stage
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Ayesha Dharker: ‘The forgeries of jealousy’Ayesha Dharker plays Titania, the queen of the fairies, in a scene from A Midsummer Night’s Dream
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Roger Allam as King Lear: ‘Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks’Roger Allam performs a speech from the tragedy in which the ageing king curses the weather and his daughters -
Red Velvet review – Adrian Lester gives us fire, fury and grandeurLester’s magnificent acting makes you nostalgic for a vanished gestural style in this welcome revival of Lolita Chakrabarti’s play about racial prejudice -
French-kiss Me Kate: Parisian theatre embraces Cole PorterWith its series of extravagant and sophisticated shows, the Châtelet in France is casting English actors in American musical classics. The latest aims to match the Hollywood glamour of the 1940s
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How we made Billy Elliot the MusicalLee Hall: ‘I’d fax my lyrics to Elton – then he’d call me up and sing them down the phone’
talking points
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Nobody was offering black actors Shakespeare so we staged King LearThe director recalls her 1994 Talawa production of the tragedy, in which 39-year-old Ben Thomas was cast as a last-minute king after Norman Beaton fell ill
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Artists can't survive on thin airLast night, Greg Sinclair and others were awarded £10,000 prizes at the Arts Foundation awards. That’s brilliant, but what we need is a funding system that puts bread on the table and supports dreaming
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Frank Finlay: the no-nonsense star who moved like a dancerWhether playing charismatic leaders or acting as a fine foil to Olivier, Finlay brought a robust intelligence and grace to his stage roles
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Shakespeare's Globe to take Hamlet to 'Jungle' refugee campCalais performance will be latest in series company has staged at refugee settlements during its Globe to Globe world tour
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Flamenco superstar Sara Baras: 'If you don’t feel it, you can’t do it'In the last of our dancers’ diaries, the flamenco legend says the genre is not about technique but emotion – above all, it must come from the heart
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Isy Suttie webchat – as it happenedThe author, comedian and Peep Show star joined us to answer your questions in a live webchat – from comedy to food via why she’d love to star in Batman, catch up with her answers here
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It's about time comedians asked if science stands upWith The Brain Show, Robert Newman provides a welcome counter-argument to the many comedians hymning the virtues of rational inquiry
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Amy Schumer responds to theft accusations: 'I would never steal a joke'The standup comedian and star of Trainwreck says she will ‘take a polygraph test’ after being accused of copying material
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Frank Finlay obituaryStage and screen actor admired for his many classical theatrical roles who played the obsessed father in the 1970s TV drama Bouquet of Barbed Wire
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Plan your week’s theatre: top ticketsJames Graham considers Screaming Lord Sutch in Plymouth, undercover police behaviour is scrutinised in Nottingham, and Shakespeare’s daughter goes to court in Northampton
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Protest letter to a hard-hearted stateGary Owen’s retelling of a Greek myth in Cardiff earned rave reviews for its moral indignation. As it comes to the National, the playwright talks about his cri de coeur against austerity
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The powerhouse behind Peter BrookShe’s not just his fixer, assistant, co-writer and collaborator. She even picks the costumes and carpets. As Peter Brook revisits his epic Mahabharata, Marie-Hélène Estienne looks back on 40 years of triumphs and tiffs
polls & quizzes
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Everyday Shakespeare
Many of Shakespeare's lines are used in daily life – but do you know which plays feature these popular expressions?
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Playwrights describe their characters: can you identify them?
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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Do you know your Oedipus from your Antigone?
Are you a titan of the theatre or have the fates abandoned you? As the Almeida puts on a festival inspired by Dionysus, test your knowledge of Greek drama
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How well do you know Hamlet?As Benedict Cumberbatch’s Hamlet gets an NT Live broadcast, test your knowledge of Shakespeare’s princely tragedy
pictures & video
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Adrian Lester as Hamlet: ‘To be or not to be’Adrian Lester performs Hamlet’s soliloquy in which the prince considers taking his own life
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UK artists rap Twelfth NightIn the candlelit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, recording artists Maverick Sabre, Mic Righteous and Eyez perform lyrics inspired by Shakespeare’s romantic comedy
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'Don't look at my feet!'Royal Ballet principal ballerina Lauren Cuthbertson prepares for her opening performance of the classic Christmas production The Nutcracker
you may have missed
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Designs fit for Kanye and a future kingImages like the myriad white balloons in Tom Scutt’s design for Constellations have left their mark on audiences. Here, he talks through six shows from his career
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Shakespeare Solos ‘The mask of night is on my face’
Shakespeare timeline: follow the plot of his life