stage
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The Tempest review – Beale's superb Prospero haunts hi-tech spectacleFears that digital technology would upstage the actors are scotched in Gregory Doran’s production starring Simon Russell Beale
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The Residents review – London ghost story is more snooze than screamTeatro Vivo’s puzzling new show, which takes place in private homes, throws characters from Kafka and Ibsen into a jumbled story
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Squeezed theatre companies are facing the final curtainEven established companies currently fear for the future thanks to increasingly risk-averse venues and the difficulty of securing funding
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‘My father was hilarious – even when he was dying’From Frasier to farting, the first solo female Edinburgh comedy award-winner reveals what makes her laugh the most
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The British National Dance ChampionshipsCouples compete in ballroom and Latin dance in the Empress ballroom of Blackpool’s Winter Gardens
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Blaque Showgirls review – Indigenous take on cult film is loud, proud and campNakkiah Lui’s adaptation of the ‘so bad it’s good’ 1995 film moves the action from Las Vegas to Brisvegas
talking points
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Scottee's cabaret about queer lives in Brexit BritainFor his new Roundhouse show, Putting Words in Your Mouth, the artist interviewed 400 LGBT people around the UK. Their views are staged in a ‘lip-sync marathon’ designed to catch audiences off guard
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Stage more plays with lead female charactersLeading British actor currently playing male leads in three Shakespeare plays says ‘imitating men can’t be the only answer’
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Wayne McGregor at the Royal BalletThe Royal Ballet’s resident choreographer is celebrating 10 years at Covent Garden. Rediscover his arresting shows inspired by Titian, Virginia Woolf and the White Stripes
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Your questions answered on zombies, depression and Clare BaldingThe searing Scottish comedian is joining us to answer your questions – post them in the comments below
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Can it become the Netflix for British standup comedy?NextUp will stream live comedy sets for a low subscription fee. Standups are excited, and will share 50% of the income – but will the new service attract a big enough audience to succeed?
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Mae Martin's candid bid to make sexuality 'one less thing kids worry about'The Canadian standup’s Radio 4 show expertly splices comedy, opinion and enlightenment to explore millennial gender fluidity and sex
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Catherine Tate – droll superstar not bovvered by comeback pressureTate’s talent and personality propel this thrilling live comedy comeback that is peppered with TV sketch-show oldies, creaking gags and committed daftness
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The whole of democracy looks fragile and farcicalHow do you top a hit play about global politics? By tackling the end of the world – from nuclear meltdown to Brexit and Trump. The writer talks eavesdropping and honesty
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Your questions answered on hats, Shakespeare and Steven SpielbergThe Oscar-winning star discussed everything from role preparation to his love for Neil Young, PJ Harvey and hats in our live webchat
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‘I give it all as Bowie gave it all – in a masked way’Theatre is the art form of the future, declares avant-garde director Ivo van Hove, as he brings his production of David Bowie’s musical Lazarus to London
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Did Shakespeare write Henry V to suit London theatre's odd shape?The newly excavated Curtain theatre in Shoreditch is believed to be where Henry V was first performed
series
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The Funny SideThe Funny SideBeth Vyse: A breast cancer appointment is like Deal or No Deal – videoWhat happens when you’re faced with a breast cancer diagnosis at 28? Beth Vyse was whisked off to Alicante and offered a chocolate box full of fake nipples
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How we staged ShakespeareHow we staged ShakespearePatrick Stewart on Shylock: 'I should have been arrested for overacting'Our How We Staged Shakespeare series ends with the celebrated actor explaining why he keeps coming back to the much-misunderstood role of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice
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Play timePlay timeHow to Hide a Lion review – kids' book comes to life with a roarPeter Glanville directs an enchanting musical adaptation of Helen Stephens’ picture book about a girl who strikes up a friendship with a forlorn lion
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The funniest thingThe funniest thingJenny Eclair: ‘My father was hilarious – even when he was dying’From Frasier to farting, the first solo female Edinburgh comedy award-winner reveals what makes her laugh the most
pictures & video
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Phil Davis as the storming monarchCursing and raging, Lear is admitted into care while he plots revenge on his daughters in a modern take on Act II, Scene 4 from Shakespeare’s tragedy
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My love-hate relationship with OthelloPhoebe Boswell riffs on her conflicted attitudes towards Othello in Dear Mr Shakespeare, which co-stars Ashley Thomas aka Bashy
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Bowie musical crash-lands in LondonAfter its sold-out run in New York, the David Bowie show Lazarus, a sequel to The Man Who Fell to Earth, opens at King’s Cross theatre in London
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An age of experimentationLondon’s Roundhouse is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Revisit some of the theatre that was staged in its first wave of activity, from the late 1960s to the early 80s
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A Pacifist's Guide to the War on CancerA Pacifist’s Guide to the War on Cancer is a new musical collaboration between National Theatre and Complicite Associates, looking at life with a cancer diagnosis and confronting its fears and misconceptions
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Jean-Paul Gaultier's Berlin cabaretThe celebrated designer has created 500 costumes for The One – Grand Show, an outré production at the Friedrichstadt-Palast Berlin, which opens this week
you may have missed
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Lost classics of Greek tragedyIn his new book, Matthew Wright analyses the remaining evidence of hundreds of Athenian texts that, packed with sex, magic and happy endings, would give a radically different impression of the genre
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‘Once I tell women my story, everything changes’As she takes on three Shakespeare plays set in a women’s prison, the actor reflects on her own time behind bars
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‘Backstage, I always have one ear to the house’His performance in Twelfth Night was a critical smash – but how did he feel waiting in the wings? Rylance reveals all, while photographer Mary McCartney gets a backstage pass
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How Rodin's radical dance sculptures captured the shock of modernityRodin was enthralled by a new generation of dancers. With its lightning sketches and an expressive bronze of Nijinsky, the Courtauld’s exhibition gives us the sculptor as choreographer
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David Hare's tribute to Howard DaviesDirector who was a ‘cornerstone’ of the National Theatre for a quarter of a century
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Blockbuster choreographer puts on The Red ShoesHe turned Swan Lake into a homoerotic hit. Can Matthew Bourne work his magic on the best dance film ever? He talks toxic love triangles and knighthoods
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Riz Ahmed as Edmund: 'Now, gods, stand up for bastards'Riz Ahmed speaks Edmund’s soliloquy from King Lear, in which Edmund reflects upon being an illegitimate son and plots against his half-brother, Edgar
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Samuel West as Henry V: 'Upon the king'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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David Morrissey as Richard III: ‘Now is the winter of our discontent’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
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Eileen Atkins as Emilia: ‘If wives do fall’Eileen Atkins speaks Emilia’s lines from Othello, act IV scene 3. Emilia, Iago’s wife and Desdemona’s maid, counsels Desdemona on marital fidelity
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Daniel Mays as Macbeth: 'Is this a dagger which I see before me?'Daniel Mays speaks Macbeth’s lines from Act II, Scene 1, in which he sees a murder weapon in a hallucination
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Sacha Dhawan as Parolles: 'Are you meditating on virginity?'In a speech taken from the first scene of All’s Well That Ends Well, Sacha Dhawan’s Parolles stresses the importance of losing one’s virginity
Crouching tigers, dancing ghosts Tim Yip's stunning designs