Chaka gets her groove back

She was an R&B legend with a drug habit as big as her hair, but now the queen of 70s funk has a new album out and a starring role on Broadway - and this time, Chaka Khan tells Gary Younge, s…

'This will horrify my colleagues'

A rooftop park, rehearsals open to the public, a new building ... Nicholas Hytner explains his vision for the National to Michael Billington

A vicious circle

In 1991, Ariel Dorfman brought the horrors of Pinochet's Chile to the stage in Death and the Maiden. Here, he explains why he is revisiting the play's darkest themes

Anne Frank's diary to be made into a musical by Paul Hamilos

'If you're going to despair, stop writing'

He was one of Britain's most shocking, uncompromising playwrights. Then he fell out of favour. But now Edward Bond is back. He grants Michael Billington a rare interview

Review: Much Ado About Nothing by Michael Billington (****)

'There was nothing cool about me'

He played the Fonz, the coolest man of the 1970s. Now Henry Winkler's taking to panto. He talks to Patrick Barkham about dyslexia, swordfights - and why women still throw themselves at him

Review: Cinderella

They asked for a Stephen Fry panto - and he gave us one. Michael Billington on a smart, innuendo-laden show

The great Shakespeare revival

Ian McKellen as Lear. Ewan McGregor as Iago. Patrick Stewart as Macbeth. There's nothing like the combination of a top film star and our greatest dramatist to get theatre-goers queueing arou…

Review: Othello by Michael Billington (****)

Drama out of a crisis

To mark World Aids Day, Toby Jones explores the work of a theatre group promoting behaviour change and self-advocacy in Africa

Natural born thriller

Tickets for Othello at the Donmar are now changing hands for £1,200. The draw is Ewan McGregor - but the real star of the show may well turn out to be Kelly Reilly. Stuart Jeffries mee…

The day I pushed Pinter around

During rehearsals for his new film Sleuth, Kenneth Branagh finally met the playwright he idolised. He relives a 'Hamletian' encounter

There is nothing like a dame

Pantomime used to be much-derided - the last stop in a washed-up actor's career. Not any more, says Laura Barnett, thanks to a Hollywood 'invasion' of actors including Mickey Rooney and Henr…

My pink fountain pen has run dry by Mark Ravenhill

I think 'writing gay' is a project that is now totally over

The reviewer reviewed by Michael Billington

We all love seeing our work praised, but I most relish the well-aimed critical arrows. Honest

Blanchett not fit to run our theatre, says actor by Barbara McMahon

A big pair of shoes to fill

Charlie Chaplin's grandson is carrying on a rich family tradition. But he doesn't see it that way, he tells Lyndsey Winship

Portrait of the artist: Susannah York, actor<br> Interview by Laura Barnett

A 2,500-year-old sex ban

Aristophanes' Lysistrata was about the power of women in a time of war. Blake Morrison felt an update was overdue.

Crisis in the West End

Theatreland is in dire straits. Second-rate musicals rule, new drama is dying, and the venues are falling apart. The time has come for a revolution, writes Michael Billington

'People thought we were mad'

Jonathan Kent is the champion of serious drama. Can he save the West End? As he gets his hands on his own theatre, he reveals all to Michael Billington

Russian romance

Tom Stoppard, who celebrates his 70th birthday next month, just won a record clutch of Tony awards for The Coast of Utopia. Playwright Nina Raine joins him in rehearsals for the trilogy befo…

Q&A: Andrew Lloyd Webber, composer<br> Interview by Rosanna Greenstreet

Prodigal son

He's been Hamlet, a Bond villain and Mr Rochester; now Toby Stephens returns to the stage to play a drinker. He tells Mark Lawson why it has a painful resonance