Michael Billington on Stage
Over the course of 50 years, Guardian theatre critic Michael Billington has reviewed over 10,000 productions. He is, joked National Theatre Director Rufus Norris, at tonight’s event: “The critic who’s struck more … Continue reading
The Old Vic is throwing a free party and parade for its 200th birthday
The extremely venerable Old Vic will be celebrating its double centenary this Saturday (May 12) with a series of free events, kicking off with a jolly good old-fashioned procession featuring special dance, theatre and opera … Continue reading
Quote • IMELDA STAUNTON • Film Stardom
‘Well, my parents were working people. You just worked. I’ve always wanted a long career, not an instant one. I left RADA [Royal Academy of Dramatic Art], I worked in … Continue reading
From Olivier’s dance of death to Picasso’s Quixote: the National Theatre’s poster power | Stage | The Guardian
An exhibition of highlights from the NT’s archive triggers memories of striking productions and shows how the poster imprints a play on the public’s imagination Source: From Olivier’s dance of … Continue reading
Benjamin Whitrow obituary | Stage | The Guardian
‘Benjamin Whitrow has never given a bad performance,” said Laurence Olivier, who employed the actor in his National Theatre company at the Old Vic for seven years in the late 1960s. By … Continue reading
Consent, National Theatre, South Bank, London | reviewdonkey
The reviews for this show had been so good, but it was sold out. I know that NT have a few restricted view seats that they sell at 9.30 on … Continue reading
![Anne-Marie Duff at the Baftas 2007 [Wikimedia]](https://roguesandvagabonds.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/bafta_2007_387030334.jpg?w=155&h=110&crop=1)
Quote • ANNE-MARIE DUFF • Saint Joan
“She’s cheeky and pert. She’s funny by accident a lot of the time. She’s got that hilarious conviction of her own invincibility, the way you are when you’re that age … Continue reading
Rufus Norris: ‘We are living in an age of extreme selfishness’ | Stage | The Guardian
Shocked by the Brexit vote, the director of the National Theatre embarked on an ambitious countrywide listening project. Rufus Norris explains how everyone from shepherds to shop workers shaped his … Continue reading
Director Howard Davies dies aged 71 – WhatsOnStage.com
Director Howard Davies has died at the age of 71. Directors, playwrights and the theatre community took to Twitter to pay tribute to the man who worked extensively at theatres … Continue reading
Black Shakespeare: Paapa Essiedu from Hamlet to Edmund | The Shakespeare blog
On 13 August it was the last performance of the latest production of Hamlet at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford. Every production of this play is notable, but particularly this … Continue reading
Archive Review • THE NIGHT SHIFT • BAC, London [tour] • 2005
Theatre and dreams make frequent bed fellows and their love-act is often fecund and beautiful. Strindberg’s Dream Play, revived this year in Katie Mitchell’s stunning and unsettling production at the National, … Continue reading
In the Deep End – hello emma kay
Relationships will be the death of me. Being single in your early twenties, there’s an unspoken pressure to finding a mate. Whether you settle for Tom (or Jerry), Dick or … Continue reading
![Fridtjof Nansen [Wikipedia]](https://roguesandvagabonds.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/fridtjof_nansen_loc_03377u-3.jpg?w=155&h=110&crop=1)
Thought for the Day • CUTTING ICE • Fram • 2008
Tony Harrison has never trodden the conventional path. Harrison’s The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus with its dangling phalluses, his superb rendering of The Oresteia and the muscular sonority of hisThe Mysteries have … Continue reading
Archive Interview • TANIKA GUPTA • Sugar Mummies • 2006
Playwright Tanika Gupta has a new play, Sugar Mummies, in rehearsal at the Royal Court. It starts previews on 5 August and a lunchtime chat we had planned had to … Continue reading
Archive Interview • RONALD PICKUP • Look Back in Anger • 2006
Whichever way you look at it, Ronald Pickup’s credits are extensive. In Peter Hall’s Bath season programme, his biog for Look Back in Anger runs to two columns. Google him … Continue reading
