Monthly Archives: July 2011

Katie Mitchell directed a gripping production of Thomas Heywood’s domestic tragedy in its correct period (1603) for the RSC in 1992. She now directs it again, this time giving it a feminist slant and updating it to the early 20th … Continue reading →

A young man fails to tell his girlfriend he loves her until he is dead; some people may feel that this is leaving it a teeny-weeny bit late. He was murdered by a Puerto Rican mugger and is stuck between … Continue reading →

Ian Marshall Fisher has been staging Lost Musicals in concert form for over 19 years. Cole Porter’s Mexican Hayride hasn’t been seen since 1944. Now revived for the first time it is embarrassingly obvious why. The book by Herbert and … Continue reading →

The day Laurence Olivier became a great actor and leader of his profession can be pin-pointed exactly: 13th September 1944 when he acted Richard III for the first time. John Gielgud, with characteristic generosity, gave Olivier the sword Edmund Kean … Continue reading →

Artistic director David Babani has had a big success with Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George and A Little Night Music. Can he repeat it with Sondheim’s Road Show? It has had many incarnations. Firstly, there was Wise … Continue reading →

Nell Dunn, celebrated author of Up the Junction, Poor Cow and Steaming, has written this verbatim play because she was so outraged by the lack of care her partner was given when he died at home. She decided she wanted … Continue reading →

Hofesh Shechter’s amazing production, a marriage of dance and rock, is a spectacular and stunning theatrical event. The energy is unrelenting. There are 24 musicians in banked ranks above the stage. The electronic score and the drumming, pounding away, are … Continue reading →

The star-cross’d lovers have inspired many choreographers. Frederick Ashton’s 1955 version was rejected by Ninette de Valois, because she didn’t want two Prokofiev ballets in the repertoire. So he offered it to the Royal Danish Ballet. It hasn’t been seen … Continue reading →