Chris Wiegand
Chris Wiegand is the Stage editor, Guardian News & Media, responsible for theatre, comedy and dance coverage.
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From Lisbon with love: Regina Advento on Pina Bausch's portrait of PortugalHow do you capture the spirit of Lisbon? With a show featuring fado, sunbathing dancers and an enigmatic walrus. The Tanztheater Wuppertal star recalls making Masurca Fogo
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'David Suchet, I want a word with you': the actor recalls meeting Edward AlbeeDavid Suchet played George to Diana Rigg’s Martha in a 1996 production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? He remembers meeting the quiet yet direct playwright
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'Booed off in 17 seconds' – comedians recall their first gigsShappi Khorsandi felt as if she’d walked on the moon. Isy Suttie watched a man change a dressing on a wound as she spoke. Omid Djalili fell off the stage. So how did the first gigs of Paul Merton, Susan Calman and other top comics go?
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James Thierrée: 'Baryshnikov told me to get used to pain. It's part of a dancer's life'As he prepares to take his latest spectacular to the Edinburgh festival, the performer talks about the ‘magic box’ of theatre, listening to frogs’ secrets and playing an acrobatic Ariel for Peter Greenaway
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Audiences invited to dress up as fish for free tickets to Mark Rylance's new playSeats in a private box are promised to the first theatregoers who turn up in fishing gear – or as fish – at the Oscar-winning actor’s latest West End show
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Thomas Ostermeier: Richard III? He's a rock star, a standup comedianIn the German director’s Schaubühne production, there’s a drum kit on stage, the princes are puppets and the battle scene features Richard alone in his pants
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Maxine Peake to star in A Streetcar Named Desire in ManchesterExclusive: Actor will portray troubled Blanche DuBois in Sarah Frankcom production of Tennessee Williams play
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Peter Brook: Timon of Athens really did bring down the houseWhen the director re-opened a dilapidated Parisian theatre with an international Shakespeare production, the applause shook the building
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Kenneth Branagh on The Entertainer: 'I've been bending Rob Brydon's ear about standup'In the final production of his West End season, Kenneth Branagh takes on the role of the failing comic Archie Rice. He explains how he’s taken tips from funnymen Rob Brydon and Ken Dodd
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Riz Ahmed as Edmund in King Lear: 'Now, gods, stand up for bastards' – videoRiz Ahmed speaks Edmund’s soliloquy from King Lear, in which Edmund reflects upon being an illegitimate son and plots against his half-brother, Edgar
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Zawe Ashton as Jaques in As You Like It: ‘All the world’s a stage’ – videoJaques’s speech about the seven ages of man from As You Like It is performed by Zawe Ashton
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Laura Carmichael as Portia: 'The quality of mercy' – videoLaura Carmichael speaks Portia’s lines from the courtroom scene in The Merchant of Venice, in which she tells the moneylender Shylock to be merciful
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Paterson Joseph as Shylock: 'You call me misbeliever' – videoPaterson 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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The Royal Court at 60: look back in wonderLondon’s powerhouse of new writing is celebrating its 60th birthday. Explore some of the Sloane Square theatre’s key productions through extracts from the Guardian and Observer archive, alongside new recollections from Wole Soyinka, Ann Jellicoe, Amanda Redman, Sally Hawkins and others
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Samuel West as Henry V: 'Upon the king' – videoSamuel 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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Sacha Dhawan as Shakespeare's Parolles: 'Are you meditating on virginity?' – video
Shakespeare Solos Sacha Dhawan as Shakespeare's Parolles: 'Are you meditating on virginity?' – video
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 -
David Threlfall as Prospero in The Tempest: 'Our revels now are ended' – videoDavid Threlfall speaks Prospero’s speech in which the sorcerer contemplates the end of life – and the playwright, perhaps, considers the end of his career
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Joanna Lumley as Viola in Twelfth Night: 'I left no ring with her' – videoJoanna Lumley speaks Viola’s soliloquy from Twelfth Night in which, disguised as a page boy, she wonders whether Olivia has fallen in love with her
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A cast of household names: The Taming of the Shrew retold with everyday itemsClaire Marshall of Forced Entertainment on her own tabletop version of Shakespeare’s play, in which the leads are played by a rose and a jar of mustard
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Your own personal demon: Maria Aberg on her Doctor Faustus double actIn her RSC version of Marlowe’s satanic drama, Maria Aberg bins the jokes, channels Tom Waits and makes the leads strike matches to see who plays who
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Sunshine and terrible rage: Linda Bassett on Caryl Churchill's Escaped AloneCaryl Churchill’s new play gets the cast singing Da Doo Ron Ron and imagines apocalyptic horror. Don’t try to work it all out with your head, says actor Linda Bassett, ‘just listen, let it happen and you get that sock in the stomach’
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