Andrew Scott is superhuman in Vanya
Playing eight roles in this one-man Chekhov adaptation, the actor is utterly convincing.
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Theatre
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Dear England and the English Question
In his new play about Gareth Southgate, James Graham uses football to explore a contested national identity.
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James Graham’s Dear England is a tiresome ode to St Gareth Southgate
The National Theatre production presents the manager’s path to national saviour but fails to add anything of note to our…
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The remarkable range of Glenda Jackson
Also this week: admiring the Elgin Marbles, and enduring the rigmarole of chemotherapy.
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Peter Morgan’s Patriots confronts the rise of Putin in post-Soviet Russia
Tom Hollander plays the ambitious, politically well-connected billionaire Boris Berezovsky in this absorbing portrait of a power struggle.
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Ruth Wilson’s The Second Woman is a mesmerising feat of endurance
Over 24 hours, as Wilson played the same scene with 100 different actors, the repetition became addictive – and profound.
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Mark Gatiss: Rishi Sunak “doesn’t give a toss” about the arts
The actor and writer on playing John Gielgud, the culture wars and a decade of Tory arts cuts.
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A Tony Blair rock opera? Get me out of here!
My friend turned to me at one stage and whispered “help” with the desperation of someone seeking rescue from the…
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A Little Life is absurdly, tediously, pointlessly bleak
This four-hour self-harm horror-show is schadenfreude dressed up as empathy.
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The magical realism of My Neighbour Totoro
The RSC production of the Hayao Miyazaki film – which has deservedly won six Olivier Awards – combines enchanting stagecraft with…
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Medea at Soho Place: a stunning production that rains down on the patriarchy
Sophie Okonedo’s formidable Medea will go down as a legend in theatre history.
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Fifty years after Picasso’s death, we still struggle with the figure of the monstrous genius
The Musée Picasso Paris’s collaboration with Paul Smith attempts to reframe the great artist. Plus: another backlash for the BBC.
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Dom: The Play is nowhere near as clever as it thinks it is
This twee, smug, lowest-common-denominator political satire is not just bad: it’s mindless.
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A new musical proves it – Sylvia Pankhurst is the feminist icon we need
While her mother Emmeline has traditionally been the most famous Pankhurst, the Old Vic’s new show is just the latest…
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How Peter Kay changed British comedy
The beloved Bolton comic, now going on tour for the first time in over a decade, became a national phenomenon…
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English National Opera is a cultural lifeline – but we have been decimated by cuts
Arts Council England’s withdrawal of our general funding will have reverberations across the entire arts ecosystem.
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After a visit to the theatre I feel more of a Brightonian than I did the day before
I’d never been to the Theatre Royal before, but its a delightful, old-school place.
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Jews. In their Own Words is a sharp illustration of how the oldest hatred is still with us
Jonathan Freedland’s play considers the prejudicial myths fuelling anti-Semitism today, and how the Royal Court became complicit.
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From the NS archive: The Cherry Orchard
24 July 1920: The beautiful, mad drama which I had staged often in the dim recesses of my mind was…
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Sporting Notes: At the crease with Harold Pinter
Playing cricket with him for the theatrical team Gaieties CC, I witnessed the great playwright’s passion up close.
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