The Crown’s Peter Morgan to premiere play about Russian oligarchs
Patriots will open at the Almeida in London and star Tom Hollander as Boris Berezovsky, with Vladimir Putin and Roman Abramovich among the characters
April 2022
‘You don’t have to be invited – you do it’: Beth Steel on her working-class family epic
The playwright reflects on the importance of difficult conversations, putting female characters centre-stage and reading a Greek tragedy a day to write The House of Shades
The week in theatre: Daddy; Black Love; The Fever Syndrome
Jeremy O Harris’s trance-like study of power play sizzles while Chinonyerem Odimba tells a complex sibling story
Daddy: A Melodrama review – Black art, white money and love in Speedos
A white billionaire art collector’s relationship with a young Black artist forms the heart of this bold, brawny play about race, patronage and exploitation
March 2022
Jeremy O Harris: ‘I’m starting to learn how to use my privilege’
The thirtysomething American playwright on confronting audiences, drawing on past traumas, and why he’s putting an infinity pool on stage
The week in theatre: Nora: A Doll’s House; The Key Workers Cycle; Legacy
Stef Smith’s Ibsen update can’t quite match the original for its sense of dread; the mystery play gets a Covid-era reboot; and Maria Friedman wallows in showtune nostalgia
The Key Workers Cycle review – a tender collaboration to keep the darkness at bay
A cycle of nine community pieces that use black comedy and cautionary tales to celebrate the people who keep things going
February 2022
Key workers to take centre stage at Almeida theatre in London
Cycle of short plays will celebrate roles often underappreciated by those in positions of power
The week in theatre: Two Billion Beats; Running With Lions; The Forest; The Chairs – review
A Hindu schoolgirl challenges all around her; Toby Stephens and Gina McKee star in Florian Zeller’s sketchy new play; and Kathryn Hunter excels in a frisky reworking of Ionescu
The Chairs review – slapstick sadness from a spine-shiveringly good duo
Kathryn Hunter and Marcello Magni are perfectly grotesque in this timely revival of Eugène Ionesco’s absurdist classic
December 2021
Spring Awakening review – desire and dread in coming-of-age musical
Rupert Goold’s production of the alt-rock musical has a talented young cast and some striking moments but the songs are often banal
November 2021
Boris Johnson accused of flouting request to wear mask at theatre
Lost Origin review – big-budget interactive adventure gets into a muddle
October 2021
The week in theatre: Maryland; The Tragedy of Macbeth; White Noise
The Tragedy of Macbeth review – Yaël Farber’s blood-curdling terror
September 2021
Saoirse Ronan says Kim and Kanye inspired Almeida Macbeth roles
Once Upon a Time in Nazi Occupied Tunisia review – stiff with humorous intent
August 2021
Once Upon a Time in Nazi Occupied Tunisia review – horror, humour and forgotten history
Adrian Edmondson plays a psychopath in Josh Azouz’s nuanced tragicomedy about Jewish-Arab relations in 1942
Autumn arts preview 2021
Hamlet, Cabaret and a fistful of Romeos: the best theatre, comedy and dance of autumn 2021
Cush Jumbo tackles the troubled prince, Jessie Buckley and Eddie Redmayne head for 30s Berlin, while standup favourites and dance spectaculars burst back on the stage
Adrian Lester: ‘I’ll never leave the stage’
As he prepares to return to live theatre, the actor reflects on a tumultuous 18 months, and on why he needs an audience
