The US playwright’s new drama, at the Old Vic in London, is a tragicomic romance amid swastika-shaped flowerbeds. She talks about finding a dark past on a trip to Long IslandIn May 2020, the playwright Bess Wohl rented a house in Bellport, Long Island,…
Muse and model or painter-poet? Elizabeth Siddal given fresh portrait
RashDash’s new theatre production honours the pre-Raphaelite by focusing on her own art and poetry – and shifting from tragedy into comedyWan, pale, tragic. Elizabeth “Lizzie” Siddal is remembered for how she was portrayed by the 19th-century men who s…
‘Anthony Hopkins committed within five minutes’: how I wrote The Father with Florian Zeller
After Christopher Hampton saw Zeller’s dementia drama on stage in Paris, neither language, finance nor another film adaptation could thwart their collaboration on the screenplayI first met Florian Zeller about eight years ago. It was in the foyer of th…
Punchdrunk to stage epic ‘future noir’ drama in old London arms factory
Dystopian Trojan war play The Burnt City at site of Royal Arsenal will be company’s costliest and most ambitious immersive pieceThe immersive theatre company Punchdrunk, celebrated for creating labyrinthine adventures in atmospheric locations, is to un…
Sarah Harding, singer with Girls Aloud, dies aged 39 from breast cancer
Fans and figures from show business pay tribute to pop star who was diagnosed in August 2020 and wrote memoir during her illnessThe pop singer and TV personality Sarah Harding, who had 21 UK Top 10 singles as a member of Girls Aloud, has died aged 39 f…
The arts have had it tough, but critics need to take off the kid gloves
Mediocre productions have been rewarded with glowing reviews during the pandemic. It’s time to be a little less gentleSeen anything good lately? It is a common bit of small-talk, but often a reliable way to find the next play or film worth watching. Th…
Simon Amstell review – shame, self-analysis and great gags
Soho theatre, LondonThe comedian flops in a New York hotel room, sheds his inhibitions at an ayahuasca ceremony and visits a Berlin sex club as he explores his midlife crisisNo one zeroes in on the human comedy, the gulf dividing who we wish to be from…
Let the storm rage on! Frozen hits the West End – in pictures
Take a look behind the scenes and centre stage of the new musical production of Disney’s fairytale favourite as it opens at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane Continue reading…
Cirque Berserk review – big thrills from the big top
Garrick theatre, LondonKnives, flames and adrenaline aplenty lift this daredevil circus show. The stunts impress but the overblown presentation needs an updateA basic circus truth: everything is better with flames. Whether it’s alimbo bar, a barrel bei…
This Is Paradise review – gender relations tell a mesmeric story of Northern Ireland
Traverse theatre, EdinburghActor Amy Molloy delivers an elegant monologue that reveals itself as something greater in this supremely thoughtful showKate Regan is a woman defined by the men in her life. There’s her gentle old Belfast dad, disappointed b…