Monthly Archives: May 2013

Sophisticated and witty, Stephen Sondheim’s musicals are for grown-ups. The subject is the betrayal of talent, integrity and friendship. The story is told backwards; starting in 1980, and working its way to 1957, it traces the careers of three idealistic … Continue reading →

Shakespeare’s farewell to the stage can be very boring; but actors are attracted by the thrilling verse in the last two acts. Jeremy Herrin’s production is aimed firmly at the groundlings and goes all out for laughs; even Prospero (Roger … Continue reading →

A Catholic and a trade union leader are murdered by a mob in the Belfast Shipyard in the 1950s when the IRA Border Campaign was at its height. The play, prophetic of the Troubles to come, was a plea for … Continue reading →

Conor McPherson, a writer of monologues, has always been a great story- teller. His haunting and multi-awarding winning play, which premiered in 1997 and became an instant classic, has been given an eloquent revival by Josie Rourke. The setting is … Continue reading →

Somerset Maugham, the most popular playwright in England in the early part of the 20th century, and long out of fashion, deserves to be in the national repertoire more often. A bankrupt middle-aged stockbroker refuses all financial help and tells … Continue reading →

Kristen Hendricksson, who is best known to British audiences from his appearances on television in the Wallander series, makes his London debut in Hjalmar Soderberg’s 1905 novel of love and guilt, a modern Swedish classic, which is performed in Swedish … Continue reading →

Patrick Hamilton was the author of the highly successful novel, Hangover Square, and two highly successful psychological thrillers, Rope and Gaslight; but this melodrama, set in the 16th century during the French Wars of Religion, though much admired at the … Continue reading →

Edward Petherbridge was two days into rehearsing King Lear in New Zealand in 2007 when he suffered a stroke which left him paralyzed, but his memory, amazingly, remained totally intact. Five years on he gets a chance to act extracts … Continue reading →