6+ hour, 50+ min ago  (432+ words) The last time I reviewed John Kearns, he mentioned being the father of a young child. Three years on, life has changed for the comic: he has separated from his partner of 12 years and is living back home with his…...

2+ week, 2+ day ago  (828+ words) Patriarchy is a trap for both men and women. This we know. But it's not often that its takedown is as amazingly theatrical as this fabulous entertainment, Tender, by American playwright Dave Harris, now getting its wonderfully noisy premiere at…...

11+ mon, 4+ week ago  (381+ words) The Arts Desk's team of professional critics offer unrivalled review coverage, in-depth interviews and features on popular music, classical, art, theatre, comedy, opera, comedy and dance. Dedicated art form pages, readers' comments, What's On and our user-friendly theatre and film…...

7+ mon, 2+ week ago  (665+ words) Star casting has, since the pandemic, done much to restore the fortunes of commercial theatre. And, when they can pull off a similar deal, the same applies to subsidised venues. If the downside is that many smaller institutions get left…...

1+ mon, 18+ hour ago  (481+ words) Returning to the West End to celebrate two decades since those strange muppetty posters went up on London buses, I'm still laughing along with "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist. Back then, the London Olympics Opening Ceremony, surely the high watermark…...

2+ mon, 2+ hour ago  (645+ words) The Arts Desk Summerfolk, National Theatre review - Gorky's self-deluding intelligentsia under sharp comic scrutiny Nina and Moses Raine emphasise the script's timelessness Gorky's satire is set in the summer of 1904, between the opening of The Cherry Orchard and Chekhov's death…...

11+ mon, 2+ week ago  (343+ words) Terence Rattigan's rehabilitation " some might almost say deification " as a leading 20th century playwright is complete. As well as academic studies, biographies and numerous highly respected revivals of his work, there is a growing clamour to accord him the ultimate, deserved,…...

2+ mon, 3+ week ago  (533+ words) It's nearly eight years since K're Conradi first appeared at the Coronet in a revelatory, visceral Norwegian production of Ibsen's Little Eyolf. He's in his middle years, like Peer the temporarily successful entrepreneur of Ibsen's tricky middle act, and in…...

3+ mon, 5+ hour ago  (794+ words) Somewhere in the bowels of the BBC, far away from the overheated stories of serial killers and female mutilation that clamour for the audience's attention elsewhere on British telly, there is an oasis of calm. This little patch is the…...

3+ mon, 1+ week ago  (284+ words) A right wing populist, a master manipulator of the media, he appears to be immune to the long accepted norms of professional behaviour. Foul-mouthed and a bully, but backed by an oligarch, he rides roughshod over those who play by…...