3 d. ago ‘It’s Fleabag’s home – the audience is unshockable’: Phoebe Waller

The central London institution champions new talent, amplifies LGBTQ+ voices and always takes risks. With a new outpost opening in Walthamstow, artists discuss how the West End venue is not just a place – it’s a philosophyA fixture on London’s Dean Street for 25 years, Soho theatre has hatched plays that won Oliviers, shows that earned the Edinburgh comedy award and ideas that became TV hits. On any night, across its upstairs studio theatre, its main house and basement cabaret bar, you’ll find plays from new writers, experimentations in clowning, drag performance, standup comedy, or a hybrid of them all.In those rooms, I’ve watched American clown Natalie Palamides giving such a spirited performance that she vomited on stage, dancer and comedian Adrienne Truscott challenging rape jokes, and performance artist Kim Noble pushing audiences beyond comfort. I’ve sung along to ballads with sketch group Daphne, and folk songs with Sh!t Theatre. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago John Cleese: Fawlty Towers play a success as it is ‘funnier than anything else’

A new run of Fawlty Towers: The Play will begin at the Apollo Theatre in London’s Shaftesbury Avenue on June 24.

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3 w. ago London Theatre Celebrates Paule Constable's Sixth Olivier Award

London Theatre Celebrates Paule Constable's Sixth Olivier Award  Live Design Online

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3 w. ago Dame Imelda Staunton wins fifth Olivier as John Lithgow takes swipe at Trump

Harry Potter and The Crown star Staunton took home her fifth Olivier Award on Sunday.

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3 w. ago Olivier Awards 2025 winners: Lesley Manville, 69, and John Lithgow, 79, proudly accept Best Actor and Actress gong

Lesley Manville and John Lithgow proudly accepted the award for Best Actor and Actress at the 2025 Olivier Awards on Sunday night.

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3 w. ago No forgetting my encounter with two giants of the stage | Tim Lewis

Old pals Ewan McGregor and Michael Grandage prepare for their new play, My Master Builder, by chuckling about everything that could go wrong and hasFor today’s Observer New Review I had the not-exactly-onerous assignment of spending an hour with the actor Ewan McGregor and director Michael Grandage, as they prepared to put on a new play, My Master Builder, in London’s West End. The two men go way back, and mostly they were cracking each other up with knockabout old stories – much of which there wasn’t room for in my article. McGregor recalled one of his first roles on stage, as Orlando in As You Like It, and how when Simon Callow – multiple Olivier and Bafta award winner – played the part in 1979, he walked out on stage at the National Theatre only to promptly forget the first line of the play.“If you’re a woman and you’re about to have a baby, everybody tells you nightmare stories about childbirth,” said McGregor. “And when you’re an actor about to do a play, everybody tells you te...

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