sun 01/12/2024

theatre reviews, news & interviews

The Importance of Being Earnest, National Theatre review - no shortage of acid-tipped delight

Rachel Halliburton

If Harold Pinter’s work represents, as he slyly joked, the weasel under the cocktail cabinet, then Oscar Wilde’s represents the stiletto in the Victorian sponge – at a time when the stiletto was a slim dagger used for assassination. Beneath the fopperies and fripperies of his fin-de-siècle classic, every line draws blood as he skewers the false gods and hypocrisies of his age.

Twelfth Night, Orange Tree Theatre review - perfectly pitched sad and merry musical mayhem

Heather Neill

It's all too easy to underplay the melancholy of Shakespeare's comedy of divided twins, misplaced – sometimes narcissistic – love, drunken frolics and a Puritan given his comeuppance. Tom Littler's decision to present the action in a very English Illyria during the years following World War II immediately sets the melancholy tone, but with pleasure bursting to make an entrance.

The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical,...

Gary Naylor

Percy Jackson is neither the missing one from Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael, nor an Australian Test cricketer of the 1920s, but a...

Expendable, Royal Court review - intensely felt...

Aleks Sierz

British theatre excels in presenting social issues: at its best, it shines a bright light on the controversial subjects that people are thinking, and...

The Purists, Kiln Theatre review - warm, witty,...

Helen Hawkins

Watching Dan McCabe’s 2019 play, older folk might be reminded of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band’s indelible lyrics, “Can blue men sing the whites, or are...

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The Dead, ANU, Landmark Productions, MoLI Dublin review - vital life, love and death in perfect equilibrium

David Nice

Joyce’s great short story fully realised for ‘invited guests’ by a perfect ensemble

All's Well That Ends Well, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse review - Shakespeare at his least likeable

Gary Naylor

New production lands on shaky ground in 2024

Wicked review - overly busy if beautifully sung cliffhanger

Matt Wolf

Musical theatre behemoth becomes an outsized film - and this is just part one

King James, Hampstead Theatre review - UK premiere drains a three-pointer

Gary Naylor

LeBron James comes and goes, and comes back again to the Cavs

A Christmas Carol, Old Vic review - tidings of discomfort and noise

Aleks Sierz

This venue’s annual festive classic is joyous, but its writing is frankly patronising

[title of show], Southwark Playhouse review - two guys and two girls write about writing, delightfully

Gary Naylor

Revival of New York show lifts the spirits

ARK: United States V by Laurie Anderson, Aviva Studios, Manchester review - a vessel for the thoughts and imaginings of a lifetime

Sarah Kent

Despite anticipating disaster, this mesmerising voyage is full of hope

Wolves on Road, Bush Theatre review - exciting dialogue, but flawed plotting

Aleks Sierz

New play about young black men and cryptocurrency is sadly predictable

Burnt Up Love, Finborough Theatre review - scorching new play

Gary Naylor

Super writing and acting jolts us out of complacency

L’Addition, BAC review - top billing for physical comedy duo

Aleks Sierz

The latest in Forced Entertainment’s 40 years of experiment is a thought-tickling farce

Barcelona, Duke of York's Theatre review - Lily Collins migrates from France to Spain

Matt Wolf

The 'Emily in Paris' star surrenders to cliche - or does she?

Guards at the Taj, Orange Tree Theatre review - miniature marvel with rich resonances

Helen Hawkins

Rajiv Joseph’s play pitting beauty against duty gets an impressive staging

The Buddha of Suburbia, Barbican Theatre review - farcical fun, but what about the issues?

