5 h. ago The Producers at the Garrick Theatre review: 'At 99, Mel Brooks has the funniest show in London'

Transferred to the Garrick, Mel Brooks’ classic comedy is not simply hilarious but is exactly what we all need right now

Culture

18 h. ago Small Acts of Love review – tragedy and tenderness in Lockerbie eulogy

Citizens theatre, GlasgowThe people of a small Scottish town offer hope to bereaved families in the aftermath of the 1988 bombing in a moving music-theatre showWhat a joy to hear applause again in the Citz. The theatre’s seven-year renovation has been hard. In that time, many have been lost, including the victims of the pandemic and, only last month, the mighty Giles Havergal , the company’s artistic director from 1969 to 2003.Fitting, then, that the opening production should be a requiem. Less a drama than a mass, it is a eulogy to those killed in the Lockerbie bombing in 1988, the single biggest terrorist loss of life on UK territory. The powerful act one closing song has just three words: “Let us remember.” Continue reading...

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62 h. ago Not Your Superwoman at the Bush Theatre review: These stars need more to work with

Golda Rosheuvel and Letitia Wright are a pleasure to watch, but this short play still feels 20 minutes too long

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4 d. ago Is this London's weirdest show? Prepare to enter world of a cow

This unique show features sound work by Foley artists which encourages audiences to close their eyes and be plunged into the world of a cow and a deer

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4 d. ago Cow/Deer at Royal Court Jerwood: 'wordless oddity from an animal's perspective'

This unique show features sound work by Foley artists which encourages audiences to close their eyes and be plunged into the world of a cow and a deer

Events

5 d. ago Grimeborn's Lucia di Lammermoor at the Arcola Theatre review: appealingly unconventional

The grit of Grimeborn still feels right at home in Dalston

Politics

1 week ago A John Candy documentary gives Toronto film fest a tender and appropriately Canadian opening night

The documentary “John Candy: I Like Me,” directed by Colin Hanks and produced by Ryan Reynolds, is a tribute not just to Candy the actor, but Candy, the man

Culture

1 week ago Photos: Mel Brooks' The Producers Is Back in London's West End

Photos: Mel Brooks' The Producers Is Back in London's West End  Playbill

Culture

1 week ago Born With Teeth at Wyndham’s Theatre review: seductively clever work from Ncuti Gatwa

Liz Duffy Adams blends intrigue and shifty eroticism with in-jokes and a discourse on creativity in this playful examination of Kit Marlowe and Shakespeare’s relationship

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1 week ago Review: Born with Teeth starring Ncuti Gatwa at Wyndham’s Theatre in London’s West End

Review: Born with Teeth starring Ncuti Gatwa at Wyndham’s Theatre in London’s West End  Time Out Worldwide

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2 w. ago Interview at Riverside Studios review: glib, overcooked, and with zero chemistry

Robert Sean Leonard is a washed-up political journalist interviewing an influencer played by Paten Hughes in this glib two-hander

Politics

2 w. ago Juniper Blood at the Donmar Warehouse review: a poor retread of Mike Bartlett's better work

The play feels thin and undercooked, the plot twists and emotional revelations unearned

Events

3 w. ago Edinburgh International Festival dance review: Figures in Extinction

The climate crisis is addressed with empathy, wit and assuredness in a new collaboration between Simon McBurney and Crystal Pite, writes Kelly Apter

Culture

3 w. ago As You Like It review – Ralph Fiennes’ sombre, stately directorial stage debut

Theatre Royal BathThe actor’s minimal staging of the Shakespeare comedy favours stillness and feeling over comic fizz, with moving performances from Gloria Obianyo and Amber JamesRalph Fiennes has proven himself to be a Shakespearean actor with gravitas over the decades. He brings that weight to his directorial stage debut of a Shakespeare play – and a comedy at that. Not exactly known for his comic chops (there is the odd Wes Anderson film in his oeuvre), Fiennes brings a depth to this pastoral about tyrant brothers and exiles that dares to venture into sombreness. It gives the drama a fuller body without taking away from its mischief.Played in modern dress, the court of Duke Frederick (Patrick Robinson) is less a kingdom than a suited and booted corporation. Although his usurped brother, Duke Senior (also played by Robinson) bears vestiges of the boardroom in his demeanour, he and his band of self-exiled dukes seem to have built an alternative community in the forest of Arden, inc...

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3 w. ago Andy Nyman: ‘People worry about getting cancelled – The Producers doesn’t care about any of that’

The Leicester-born actor is leading a revival of Mel Brooks’s classic anti-Nazi satire at the Garrick Theatre in London. He speaks to Louis Chilton about breaking taboos, working with Derren Brown, and why he can’t shake the feeling it’s ‘downhill from here’

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3 w. ago The Gathered Leaves at the Park Theatre review: a slowly beguiling, elegant revival

The script is ponderous at times, but its careful handling of themes like autism and racism eventually exerts a cumulative power

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last month Mary, Queen of Scots review – bold ballet brings the royal courts bang up to date

Festival theatre, EdinburghMary births a balloon and Elizabeth I towers on stilts in Sophie Laplane and James Bonas’s production about the queens’ distant relationshipThe second half of this show is much better than the first. It’s often the way in (loosely) narrative ballet. There’s all the scene-setting and character introductions before you can get to the guts of it – the relationships, the tension, the betrayal. Scottish Ballet’s new Mary, Queen of Scots, created by choreographer Sophie Laplane and director James Bonas, stumbles in the setup. Sometimes it’s just helpful to know where we are and who’s who. How would we know this scene where the men have porky prosthetic bellies protruding from their jackets is the French court, for example?The central conceit is that this is Mary’s story told through her cousin Elizabeth I’s eyes and the creators have set themselves a challenge there: in literature, one person can easily tell another’s story, but you can’t dance someone else’s da...

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