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Top 10 dance of 2014We had bearded ice-skaters, Tamara Rojo at ENB and a compelling new queen crowned in Natalia Osipova
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Right actor, wrong role
Theatre blog Right actor, wrong role
Ever seen a production with a performance so misconceived you’ve wondered how the actor was ever cast? Share your stories of actors mismatched to their parts -
The Merchant of Venice – Shylock meets Elvis in VegasThe glitz of casino culture brilliantly illuminates a play about money lent, borrowed, stolen and invested
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Can you identify these playwrights?
You might know their lines but can you recognise their faces? See if you can name these eight great playwrights
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Oily Cart's There Was An Old Woman
Play time Oily Cart's There Was An Old Woman
Oily Cart’s performance for three-to-five-year-olds plays with textures and smells as much as words and music, writes Chris Wiegand -
No prosecutions over theatre roof collapseWestminster council says safety must improve after accident at Apollo theatre in December 2013 left several people injured
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There Was An Old Woman review – show full of shoes is a perfect fitOily Cart’s performance for three-to-five-year-olds plays with textures and smells as much as words and music, writes Chris Wiegand
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Suzman defends comment that theatre was ‘white invention’Actor responds in letter to the Guardian to criticism from writers such as Ben Okri and Stephen Poliakoff
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The Bill Cosby Assault: journalist to write play about rape allegationsVictor Fiorillo mounts Kickstarter campaign to stage a play about Bill Cosby and the women who have accused him of sexually assaulting them
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Pope Francis celebrates 78th birthday with mass tango – in picturesThousands of people sang Happy Birthday and performed a mass tango in St Peter’s Square to celebrate the pope’s birthday. The Argentinian pontiff was born in the birthplace of the tango and previously admitted to being a fan of the erotic dance
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Curiouser and curiouser: Alice’s adventures at the Royal Ballet – in picturesChristopher Wheeldon’s acclaimed ballet is getting the Royal Opera House in a Christmas mood this year. Here are some onstage and backstage pictures of the Royal Ballet’s production. It’s in rep until 16 January
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The Bolt: Shostakovich's banned ballet – in picturesThe Bolt, a controversial 1931 ballet by Dmitri Shostakovich, is the focus of a new exhibition at GRAD: Gallery for Russian Arts and Design
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The rape allegations against Cosby didn’t stick until the standup Hannibal Buress made the accusation on stage. Sometimes comedians are able to say what others can’t, writes Brian LoganIt took a comedian to call Bill Cosby to account
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No prosecutions over theatre roof collapseWestminster council says safety must improve after accident at Apollo theatre in December 2013 left several people injured
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Deck the halls: UK arts venue Christmas decorations – in picturesFrom festive office giraffes to what Will Shakespeare is wearing for the office party, here’s how the UK arts sector is spreading the Christmas cheer
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Can you identify these playwrights? – quiz
You might know their lines but can you recognise their faces? See if you can name these eight great playwrights
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There Was An Old Woman review – show full of shoes is a perfect fitOily Cart’s performance for three-to-five-year-olds plays with textures and smells as much as words and music, writes Chris Wiegand
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The best of 2014 in listsWriters and readers highlights of the year in culture
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Declare your genius: complete Oscar Wilde’s epigrams
Wilde's words were full of wit and wisdom but have you paid attention to the importance of being Oscar? See if you can finish off these observations
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Cats or Pussycat Dolls?
As Nicole Scherzinger prepares to play Grizabella, can you tell which of these lyrics are sung in Andrew Lloyd Webber's West End musical and which are sung by the Pussycat Dolls?
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Everyday Shakespeare
Many of Shakespeare's lines are used in daily life – but do you know which plays feature these popular expressions?
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Laurence Olivier or @Tips4Actors?
Laurence Olivier had plenty of wise words for aspiring performers. Mind you, so does the moderate Twitter sensation @Tips4Actors. Can you tell whose lines are whose?
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Match Shakespeare's plays to their settings
These are the locations for the opening scenes in 10 of the Bard's plays. Match the setting to the play
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Can you identify these playwrights? – quiz
You might know their lines but can you recognise their faces? See if you can name these eight great playwrights
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"O, he will dissolve my mystery!" – which is Mrs Malaprop's right wrong word?
Taking its name from the misused words of Mrs Malaprop in The Rivals, a malapropism (AKA a dogberryism) is the use of an incorrect word in place of one with a similar sound. Can you guess the right wrong words?
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'You bull's pizzle': match Shakespeare's insults to his plays – quiz
Shakespeare wrote some of the most beautiful sonnets in history but he was also the prince of putdowns. How well do you know the Bard's barbs?
