The Exorcist is a little flabby, even at a short 100 minute running time, and it never matches the nerve-shredding tension of the movie version, but there are sufficient scares to get the blood pumping.
FEATURED SHOW: Is The Exorcist as scary as ever? Reviews are in from Windsor
The West End hit, Bill Kenwright Productions’ stage adaptation of The Exorcist, is now at Theatre Royal Windsor ahead of a new UK-wide tour. Is this demonic tale as scary as ever? We’ve rounded up a selection of review highlights. Time to get booking!
WATCH: Chilling trailers for The Exorcist adapted from screen to stage
The demon is waiting… Is the scariest movie of all time even scarier live onstage? Take a look at these two trailers of The Exorcist for a hint, but you’ll have to be brave enough to buy a ticket to confirm. The hit play returns to the stage tomorrow at Theatre Royal Windsor. Time to get booking!
‘It’s really about struggles of faith’: Agnes of God author John Pielmeier on adapting The Exorcist for the stage
Did you know that John Pielmeier, who has adapted The Exorcist for the stage, is also the award-winning writer of Broadway hit play and Jane Fonda-led Hollywood film Agnes of God? As The Exorcist returns to the stage at the Theatre Royal Windsor ahead of a new tour, we talked to him about faith, demons and Ian McKellen. Time to get booking!
NEWS: The Exorcist opens new tour at Windsor; Paul Nicholas, Sophie Ward & Ben Caplan star
Are you ready to be scared out of your wits again? Following its successful West End run in 2017-8, the acclaimed adaptation of classic horror film The Exorcist returns to the stage next week at the Theatre Royal Windsor with a stellar cast at the start of a brand-new tour. For the truly brave, the performance on Friday the 13th of September will be followed by a special ghost tour of the theatre. Time to get booking!
’Lots more to recommend it besides nostalgia’: DARK SUBLIME – Trafalgar Studios
Dark Sublime is a rare personal drama about an older gay woman trying to find her place and identity in a changing world, with plenty of laughs – particularly aimed at the world of showbiz – and some interesting questions about the nature of fandom.
‘Fun & interesting night out’: DARK SUBLIME – Trafalgar Studios
Dark Sublime is a fun and interesting night out that will attract a new audience with an interest in television to the theatre.
‘Gets off to a punchy start’: DARK SUBLIME – Trafalgar Studios ★★★
Dark Sublime is a long play and while it contains some really good material it would benefit from being trimmed back to make it slicker and more focused.
‘An effortless evocation of yesteryear’: THE PARADISE CIRCUS – Playground Theatre ★★★★
In the first half of the 20th century, many of the great American playwrights such as O’Neill, Miller and Williams dealt with the fraught relationships between fathers and sons. In James Purdy’s play The Paradise Circus, we see the familiar theme of estrangement as a result of different expectations of life.
‘It’s intriguing as a curiosity’: BUT IT STILL GOES ON – Finborough Theatre
The Finborough specialises in producing neglected plays and they don’t get more neglected than Robert Graves’ But It Still Goes On: written in 1929 but never previously performed.
A JUDGEMENT IN STONE – Touring
A Judgement in Stone is a classic thriller adapted from the novel by celebrated crime write, Ruth Rendell. The play is set in the 1970s and focuses on the barriers and social structures of the English class system. The social obsessions and tensions this system brings are bought starkly to life.
A JUDGEMENT IN STONE – Edinburgh
There’s been a murder. Well, four murders actually. The Coverdale family, a blended bunch consisting of mum Jacquie, dad George and ‘steps’ Giles and Melinda, have been blasted to oblivion.
BRAVE NEW WORLD – Touring
Energy and fidelity to the intriguing source material are not enough to distinguish Brave New World at the King’s, in a touring production marred by odd choices and a curious lack of life.
Aldous Huxley’s 1932 novel tells of a world divided by genetic design into castes – Alpha, Beta and so on – and controlled by drugs, recreational sex and facile diversions. Into this world comes ‘John the Savage’, an outsider from a reservation, raised on family, religion and Shakespeare – all of which civilisation has banned.
Theatre Diary: Only Forever, Brave New World and See What I Wanna See
Off-West End, out of town and out of this world. I’ve seen a few shows recently that have left me feeling distinctly disquieted… for their visions of the future, their distortions of the past and potential armageddons. As usual, I’ve listed productions in closing date order, and the first on the list, Only Forever, finishes […]
BRAVE NEW WORLD – Northampton and touring
Hot on the heels of Headlong’s obliquely brilliant treatment of 1984 comes a rival dystopia: Aldous Huxley wrote Brave New World in 1931, eighteen years before Orwell and before the second war: the comparison is fascinating. Orwell saw ordinary people, recognizable but crushed by brutality and surveillance, thoughtcrime punished and history denied by violence. Its science is basic – telescreens, shredded newsprint and photos.
NEWS: Sophie Ward takes gender-swap role in Brave New World adaptation
Touring Consortium Theatre Company and Royal & Derngate Northampton present the world premiere of a brand new stage adaptation of Aldous Huxley’s seminal novel BRAVE NEW WORLD, opening on Friday 4 September 2015, with a national press night in Northampton on Tuesday 8 September.