Aleks Sierz

Hanif Kureishi classic gets a compulsively comic makeover from Emma Rice

How To Survive Your Mother, King's Head Theatre review - mummy issues drive autobiographical dramedy

Gary Naylor

Lots of heartache, but a strange void where the heart of the play should be

Dr Strangelove, Noël Coward Theatre review - an evening of different parts

Rachel Halliburton

Kubrick’s humour doesn't always detonate as it should in Armando Iannucci's version

Reykjavik, Hampstead Theatre review - drama frozen by waves of detail

Aleks Sierz

Richard Bean’s new play revisits the Hull fishing industry of the 1970s

The Forsyte Saga Parts 1 and 2, Park Theatre review - if Chekhov did soap operas

Gary Naylor

Joseph Millson leads a super cast in a classy production from Troupe Theatre Company

The Wild Duck, The Norwegian Ibsen Company, Coronet Theatre review - slow burn, devastating climax

David Nice

Ibsen's pitiless take on the 'life lie' is another triumph for Norwegians in Notting Hill

Autumn, Park Theatre review - on stage as in politics, Brexit drama promises much, but loses its way

Gary Naylor

Promising production, beautifully acted, slides into side plots and confusion

The Fear of 13, Donmar Warehouse review - powerful analysis of a gross injustice

Helen Hawkins

A magnificent Adrien Brody leads a moving production by Justin Martin

The Duchess [of Malfi], Trafalgar Theatre review - actors imprisoned by confused time travelling

Helen Hawkins

Zinnie Harris's modern take robs the play of its tragic potential

What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank, Marylebone Theatre review - explosive play for today

Helen Hawkins

Nathan Englander probes a divide in modern Jewish identity; Patrick Marber directs

Land of the Free, Southwark Playhouse review - John Wilkes Booth portrayed in play that resonates across 160 years

Gary Naylor

A president shot, as a divided country seeks political solutions

Oedipus, Wyndham's Theatre review - careful what you wish for

Demetrios Matheou

Mark Strong and Lesley Manville are the powerhouse heart of Robert Icke's adaptation

Footnote: a brief history of British theatre

London theatre is the oldest and most famous theatreland in the world, with more than 100 theatres offering shows ranging from new plays in the subsidised venues such as the National Theatre and Royal Court to mass popular hits such as The Lion King in the West End and influential experimental crucibles like the Bush and Almeida theatres. There's much cross-fertilisation with Broadway, with London productions transferring to New York, and leading Hollywood film actors coming to the West End to star in live theatre. In regional British theatre, the creative energy of theatres like Alan Ayckbourn's Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, the Bristol Old Vic and the Sheffield theatre hub add to the richness of the landscape, while the many town theatres host circling tours of popular farces, crime theatre and musicals.

lion_kingThe first permanent theatre, the Red Lion, was built in Queen Elizabeth I's time, in 1576 in Shoreditch; Shakespeare spent 20 years in London with the Lord Chamberlain's Men, mainly performing at The Theatre, also in Shoreditch. A century later under the merry Charles II the first "West End" theatre was built on what is now Theatre Royal Drury Lane, and Restoration theatre evolved with a strong injection of political wit from Irish playwrights Oliver Goldsmith and Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Catering for more populist tastes, Sadler's Wells theatre went up in 1765, and a lively mix of drama, comedy and working-class music-hall ensued. But by the mid-19th century London theatre was deplored for its low taste, its burlesque productions unfavourably contrasted with the aristocratic French theatre. Calls for a national theatre to do justice to Shakespeare resulted in the first "Shakespeare Memorial" theatre built in Stratford in 1879.

The Forties and Fifties saw a golden age of classic theatre, with Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir Ralph Richardson and Sir John Gielgud starring in world-acclaimed productions in the Old Vic company, and new British plays by Harold Pinter, John Osborne, Beckett and others erupting at the English Stage Company in the Royal Court. This momentum led in 1961 to the establishing of the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford, and in 1963 the launch of the National Theatre at The Old Vic, led by Olivier. In the late Sixties Britain broke the American stranglehold on large-scale modern musicals when Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice launched their brilliant careers with first Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and then Jesus Christ Superstar in 1970, and never looked back. The British modern original musical tradition led on to Les Misérables, The Lion King and most recently Matilda.

The Arts Desk brings you the fastest overnight reviews and ticket booking links for last night's openings, as well as the most thoughtful close-up interviews with major creative figures, actors and playwrights. Our critics include Matt Wolf, Aleks Sierz, Alexandra Coghlan, Veronica Lee, Sam Marlowe, Hilary Whitney and James Woodall.

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