Anthony Walker-Cook

Liam Brennan has played the role of Inspector Goole in the West End and on Broadway - he returns to the role this year as part of the touring 30 year anniversary of the National Theatre's production. He speaks to BroadwayWorld about returning to the role.

Nancy Carroll's credits include seven previous productions at the National Theatre and, recently, The Crown on Netflix. She is currently starring in the National Theatre's production of Manor, a new play by Moira Buffini.

At a time when live theatre has again been yanked from our grasp, the joint efforts of The Barn Theatre, The New Wolsey Theatre and The Lawrence Batley theatre to produce an adaptation of Jonathan Coe’s What a Carve Up! is a welcome tonic amidst such ever-darkening days.

FFew performers in the industry are on top of their game like Sharon D Clarke right now. After storming performances in Caroline, or Change and Blues in the Night in London, Clarke was in rehearsals for the former show on Broadway when COVID-19 hit. From the London Coliseum, she now begins a series of online cabarets, Tonight at the London Coliseum, with brio and passion.

I owe a lot to Follies - friendships with fans and actors and occasional pieces of journalism have resulted from the show - but it made me realise how transformative live theatre can be. Thinking about it, it's ironic that a show signalling the death of old Broadway should ignite such a passion, but isn't that the point of Follies?

Anoushka Lucas first played the role of Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre in 2016. She has now returned to a socially distanced concert production of the show at the same venue, which is directed by Timothy Sheader. 

The latest NT at Home digital offering is Terence Rattigan's 1952 play The Deep Blue Sea, which was performed at the National Theatre in 2016. Directed by Carrie Cracknell and starring the indomitable Helen McCrory, this post-war microcosm bristles with desperate passion.

a?oeAnd so we find ourselves gathered once again at the altar of sweet distractiona?? purrs Julian Bleach's Barkilphedro, an ambitious court clown, at the beginning of The Grinning Man, a new musical with book and lyrics by Carl Grose and music by Tim Philips. If only, you might think: being in a theatre would do more than put a smile on my face right now.

Robert Glenister is currently treading the boards at the Playhouse Theatre in Anya Reiss's adaptation of Chekhov's The Seagull. Starring alongside Game of Thrones's Emilia Clarke and Indira Varma, The Seagull marks Glenister's second production with director Jamie Lloyd. Glenister's recent theatre credits include Alys, Always at the Bridge Theatre and Pinter Four as part of Lloyd's Pinter at the Pinter season. BroadwayWorld spoke with Glenister about the production, adapting Chekhov, and the importance of star casting for commercial theatre.

Following the lacklustre reception of The Taming of the Shrew, Thomas Middleton's Women Beware Women opens in the candlelit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse as part of the Globe's continuing 'She Wolves and Shrews' season. Where Shakespeare's play showed a woman tamed, however, Middleton explores the unbridled rage and fallout of women scorned.

When you think of theatre, what shows come to mind? An obvious answer may well be Wicked. The writer of songs such as 'Defying Gravity' and 'Popular', Stephen Schwartz is for many the epitome of musical theatre. But cast your mind back to before Wicked and remember The Prince of Egypt, a 1998 animated film for which Schwartz penned 'When You Believe'. Now at the Dominion Theatre and bolstered with 10 songs penned by Schwartz, a new adaptation of the 1990s DreamWorks film defies little other than entertainment.

At a platform at the National Theatre on a blustery February evening, Michael Billington spoke with artistic director Rufus Norris about his career and processes. Billington stepped down from his role as chief theatre critic of the Guardian, a position he held for 48 years, at the end of 2019. 

After you have seen Antoinette Nwandu's Pass Over, you might give a second thought to the next street beggar you see and, probably, ignore.

Kevin Mathurin is currently appearing in The Visit, Tony Kushner's adaptation of Friedrich Dürrenmatt's play of the same name at the National Theatre. Mathurin plays Bill, one of the inhabitants of Slurry tempted by Claire Zachanassian's offer of a billion dollars in exchange for the murder of one man...

Love was in the air at the Bush Theatre this Valentine's Day with the opening of Temi Wilkey's new play The High Table. A heartfelt drama that spans generations of a Nigerian family, this is a confident debut.

The winners of the Casting Directors' Guild Awards 2020 have been announced! Casting directors of theatre, film and television gathered at the Ham Yard Hotel last night to celebrate the significant achievements of the guild's members.

Terrorism. Online security. Passwords. Encryption. Cookies. These are all familiar terms in the modern world. Odds are, as audiences take their seats in the Hampstead Theatre to watch Al Blyth's new play The Haystack, they'll finish a text or quickly dash out an e-mail before turning off their phones. The walls have ears, they used to say a?' but now, the threat seems much closer, with the objects we rely on daily becoming tools to invade our privacy. But is this a necessary evil?

Debbie Kurup's recent roles include Blues in the Night at the Kiln Theatre), Sweet Charity at Donmar Warehouse), and Girl from the North Country at the Old Vic and in the West End. Kurup is now in Stephen Schwartz's The Prince of Egypt at the Dominion Theatre, playing the role of Queen Tuya. She spoke to BroadwayWorld about self-representation, the large scale of the show, and the theatrical magic that awaits audiences.

If like many you find yourself wishing you could change the world right now, you might want to first pop down to the Lyric Hammersmith to see Chris Bush's Faustus: That Damned Woman. Taking Christopher Marlowe's Renaissance play and bringing parts of it into the twenty-first century, Bush's new work reminds audiences that dealings with the devil always ever benefit one person. Hint: it's not you or me.

a?oeWhat is a true book?a?? Cormac McCarthy's early attempts to distinguish the nature of fiction in The Sunset Limited are, at the very least, ironic. A programme essay from Joe Penhall suggests the difficulty of the play form is the reason McCarthy has only ever had two performed. To be blunt, it shows.