MELANIA THE OPERA

by Matthew Paluch - June 12, 2026

What did our critic think of SO ARE WE: LEÓN AND LIGHTFOOT at Royal Ballet And Opera?...

by Mica Blackwell - June 11, 2026

Whether you grew up with the 1968 film or are learning about it for the first time, this Chitty Chitty Bang Bang proves that with some imagination, theatrical magic can come from the simplest things....

by Clementine Scott - June 09, 2026

“It’s like vultures circling a carcass,” one character in Driftwood says of the uneasy situation in Trinidad a few years shy of independence. This is the febrile setting for Casualty actress Martina Laird’s debut play, a portrait of a nation told entirely within the walls of one Port of Spai...

by Clementine Scott - June 08, 2026

On her deathbed, US playwright Joshua Harmon’s grandmother granted him permission to write a play about their family, on the condition that it be as “brutal and vitriolic” as possible. The result is We Had A World, a Pandora’s Box of generational trauma – indeed, the actor playing Harmon b...

by Aliya Al-Hassan - June 08, 2026

A new version of Handel's 1724 opera Giulio Cesare is always an exciting prospect. The love story between Julius Caesar and Cleopatra, with the backdrop of war with Egypt, political ambition and domestic unrest is ripe for reinterpretation. Indeed, Handel and his librettist the librettist Nicola ...

by Louise Penn - June 08, 2026

The Lilian Baylis Theatre and associated spaces next door to Sadler's Wells is full of chatter and excitement on day 2 of the Dance Digital film festival. With short films, documentaries, social media pieces, and VR experiences, alongside networking and mentoring opportunities for professionals, thi...

by Franco Milazzo - June 06, 2026

Mae West famously asked, 'Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you happy to see me?' Well, at the beginning of the relationship, he will no doubt be very happy to see you. But, at the end of the relationship… And that, my friends, is as good a summary of Mozart’s The Marriage Of Figaro as any....

by Cindy Marcolina - June 06, 2026

Kurt Vonnegut’s anti-war sci-fi is probably one of the most censored novels of the 20th century. Published in 1969, it’s a methodical indictment of war and a sharp critique of traditional American values. The book has been reproached for its obscene and graphic writing, the exact same reasons wh...

by Clementine Scott - June 04, 2026

Clad in pastel pyjamas and lounging on bunkbeds, two preteen girls discuss the repeated drugging and rape of Gisèle Pelicot. Their tone is not the sobering one of a news reporter, or even the hushed horror of one learning about the case for the first time, but light and jovial, teasing each other a...

by Clementine Scott - June 03, 2026

Latest in the line of blockbuster Cole Porter musicals dominating the Barbican’s summer programming is High Society, following in the footsteps of Anything Goes and Kiss Me, Kate. Like its predecessors, High Society is, to a certain extent, an excuse for a series of absurd situations contrived to ...