Theatre
Pierre Audi obituary
May 6, 2025Based successively in London, the Netherlands and France, Pierre Audi, who has died suddenly aged 67, was over a period of 45 years the indefatigable procreator of a sizeable body of innovative work, largely centred around the operatic stage. As founder of the Almeida theatre in Islington, London, artistic director of the Dutch National Opera […]
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Helena Bell obituary
May 4, 2025From 2016 until her death, at the age of 64 after being diagnosed with cancer, Helena Bell was the artistic director of Kali Theatre, a company founded by Rita Wolf and Rukhsana Ahmad in 1991 to encourage writing by south Asian women, and now based at the Albany theatre in Deptford, south London. Helena believed […]
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Shakespeare did not leave his wife Anne in Stratford, letter fragment suggests
April 23, 2025It has long been assumed that William Shakespeare’s marriage to Anne Hathaway was less than happy. He moved to London to pursue his theatrical career, leaving her in Stratford-upon-Avon and stipulating in his will that she would receive his “second best bed”, although still a valued item. Now a leading Shakespeare expert has analysed a […]
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Michael Ratcliffe obituary
March 25, 2025Michael Ratcliffe, who has died aged 89, was the former theatre critic of the Observer. He was one of the last of the “man of letters” breed of journalist who encompassed all the arts, with experience, erudition and a regard for the great tradition, especially in Europe, but an open, expansive and always analytical attitude […]
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‘I said there was no reason to make it a musical!’ Mel Brooks on The Producers’ West End transfer
March 1, 2025The Menier Chocolate Factory has announced that its acclaimed production of The Producers is to transfer to the West End this autumn. Having sold out its three-month run at the 180-seat London venue before first night, it is set to move to the Garrick theatre. But according to its original creator Mel Brooks, the musical […]
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Louanne Tranchell obituary
February 25, 2025My mother, Louanne Tranchell, who has died aged 87, was a passionate campaigner for community involvement in planning decisions. She recognised the importance of questioning authority and was committed to bringing people together to mark struggles and successes. Louanne’s work in mobilising the community began in London in 1977, campaigning against Norman Foster’s plan for […]
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Much Ado About Ken: Barbie style star is still making menswear shimmer
February 21, 2025Benedick in a bedazzled belt and matching sparkly shoes, Claudio clad in a gold lamé cropped co-ord. Much Ado About Nothing may be more than 400 years old but Jamie Lloyd’s current spin in London’s West End plants it very much in the modern day. Key to its contemporary update? The costumes, which look as […]
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Police release CCTV of men who visited flat of drag artist found dead in Soho
January 24, 2025Detectives investigating the death of a well-known drag artist nearly two years ago have released CCTV footage of three men they want to speak to. Steven Grygelko, who was known by the stage name Heklina, was found dead in a flat in Soho, central London, on 3 April 2023, by friend and fellow drag performer, […]
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Maggie Forsyth obituary
November 3, 2024My friend Maggie Forsyth, who has died aged 70 of cancer, spent more than two decades as a director and set designer with small theatre companies, including the Greenwich Studio company in south-east London, of which she was artistic director and which she owned and ran with her husband, Julian Forsyth, from 1993 until 2000. […]
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Cleo Sylvestre obituary
September 22, 2024Cleo Sylvestre, who has died aged 79, was a trailblazing British black actor and one of the first performers of colour on television soaps – Coronation Street in 1966, then Crossroads for two years – and the first black woman to play a leading role at the National Theatre, in Peter Nichols’ acerbic The National […]
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