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Quiz: which Shakespeare characters speak these lines about love?
Do you know your Benedick from your Beatrice? Your Romeo from your Juliet? Match the quote to the character
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Gillian Anderson quiz: A Streetcar Named Desire or The X Files?
Can you tell which of these lines belong to Blanche Dubois and which are spoken by agent Dana Scully?
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Theatre quiz: which Shakespeare character is dying?
Shakespeare saved some fine lines for those characters drawing their last breath. Can you identify who speaks these words in their exit speeches?
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Quiz: match the stage directions to the play
Here are 10 striking stage directions – can you identify the plays they're taken from?
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Quiz: whose review is it anyway? Nancy Dell'Olio v Jeremy Paxman
Can you guess which of these two festival newbies the reviewers are writing about?
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Quiz: Who told these one-liners about education?
Here are 10 one-liners on the subject of education. Do you know which comedian is responsible for each of them?
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Quiz: Who told these one-liners about television?
Here are 10 pithy gags on the subject of television. Do you know which entertainer is responsible for each of them?
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Quiz: Who told these one-liners about conflict?
Here are 10 pithy gags on the subject of conflict. Do you know which entertainer is responsible for each of them?
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Can you identify these last lines of plays? – quiz
Were you paying attention before the curtain fell? See if you recognise these closing lines of 10 great plays
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Quiz: Who told these one-liners about money?
Here are 10 pithy gags on the subject of money. Do you know which entertainer is responsible for each of them?
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Which Shakespeare characters speak these lines? – quiz
Do you know your Lear from your Leontes? Your Macbeth from your Mercutio? Match these lines to the right characters
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Mean Girls or David Mamet? - quiz
As Lindsay Lohan prepares to make her West End debut in Speed-the-Plow, can you guess if these lines come from Mean Girls or David Mamet's plays?
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The Bolt: Shostakovich's banned balletThe Bolt, a controversial 1931 ballet by Dmitri Shostakovich, is the focus of a new exhibition at GRAD: Gallery for Russian Arts and Design
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Tom Hiddleston: how Shakespeare seeped into my bones
The Coriolanus star recalls being bewitched by the 'toil and trouble' of Macbeth as a 10-year-old schoolboy
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Story time with Terry Jones: the Python reads from Nicobobinus – video
Are you sitting comfortably? Then he'll begin… Terry Jones reads tells the story of 'the most extraordinary child who ever stuck his tongue out at the prime minister'
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Curiouser and curiouser: Alice’s adventures at the Royal Ballet – in picturesChristopher Wheeldon’s acclaimed ballet is getting the Royal Opera House in a Christmas mood this year. Here are some onstage and backstage pictures of the Royal Ballet’s production. It’s in rep until 16 January
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House style: designing the Guardian and the Royal Court's microplaysAll six of the works in our Off the Page series used the same set: see how it was turned into a TV studio, a bedroom, a changing room and a school playground
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Lumberjack acrobats: Timber! by Cirque Alfonse – in picturesLook out for flying axes and death-defying leaps with saws as Québec’s Cirque Alfonse bring their acrobatics to London’s Southbank Centre for a Christmas run
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Mother Goose at Hackney Empire: panto with all the trimmings - in picturesGo backstage at Hackney Empire’s annual pantomime, where Clive Rowe and Sharon D Clarke are waiting in the wings to give the audience goose bumps
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Man on fire: Richard Armitage's explosive turn in The Crucible – exclusive video
Take a sneak peek at the star's blistering performance as John Proctor in one of the year's most acclaimed theatre productions – now broadcast in cinemas
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Sylvie Guillem and Akram Khan in Sacred Monsters – in picturesKathak meets ballet in this duet first performed at Sadler’s Wells in 2006 and now back for its final run of performances before Guillem’s retirement
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The Mikhailovsky Ballet makes its US debut – in picturesSt Petersburg’s Mikhailovsky Ballet made its US debut with a two-week residency at the David H Koch theatre, Lincoln Center, New York City
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Life's a circus: backstage at La Soirée - in picturesThe cabaret show La Soirée is back for a 10th season in London. Guardian photographer Tristram Kenton went behind the scenes with some of the performers
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Alice’s adventures at the Royal Ballet
Curiouser and curiouser Alice’s adventures at the Royal Ballet
Christopher Wheeldon’s acclaimed ballet is getting the Royal Opera House in a Christmas mood this year. Here are some onstage and backstage pictures of the Royal Ballet’s production. It’s in rep until 16 January
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It took a comedian to call Bill Cosby to account