The trafficking of human beings – 7,000 identified in the UK in 2018 – is a disgusting blight on our country. The fledgling playwright Eugene O’Hare is among many earnest contemporary writers (working in theatre, film and stage) seeking to shine a light on the problem.
‘I predict a hit’: VANYA & SONIA & MASHA & SPIKE – Bath ★★★★
Jonathan Church has a showman’s eye for the popular and it’s a relief to report that Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike provides a strong start to another Bath summer season.
‘Makes a triumphant case for its presence on the modern stage’: TAMBURLAINE – Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
Tamburlaine at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon brings the wonder and the terror of Marlowe’s shepherd emperor to life in a production that gives an almost faultless account of a defective but fascinating play.
‘An ambitious, epic & savage retelling’: TAMBURLAINE – Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon ★★★★
Jude Owusu cuts a blood-soaked swathe through history in an ambitious, epic and savage retelling of Christopher Marlowe’s Tamburlaine at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon.
‘The puppetry is top class’: PINOCCHIO – National Theatre ❄❄❄❄❄
Award-winning John Tiffany directs, bringing to life a show that has been in his thoughts for several years now – he’s joined on the team by long-standing collaborator Bob Crowley, as well as Toby Olié as puppet director.
‘A unique, faintly creepy brand of entertainment’: PINOCCHIO – National Theatre
No matter the weather, as you walk into the Lyttelton’s auditorium for Pinocchio, you’ll find that it is snowing. A simple trick but one that inspires just the right childlike wonder for an adaptation of such a popular fairytale.
‘Magical, heartwarming’: PINOCCHIO – National Theatre ★★★★
This is a magical, heartwarming production which uses a variety of theatrical devices in the purest and most masterful way. I’d certainly urge you to get to the National to experience it for yourself and be reminded of the importance of love and family.
‘There’s a curious disconnection at the play’s heart’ – PINOCCHIO – National Theatre ★★★
It’s an old tale and a magical one. The deployment of spectacle and effects under John Tiffany’s direction and the remarkable tech and design team are not allowed to overshadow its old-fashioned moralities.
INTERVIEW: Spotlight On… Mark Hadfield and Liz White
The recent production of Jim Cartwrwight’s Road at the Royal Court made for unmissible viewing – a blindingly relevant show that gives expression to the inhabitants of an unnamed northern road in Eighties Britain. After seeing John Tiffany’s production, I sat down with actors Mark Hadfield and Liz White to find out more about the process that went into creating the show.
ROAD – Royal Court Theatre
Powerful revival of Jim Cartwright’s 1986 modern classic comes alive in all its noisy, vulgar and transcendent glory.
ROAD – Royal Court Theatre
As somebody who grew up on the outskirts of a depressed Lancashire town in the 1980s, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the Royal Court’s revival of Jim Cartwright’s seminal debut play Road.
ROAD – Royal Court Theatre
I started to wonder whether being cast with an all Indian company – to reflect the population of a typical Lancashire street of terraces nowadays – might better highlight the characters’ issues and dilemmas,
ROAD – Royal Court Theatre
Jim Cartwright’s script is atmospheric in itself, the personalities of each character who all represent a different failing of society are there in the text.
NEWS: Casting announced for Road at the Royal Court
The Royal Court Theatre announces the cast for Road, written by Jim Cartwright and directed by John Tiffany. Cartwright’s seminal play gives expression to the inhabitants of an unnamed northern road in Eighties Britain.
THE LIBERTINE – West End
Stephen Jeffreys’ play tells the true story of John Wilmot, a 17th century gentleman and writer, who wasted his considerable talent on a life of drunken debauchery, before dying at just 33.
THE LIBERTINE – West End
History Boy Dominic Cooper triumphs as the Restoration rake Rochester in revival of 1994 biog drama.
Press pass: Everything you need to know about Dominic Cooper in The Libertine
I experienced frequent flashbacks while watching The Libertine last night at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. Here’s another Restoration-set comedy to hit the West End in which much of the action (and myriad in-jokes) takes place in and around a London theatre.
THE LIBERTINE – West End
It is not surprising that theatre falls in love with the Restoration: the stage itself springing back to life after Puritan austerities, real actresses, free with their ways, extravagant dress, flying plackets and petticoats, flaunting periwigs, whorehouses, orange-girls rising from the mud and aristocrats declining into it.
NEWS: Ophelia Lovibund joins Dominic Cooper in The Libertine, Full cast
Further cast members – including Ophelia Lovibund, Jasper Britton and Mark Hadfield – are announced to join the previously confirmed star Dominic Cooper in Stephen Jeffreys’ sexually charged masterpiece The Libertine this autumn.
NEWS: Full cast announced for The Painkiller, starring Kenneth Branagh & Rob Brydon
It is announced that Claudie Blakley, Marcus Fraser, Mark Hadfield and Alex Macqueen will join previously confirmed cast members Kenneth Branagh and Rob Brydon in the Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company’s new comedy The Painkiller. The fifth production in the Plays at the Garrick season will play from 5 March until 30 April with press night on 17 March.
- Page 1 of 2
- 1
- 2