stage
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The star recalls how appearing in Phyllida Lloyd’s all-female Julius Caesar gave her the confidence to write her own play
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He has walked out of his own plays, been chased up the A1 by a director and thinks British drama is dead. Mark Lawson meets the magnificently irascible Edward Bond
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A festival at Siobhan Davies dance studio featured Julie Cunningham’s moves to match Tempest’s verse and Jamie Atherton’s solo for Fred Herko
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Will Adamsdale, Lloyd Hutchinson and Brian Logan find themselves trapped inside a gag in a piece that pays homage to the theatrical imagination
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Curious Directive combine science and storytelling in Norwich, Katie Mitchell and Duncan Macmillan collaborate at the Barbican, and the world premiere of Edward Bond’s Dea is in Sutton
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Samuel West speaks Henry V’s soliloquy on the night before battle, in which he reflects upon the public’s expectations of the king
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In a speech taken from the first scene of All’s Well That Ends Well, Sacha Dhawan’s Parolles stresses the importance of losing one’s virginity
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Adrian Lester performs Hamlet’s soliloquy in which the prince considers taking his own life
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Ayesha Dharker plays Titania, the queen of the fairies, in a scene from A Midsummer Night’s Dream
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Paterson Joseph speaks Shylock’s lines from The Merchant of Venice, in which the moneylender reminds Antonio of the times he has insulted him
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Damian Lewis performs Antony’s funeral oration for Julius Caesar from act III, scene 2 of Shakespeare’s tragedy
talking points
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A doctor and a private-hire driver are just a couple of the amateur actors starring along RSC members in a touring production of the Dream. The experiment is a success but it shouldn’t set a precedent
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The Regional Theatre Young Director Scheme has played a role in growing the careers of many established artistic directors. Now, the scheme is focusing on how its participants can stay embedded in the areas where they learn their craft
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Thirty years ago, I put on a frock, crossed Leicester Square and received a death threat. That night led me to create Stella, my show about an extraordinary Victorian gender experimenter
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Part two of the BBC’s Wars of the Roses series was a visual treat led by a brooding Benedict Cumberbatch, but poignancy was among the script’s many casualties
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The junior wing of Nederlands Dans Theater have poise, speed and accuracy: if only the programme stretched them as much as they stretch themselves
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I cut all my hair off the same year I got braces
Katherine RyanFrom Garbage to Funny Girls, the comedian reveals the things she finds the funniest -
Nothing is out of bounds in David Baddiel’s new standup, which exposes his father’s dementia and his mother’s hyperactive sex life to the same affectionate scrutiny
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From Would I Lie To You? to the Kappa symbol, the comedian reveals the things she finds funniest
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David Baddiel airs his own family’s failings, Bridget Christie grapples with a Motörhead vibrator, there’s a raft of improv – and Mr Swallow recreates Houdini’s finest escape
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Patrick Jones’s latest play, Before I Leave, examines how choral singing can transform the lives of people with dementia. He recalls the communities who inspired him
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Wrecking Ball | Tonight I’m Gonna Be The New Me | Boy | People, Places And Things | Matilda The Musical
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Tired of their meaningless slogans and soundbites, we decided to use politicians’ own words against them in a show that feels like an exorcism
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Alan Partridge, Closer, an Oscar nomination … then nothing. As his Strindberg update goes on tour, the writer talks about Coogan, creativity and his days as a posh standup
polls & quizzes
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Sometimes the description of a character in the stage directions says as much as lines of dialogue. Do you recognise these eight figures as described by the playwrights who created them?
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Many of Shakespeare's lines are used in daily life – but do you know which plays feature these popular expressions?
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Broadway sensation, TV detective and three-time Oscar nominee Angela Lansbury turns 90 in October. See if you can detect the correct answers in our quiz
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As Benedict Cumberbatch’s Hamlet gets an NT Live broadcast, test your knowledge of Shakespeare’s princely tragedy
from the archive
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Gillian Anderson resumes her role as Blanche DuBois in a prequel to the Tennessee Williams play A Streetcar Named Desire
pictures & video
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This is England star Vicky McClure is possessed by evil in this nightmarish manga take on Macbeth, the fourth of the British Council’s films for Shakespeare Lives 2016, a global programme celebrating William Shakespeare on the 400th anniversary of his death
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From Hogwarts robes to Hermione’s wand: take a look at some of the designs for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which begins previews at the Palace theatre, London, in June
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Battersea Arts Centre commissioned Tom de Freston to create a bedroom for its resident artists – he responded by covering himself in paint to evoke a blend of King Lear and wild storms
you may have missed
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When Peter Brook opened the Bouffes du Nord theatre with an international Shakespeare production, the applause shook the building
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popular
Alas, poor Ophelia: minor characters who deserve the spotlight