Post-war British theatre: Finlay, Gaskill and British Black and Asian Shakespeare | The Shakespeare blog
Almost swamped by the understandable outpouring of tributes for the late Sir Terry Wogan, the death of the fine actor Frank Finlay at 89 has passed with little attention this … Continue reading
‘Damn fine actor’ Frank Finlay dies at 89
Star of The Three Musketeers, Othello and Bouquet of Barbed Wire died from heart failure at his home, surrounded by family The family of Frank Finlay has remembered him as … Continue reading
Quote • ANNA MAXWELL MARTIN • Backstage Jealousy
‘Oh yes, people keep pulling knives on me and threatening me with guns.’ Anna Maxwell Martin when asked if there was jealousy backstage at the National because of the reception … Continue reading
Did You Hear…? • A BILIOUS ATTACK • 2007
Did you hear about Nicholas Hytner’s ‘cri de bile’, as Nicholas de Jongh put it, against our national critics of the male variety? Although I have some sympathy with Hytner’s … Continue reading
![Jeremy Irons in 2006 [Wikimedia]](https://roguesandvagabonds.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/jeremy_irons_cropped.jpg?w=155&h=110&crop=1)
Archive Review • NEVER SO GOOD • NT Lyttelton • 2008
Harold Macmillan’s life in politics began after WWI. He was involved in the Suez Crisis, Britain’s first nuclear accident at Windscale, and the Profumo scandal in 1963 which brought about … Continue reading
Thought for the Day • NEVER SO GOOD • A Dissenting View • 2008
After reading Evie Rackham’s notice of Never So Good on Rogues & Vagabonds, along with a lot of the press comment in the past fortnight, I’m wondering whether paying your … Continue reading
Archive Event • RICHARD BEAN IN CONVERSATION • Royal Court • 2007
You know that you are in for a treat when a playwright at the launch of his latest collected volume of plays informs you that he once earned a living … Continue reading
Cameron Mackintosh to transform West End theatre into ‘home for regional transfers’ | News, Theatre, Uncategorized | The Stage
Originally posted in The Stage. Cameron Mackintosh has unveiled his vision for the West End’s new Sondheim Theatre, which he intends turn into a home for shows from subsidised venues around … Continue reading
Thought for the Day • ARNOLD WESKER • Open Letters • 2004
Whether you end up cheering from the aisles or closing the Pass Door in his face, so to speak, it’s always worth reading Arnold Wesker‘s writings. It is Wesker — … Continue reading
Thought for the Day • WASTE • Almeida Theatre • 2008
At the preview performance I saw, Samuel West’s production of Waste was unbearably DULL and SLOW. It wasn’t just me reflecting the wasteland of my own disillusioned soul. I saw two couples … Continue reading
Treasure Island, Jabberwocky and The Day After (They Went Off on One): three shows in a week
Originally posted on Katharine Quarmby:
Like most Londoners, I suspect, I don’t actually get to the theatre that often but this week was unusual. I saw three performances, ranging from…
Archive Review • TWO THOUSAND YEARS • NT Cottesloe • 2005
Mike Leigh’s new play is his first stage work for more than a decade. It was developed, as usual, with the company performing and it is so fresh-minted that the … Continue reading
The vision of King Lear by Sam Mendes & Simon Russell Beale
Originally posted on pilar221b:
Academy Award® winner Sam Mendes (James Bond: Skyfall, American Beauty) returned to the National Theatre to direct Simon Russell Beale (Timon of Athens, Collaborators) in the…
Review – Emil and the Detectives, National Theatre
Originally posted on A West End Whinger:
If you feel like watching the detectives you’d better find your inner child and take it along with you. Or better yet, if…
Fifty Years Today since O’Toole’s Hamlet opened National Theatre
Laurence Olivier, June 17, 1939 (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Hamlet. 1963. Peter O’Toole. Rosemary Harris. Dir. Olivier. National Theatre. #fifty #NT #photography National Theatre on Facebook The National Theatre is 50 years … Continue reading
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