The Royal National Theatre (most commonly known as the National Theatre, or even just the National) is one of the UK’s leading theatres, and an important London landmark. Here’s everything you need to know about this amazing riverside venue.
Read my full TodayTix article here
It’s now Edinburgh Fringe transfer season in London, but here’s one they made earlier: Cora Bissett’s Fringe First-winning autobiographical play from the 2018 Festival about her time in 1990s indie band Darlingheart. Though the broad shape of this tale is familiar, Bissett’s gig-theatre approach lends it a raw authenticity and engaging confessional quality.
Where does music come from? That’s the vital question posed to Sergei Rachmaninoff in Dave Malloy’s extraordinary 2015 chamber work, as the great late-Romantic Russian composer – stuck in his third year of harrowing writer’s block – tries to relocate his gift. It comes from others and from himself; from past and present; from everything and nothing. It is ephemeral, and yet it is at the core of his very being.
Hello and welcome back to the safe, lovely, happy, sparkly world of Strictly Come Dancing! Here there are no rogues proroguing (just the odd lord – or maybe viscountess – a-leaping), and the only Article 50 we are concerned with is the 50th consecutive bewildering article of clothing that Tess Daly has willingly paraded on national television. Have more sequins! And hugs! HAVE SOME KYLIE!
How theatre should, or should not, be addressing Brexit is a constant topic of conversation. But while Lucy Prebble’s phenomenal new work – a combination of horror, espionage thriller, love story and satire, with dazzlingly theatrical framing – doesn’t centre around the B world, it is, unquestionably, the play for the present moment.
William Finn and James Lapine’s musical – which combines two linked one-acts, March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland, set in late 1970s/early 1980s New York – picked up Tony Awards in 1992 for its book and score, and was nominated again in 2016 for an acclaimed revival. Yet the UK hasn’t sighted this landmark piece until now, with Tara Overfield-Wilkinson directing and choreographing an engaging if somewhat chaotic production.
I am quoted in Shaun Kitchener’s piece about introducing same-sex pairings to Strictly Come Dancing.
Can any fictional political tale top the latest dramatic entry in the Brexit Chronicles? Actor Simon Woods has a good crack at it with his debut play, featuring the powerhouse pairing of Alex Jennings and Lindsay Duncan and sure directorial hand of Simon Godwin. And if a few sharp lines have extra fizz, thanks to the current bewildering context of British politics, well, so much the better.
The actress and singer discusses her role in the iconic musical – plus her varied career, including her collaboration with Prince.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge is big business. She’s a TV superstar, both comedy (Fleabag) and drama (Killing Eve); a Star Wars standout; and, in theory, the feminist saviour of James Bond. But never mind all that. Theatre needs her back.
