Shona McCarthy says public authorities have routinely ignored needs of world’s largest arts festivalThe Edinburgh festival fringe should be given the same status as major sporting events like the Olympics or the Commonwealth Games, its outgoing chief e…
Continue ReadingTheatre Royal BrightonBob Golding, Simon Cartwright and Damian Williams, who have played the comedy giants before, summon them like spirits to the stage in this tribute‘You tell ’em a joke they’ve heard before, and: silence.” So says Eric Morecambe in …
Continue ReadingThe writer of Shopping and Fucking will direct cycle of bawdy comedies inspired by scenarios from a 17th-century Italian collectionA premiere by Mark Ravenhill has been an event ever since the British playwright’s explosive debut 30 years ago with Shop…
Continue ReadingAndrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice have created songs for a Theatreland mystery by Humphrey Ker and David Reed. We find out how they doubled up for the detective’s ‘gory’ new caseNew songs by musical colossi Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. A script by …
Continue ReadingWyndham’s; Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, LondonSteve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith turn into their own live tribute act; plus, a bold attempt to make sense of Shakespeare’s wayward late tragicomedyGleaming with comic gore, intricately written, showered wit…
Continue ReadingPark theatre, LondonAn anonymously delivered box of something unmentionable sends an advertising worker into a spiral in Dave Florez’s comedyA cake box arrives in the post, sent special delivery to Colin (Nicholas Burns), a 40-something north Londoner …
Continue ReadingWyndham’s theatre, LondonThe double act transfer their TV hit to the stage in an ingenious edge-of-your-seat, one-step-ahead show which is in love with old theatres and their ghosts‘We finally ran out of ideas!” jokes Reece Shearsmith towards the end o…
Continue ReadingThe comedies Titanique and Here You Come Again pay homage to two superstars in quirky style. Actors Lauren Drew and Tricia Paoluccio explain what it’s like to portray their idols – and take on their iconic songsMost biodramas about musicians sing from …
Continue ReadingAfter a major restoration, new theatre in east London announces opening programme with Sara Pascoe and Rosie Jones on the bill – plus panto and a new show by Bryony KimmingsIt opened as a Victorian music hall, had various incarnations as a picture hous…
Continue ReadingArts Centre Melbourne, then Sydney and AdelaideFrom the producers of Fleabag and Baby Reindeer, this brilliantly ambiguous one-man show poses the question: does standup comedy need to be true?The cliche of the sad clown – the jester who uses laughs to …
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