Theatre

‘Burning Down the House’: A review 

During the odd ‘in-between’ space that is Week 0, I searched for a show to give me something to do, amid the random dilly-dallying and the odd collection currently occupying my time.

Must theatre be so dire? Thoughts on the “unworthy scaffold”

If 'art est celare artem' (true art is to conceal art), then theatre is pretty poor art. You ain't fooling me into thinking that's a storm.

“What is a good life?”: The Standard of Living in review 

“What is a good life?” This axiological question, asked earnestly in the opening lines of James Graham’s The Standard of Living – playing at Theatre Royal Haymarket until December 12 – is often overlooked by the fractured and hyper-specialised discipline of economics.

Good grief! Why do we feel for the death of fictional people?

Whether it’s a mild sniffle or full-blown tears, I always end up feeling a bit ridiculous about the whole ordeal when it’s over. I mean, it’s not real, is it? Why do I waste my grief on things that haven’t happened, that will never happen?

Review: Bad Nick

Nicholas is a critically acclaimed author, a literary genius, and a winner of no less than fourteen Man Booker prizes…except that all of his...

Review: ÜnkelGårf

Planning a holiday soon? Why not visit the prosperous, democratic and perpetually joyful nation of Orgislavia? They’ve hosted the Olympics for hundreds of years...

Shadows of Troy: Tragedies of the Trojan War reimagined

Shadows of Troy is a bold new adaptation of two giants of ancient theatre - Sophocles’ Ajax, and Euripides’ Iphigenia at Aulis. It presents the two...

Review: The Entertainer

"Stage Wrong’s performance draws us into the dysfunctional, haunted world of the Rice family and insightfully pulls apart their fractures." Alice Williams reviews The Entertainer at Keble O'Reilly.

What Light Through Yonder Theatre Breaks?

This week, we saw the death of theatre director Terry Hands, acclaimed for his founding of the Everyman in Liverpool among various other theatrical, notably Shakespearean, endeavours....

Review: Present Laughter

Present Laughter, a 1942 play by Noël Coward, recounts the days leading up to the departure of Gary Essendine, an actor, for his tour in Africa....

Review: Measure for Measure

In Measure for Measure, one of Shakespeare’s problem plays, Vienna is depicted as a city of vice and perdition, such that the situation seems...

Review: The Pillowman

Martin McDonagh’s jet black comedy is brought to life (and sentenced to a gruesome death) by Tom Fisher and his stellar cast. I coughed, continuously,...

The Place of Regional Theatre

The power of identity is arguably greater today than ever before. The stale, collective “British” identity is slowly being pervaded by the vibrant diversity...

Review: Merrily We Roll Along at the Oxford Playhouse

Merrily We Roll Along begins with a bang – the peak of Franklin Shepard’s career as a Hollywood producer while he relaxes (and then enters...

Review: Nutcracker

As a child, ballet lessons made me wince in pain, but two-and-a-half hours of The English National Ballet’s The Nutcracker passed in the blink...

The Death of Theatre Monarchy

It’s January 2020 and a new controversy has arrived to add to the Britain’s collection. Popular discussion of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s exit from...

Review: Don Giovanni

Premiered in 1787 in Prague and in the Habsburg court in Vienna, Mozart’s Don Giovanni offered a biting social comedy. Breathing new life into...

Pantomime: does it still deserve a place on the modern theatrical scene? (Oh, yes it does!)

Emily Capon argues that pantomime (when done well) still has an important place in the modern theatre.

Review: Macbeth

Leone Van den Schrieck reviews Collarbone Productions' 'Macbeth' at the BT.

Review: American Buffalo

Frazer Martin reviews 'American Buffalo' at the Pilch.

Review: Malcolm The Miserable

Ottilie Mitchell reviews new play Malcolm The Miserable at the BT studio.

Review: Oxford Contemporary Opera Festival

Clementine Scott is impressed by the Oxford Contemporary Opera Festival at Saint Hilda's.

Review: The Importance of Being Earnest

Yii-Jen Deng reviews 'The Importance of Being Earnest' at Teddy Hall.

Review: Chicago

Cecelia Wang reviews Jazz Hands Productions 'Chicago' at the Keble O'Reilly.

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