo the newly revamped Everyman's sense of swagger. In Leeds, Anya Reiss's updating of Wedekind is a winnerR…
Hampstead; Donmar, London; Royal Exchange, ManchesterImelda Staunton is whip-sharp in a great new US play about class. Peter Gill roots his drama in argument. And Orlando fliesThere are no s…
Almeida; Theatre Royal Stratford East, LondonOrwell's 1984 comes to tremendous, hellish life. And Joan Littlewood's satire still bitesIt is hugely ambitious to put this dystopia on stage. Ha…
Royal Court; Young Vic; Vaults, LondonFeminism and its absence play a part in Abi Morgan's latest, one of Beckett's best and Ian McEwan's Cement GardenSamuel Butler said it was very good of …
Royal Exchange, Manchester; Royal Court; Gate, LondonThieving lovers of the Thatcher era, football homophobia and a haunting war photograph make for a trio of striking new dramasSimon Stephe…
Olivier; Shed, LondonSimon Russell Beale is magnetic as Lear in Sam Mendes's production, which traces 'an unravelling that is political, cosmic and personal'It would be worth it for the stor…
Sam Wanamaker Playhouse; Royal Court, LondonThe Globe's new indoor stage is the ideal setting for Webster's macabre tragedy, while Beckett engenders awe not shockUsually Gemma Arterton …
Swan, Stratford-upon-AvonBen Miles as Thomas Cromwell leads the way in compelling stage versions of Hilary Mantel's great Tudor novelsThese are near-perfect adaptations. That's to say, imper…
Egg, Bath; BAC, Little Angel, LondonTove Jansson's lovably eccentric characters make their UK stage debut. And there's more magic down the corridors at BACThey are onstage at last. My heroes…
Donmar; Aldwych, London; Crucible, SheffieldTom Hiddleston's Coriolanus is blazing but bleak, and there's as little love in a 60s sex scandal as there was in Dickens's LondonThe first time I…
Shakespeare, Ibsen and Pinter were among the highlights in a year notable for rediscovery and reinventionRead the Observer critics' reviews of the year in full hereThis was a pivotal theatri…
Changes in the voting system and a lack of open debate left judges feeling like children, and irrevocably damaged the awardsI have been a judge for the Evening Standard Theatre awards for 14…
Almeida, Lyttelton, London; Bristol Old VicMatt Smith brings a deadly vacancy to Easton Ellis's antihero in a musical with sharp instincts and a hollow heartAmerican Psycho will be a big hit…
Royal Court; Noel Coward; Olivier, LondonA National Theatre of Scotland tour de force comes south in full-blooded fashion. And Jude Law means business as Henry VThis June I came away from Du…
St James; Royal Court; Covent Garden, LondonPeople are whooping at Sarah Ruhl's play. Well, of course: at the centre of the plot is a vibrator. Set in New York in the 1880s, In the Next Room…
Young Vic; Gielgud, LondonTheatre Uncut's visionary series of political plays appeal as much for the ideas as the drama. And Strangers on a Train runs out of steamWhat began as a hand grenad…
