stage
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With this heartening production, director Simon Godwin and a largely black ensemble make you feel like you are seeing the play anew
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In the 1980s, the Everyman youth theatre created work that reflected Merseyside’s stories and struggles. It was fun, free and precious. Now, I’m using hip-hop theatre to help the next generation express themselves
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Fielding found mainstream fame in the UK as part of surrealist duo The Mighty Boosh, but didn’t crack the US. Will he find a home with Tim and Eric fans?
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The great Mexican painter is the subject of one of three new works choreographed by women for She Said at Sadler’s Wells. Its creators explain their impressionistic approach to the artist’s pain and passion
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The artistic renewal of a derelict Scottish architectural gem starts with an otherwordly piece by NVA that delves into its graffiti-strewn corners
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Adrian Lester performs Hamlet’s soliloquy in which the prince considers taking his own life
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Roger Allam performs a speech from the tragedy in which the ageing king curses the weather and his daughters
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Joanna Vanderham performs Juliet’s speech from the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet
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Samuel West speaks Henry V’s soliloquy on the night before battle, in which he reflects upon the public’s expectations of the king
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Ayesha Dharker plays Titania, the queen of the fairies, in a scene from A Midsummer Night’s Dream
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David Morrissey speaks the opening lines from Richard III in which the scheming Richard lays out his plan to turn his brothers, Clarence and the newly enthroned King Edward IV, against each other
talking points
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In theatre, amateur is not a dirty word
Lyn GardnerIn the RSC’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream: A Play for the Nation, amateur actors feature alongside their professional peers: innovative theatre often has community involvement at its heart -
The Fifth Column, now revived for the first time in 70 years, is fascinating for what it reveals about the author
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Scene change: the problems with relocating plays
Mark LawsonMoving The Maids from France to the US adds a powerful racial subtext to Genet’s original, while Anouilh’s Welcome Home, Captain Fox! fares less well when set in America. Not all plays benefit from gaining a new setting -
My singalong journey into jukebox musicals
Michael HannCarole King, Michael Jackson, the Kinks and now Motown. Why are we so obsessed with jukebox musicals? I watched five to find out
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From postcards of ballerinas to digital shots where the performers barely look human, the art of snapping dancers has had a dramatic evolution
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Should comedians stand up for a political party?
Brian LoganPolitics is fertile ground for comics, but there are pitfalls to jumping on particular bandwagons – not least when it questions their loyalty to the punchline -
Dane Baptiste packed in his dead-end job to change the world. Britain’s answer to Chris Rock talks about his new sitcom Sunny D – and laughing at his own jokes
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The token opening of a comedy set – even in its postmodern guise – is becoming tired and uninspired. All hail the trad crowd-work of masters like Al Murray
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As his TV series returns to our screens, comedian Stewart Lee talks to Will Self about his embittered stage persona, how social media is changing comedy and why you won’t see him on Mock the Week
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The British actor, currently starring in Nell Gwynn in the West End, joined us live to answer your questions about where Alice Creed might have gone, how to make the perfect risotto and whether she’s headed back to the stage
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During its heyday, Jackie magazine’s agony aunt received sacks of letters about lovebites and loneliness, best friends and boyfriends. As Jackie the Musical heads on tour, the real Cathy and Claire reveals all
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His Accidental Death of an Anarchist has become an international protest play, but Dario Fo’s biting satire extends far beyond theatre
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Doors are slammed and trousers dropped in this bawdy hitman caper which teases out the comic skill of its leads
polls & quizzes
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Thirty years ago today, Les Misérables had its official London opening. Test your knowledge of the show
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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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Sondheim's lyrics are some of the best we've heard. How well do you know them? Add the missing word …
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Are you a titan of the theatre or have the fates abandoned you? As the Almeida puts on a festival inspired by Dionysus, test your knowledge of Greek drama
from the archive
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8 March 1926: A new building on the site of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford has been proposed
pictures & video
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In a dystopian near-future, Brutus (Mark Stanley, Game of Thrones) and his conspirators plot Caesar’s demise
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Poet and illustrator Laura Dockrill’s contemporary take on Romeo and Juliet is set on a windswept English beach, where ‘two houses, both alike in common crime’ wage an ice-cream war
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An Australian schoolgirl’s vision to become the world’s first hijab-wearing ballerina receives a boost from the former Swedish tennis player Björn Borg
you may have missed
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Horrocks belts out the Smiths, Fall, Joy Division and other songs of her youth in this overly slick and choreographed dance-gig-theatre hybrid
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popular
Can theatre be an effective form of activism?