Theatre

BY CHRISTOPHER WALKER Brian Friel is arguably Ireland’s greatest playwright, and his Dancing at Lughnasa, that country’s greatest play. Translations is an earlier work by him, and although set in

Two theatre companies which focus on supporting Asian artists have joined forces for the first time to create a play about family, home and roots, writes James Twomey. Tara Theatre,

A Broadway and West End actress will make history as the first actress in the UK to play Ebenezer Scrooge in a new adaptation of A Christmas Carol. Taking place

As Autumn turns colder and Winter approaches, local arts organisations are all stepping up their preparations for the Christmas period – and here are just a handful of the more

It is no bad thing that the London stage is finding space for a lot of new writing at present, writes Christopher Walker. We must welcome producers taking on board

In 1969, a Grade-II listed building became the first building to house a black theatre company in Britain. Last weekend it was honoured with a blue plaque and those who

Anders Lustgarten’s political play Extremism is about fear, friendship and the creeping polarisation of our society. It runs at the Theatre Peckham from November 5-23. Set in a classroom, the

It is common practice for theatre producers, looking for their next big show, to scour cinema history for source material. From Hitchcock classics to more contemporary dramas, a story that

BY CHRISTOPHER WALKER One of Broadway’s sassiest musicals comes to London. Falsettos was genuinely groundbreaking when it hit New York some decades ago, and continues to pack a punch. This

An Irish black comedy set in a 1980s Dublin fish-factory will be played at the Omnibus Theatre, Clapham, on October 29-30. Gutted explores the lives of three women, played by

Science fiction is a challenge on stage. The special effects opportunities of the screen are just not there, nor the leaps of imagination plausible in print. So the Lyric’s new

There is a particular thrill in seeing a new play in the hands of two consummate professional actors, and Simon Woods Hansard at the South Bank delivers just that, writes

A new music-theatre piece will bring to life the Ethiopian legend of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. To coincide with Black History Month, King Solomon and the Queen

An imagined meeting between two 1960s celebrities that asks what might have happened if two female visionaries with very different methods had locked horns forms the basis of a stage

An interactive theatre performance that takes the audience back to 1979 when Britain was on the brink of political collapse for the second time in a decade is coming to

By Christopher Walker  It’s always wonderful to see a new play, something that the Bridge Theatre specializes in. And it is certainly an original idea to have a thinly disguised

A production of Chigozie Obioma’s Booker Prize-shortlisted novel The Fishermen, featuring David and Valentine Olukoga, the story of four brothers torn apart by a prophecy. In a small Nigerian town,

The Guardian’s critic Michael Billington sparked controversy earlier this month when, at a question and answer event with Dame Judi Dench to mark the reopening of the Fairfield Halls in

A famous drama school is opening its new season in a new home with a Shakespearian classic. The Mountview drama school is putting on a performance of the tragedy Romeo

It’s rare that we have a Royal Opera House premiere from a major composer. So this new, international production of Handel’s early opera Agrippina, is an important event. And though

BY CHRISTOPHER WALKER Covent Garden’s revival of Kasper Holten’s groundbreaking production of Don Giovanni has been eagerly awaited. It does not disappoint, with some superb performances from the lead singers,

Anyone who follows our work at Greenwich Theatre or who regularly reads this column will know how fiercely I advocate for artist support initiatives. Getting into this business is incredibly

While there have been many productions showcasing the talent of London’s Afro-Caribbean actors, those from South Asia have been sadly under-represented, writes Christopher Walker. So it is with enthusiasm that

The Irish production of Angela’s Ashes – The Musical will make its UK premiere this autumn, playing the Ashcroft Theatre at Croydon’s Fairfield Halls from September 24 until October 5.

It can be all too easy, running an arts venue, to assume that audiences share your taste. It can be equally easy to return year after year to the same

There is something almost universally appealing about a view of the artist as a tortured individual. Van Gogh’s paintings are surely as well-known as they are, at least in part,

Written and performed by Jeannette Bayardelle, solo musical SHIDA has arrived at the Vaults following an award-winning run off-Broadway. Telling the true story of the troubled upbringing and early life

A film director will get his first taste of the limelight himself when his breakthrough short film is shown at the London Film Festival – twice. Appreciation, by Tomisin Adepeju,

BY CHRISTOPHER WALKER London has a new theatre, The Turbine, just opened on the banks of the Thames – part of the major redevelopment of the old Battersea power station,

A play which explores friendships, old rivalries and whisky is heading to the Vaults Theatre in Waterloo in October. Ages of the Moon sees two old friends brought together by