Alex Eales

Review Roundup: Tom Stoppard's ARCADIA at The Old Vic
by Aliya Al-Hassan - Feb 5, 2026

Arcadia is set in April 1809 in a stately home in Derbyshire. Thomasina, a gifted pupil, proposes a startling theory, beyond her comprehension. All around her, the adults, including her tutor Septimus, are preoccupied with secret desires, illicit passions and professional rivalries. Two hundred years later, academic adversaries Hannah and Bernard are piecing together puzzling clues, curiously recalling those events of 1809, in their quest for an increasingly elusive truth.

Review: ARCADIA, The Old Vic
by Aliya Al-Hassan - Feb 5, 2026

Of all Tom Stoppard's work, Arcadia has always stood out. Touching on sex, Fermat's last theorum, the second law of thermodynamics, landscape gardening with a detective story thrown in, it is a mixture of subjects that few playwrights could attempt to combine. Does it matter if you don't understand the complex scientific and mathematical theories? Not at all. Carrie Cracknell's magnificent revival has huge amounts of humour and heart, which is not always a given with Stoppard's work.

Review: DEAD MAN WALKING, London Coliseum
by Gary Naylor - Nov 6, 2025

A confession. It’s a guilty pleasure of mine to read the death notices on Wikipedia - I am my mother’s son after all and, without the columns of classifieds in the Liverpool Echo, where else is there to look?

Annilese Miskimmon Directs New Production of Jake Heggie's DEAD MAN WALKING
by Stephi Wild - Sep 29, 2025

English National Opera (ENO) will bring a new production of the compelling death row opera Dead Man Walking to the London Coliseum stage this November.

Full Cast Set for COW I DEER at Royal Court Theatre
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Jul 3, 2025

The Royal Court Theatre has revealed the cast for Cow I Deer, a one-of-a-kind collaboration between Katie Mitchell, Nina Segal and Melanie Wilson. See who is starring and learn more!

Review Roundup: What Did The Critics Think of Carrie Cracknell's Adaptation of THE GRAPES OF WRATH?
by Aliya Al-Hassan - Aug 1, 2024

Carrie Cracknell (Julie, The Deep Blue Sea) directs Frank Galati’s award-winning adaptation of John Steinbeck’s masterpiece, The Grapes of Wrath, now open at the National Theatre.

Photos: Cherry Jones, Harry Treadaway & More in THE GRAPES OF WRATH at the National Theatre
by Nicole Rosky - Aug 1, 2024

Now onstage at The National Theatre is a new production of Frank Galati’s Tony Award-winning adaptation of The Grapes of Wrath, based on the novel by John Steinbeck, directed by Carrie Cracknell. Check out photos of the cast in action!

Review: THE GRAPES OF WRATH, National Theatre
by Cindy Marcolina - Aug 1, 2024

The piece is heavy in topic and method, but Carrie Cracknell’s quiet direction smooths out the nearly three hours of running time. It’s by any means not an easy-breezy show to experience, but it sinks into your soul in a way that only an epic does. The problem is that it’s so, so slow. 

Video: Watch Cherry Jones and Harry Treadaway in THE GRAPES OF WRATH Trailer
by Nicole Rosky - May 28, 2024

The National Theatre will soon present a new production of Frank Galati’s Tony Award-winning adaptation of The Grapes of Wrath. In this video, watch a trailer for the new production.

Cherry Jones Will Lead THE GRAPES OF WRATH at The National Theatre; Summer 2024 Line-Up Announced
by Aliya Al-Hassan - Jan 23, 2024

The National Theatre has announced new productions for all three South Bank stages this summer: Alan Bleasdale’s Boys from the Blackstuff and Mnemonic in the Olivier theatre and The Grapes of Wrath in the Lyttelton theatre, alongside the previously announced The Hot Wing King in the Dorfman theatre. 

Review: PORTIA COUGHLAN, Almeida Theatre
by Cindy Marcolina - Oct 18, 2023

Marina Carr’s award-winning play returns to London directed by Carrie Cracknell and starring Conversations with Friends starlet Alison Oliver (who trod the same boards earlier this year in Women, Beware the Devil). A compelling analysis of toxic dysfunction and female pain, Portia Coughlan is a jarring family drama shackled by tragedy. It propels Oliver into theatre stardom. 

Cast Set For PORTIA COUGHLAN at the Almeida Theatre
by Stephi Wild - Aug 22, 2023

The Almeida Theatre has announced the full cast for Carrie Cracknell’s production of Marina Carr’s Portia Coughlan. 

Billy Howle Joined By Niamh Cusack and Mirren Mack in HAMLET at Bristol Old Vic; Full Cast Announced
by Stephi Wild - Sep 1, 2022

The full cast of Bristol Old Vic's Autumn headline production Hamlet has been announced, bringing together some of the hottest young talent and theatrical heavyweights for a visceral new production running from 13 Oct - 12 Nov.

BWW Review: OLEANNA, Arts Theatre
by James Ayles - Jul 29, 2021

An unflinching examination of power and gender roles told through the perspective of a student-teacher relationship that is unafraid to pose difficult questions of its audience.

OLEANNA Will Transfer to the West End Transfer and Embark on Tour
by Stephi Wild - Apr 21, 2021

Theatre Royal Bath Productions and Jonathan Church Productions' critically acclaimed production of David Mamet's highly provocative drama Oleanna, directed by Lucy Bailey, will tour the UK this Summer from 8 June, visiting Cambridge, Bath, Southampton and Malvern, before transferring to the West End's Arts Theatre, London from 21 July to 23 October 2021.

BWW Review: OLEANNA, Theatre Royal Bath
by Cheryl Markosky - Dec 9, 2020

Can a controversial production that was staged nearly 30 years ago still feel relevant today? The answer is a resounding yes.

Review Roundup: BETRAYAL at Theatre Royal Bath - What Did the Critics Think?
by Stephi Wild - Oct 23, 2020

Theatre Royal Bath is now presenting Betrayal. The show runs from 14 October to 31 October.

BWW Review: BETRAYAL, Theatre Royal Bath
by Cheryl Markosky - Oct 22, 2020

In the week that Dominic West appeared in a cringe-worthy “We’re still happily married” two-hander on the doorstep of his Wiltshire home with his deceived wife, the opening of Harold Pinter’s tale of betraying loved ones couldn’t be more timely.

BWW Review: A Glorious RIGOLETTO Opens at Opera Theatre St. Louis
by Steve Callahan - Jun 4, 2019

The Opera Theatre of St. Louis continues its 44th festival season of world class opera with a magnificent production of Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto. OTSL presented a splendid Rigoletto fourteen years ago, but this production is, I think, even better. It's the best Rigoletto your ever likely to see.

BWW Review: Fleming and Whishaw Open NY Arts Center, The Shed, with NORMA JEANE BAKER OF TROY
by Richard Sasanow - Apr 10, 2019

Helen of Troy didn't launch a thousand ships but was a put-upon sexual victim and Marilyn Monroe--born Norma Jeane Baker, of the title--was a cloud in the shape of a woman. It was also a “disaster to be a girl” in those days before #MeToo, with powerful men (whether Menelaus or Arthur Miller) holding beautiful women captive (and worse). That was just part of Anne Carson's new ”dramatic work,” NORMA JEANE BAKER OF TROY, with its effective tonal score by Paul Clark, and two wonderful performers, soprano Renee Fleming and British actor Ben Whishaw, under director Katie Mitchell.