Olga Braga’s “Donbas” at Theatre 503: Complex Account Of The Start Of The Ukraine War Is Deeply Humanistic
Today, in Geneva, there are tentative peace talks between Ukraine and Russia; today, in London,...
Read MoreAleks Sierz FRSA is a British theatre critic. He is author of In-Yer-Face Theatre: British Drama Today (Faber, 2001), The Theatre of Martin Crimp (Methuen, 2006), John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger (Continuum, 2008) and Rewriting the Nation: British Theatre Today (Methuen, 2011). He has also written, co-authored with Lia Ghilardi, The Time Traveller’s Guide to British Theatre: The First Four Hundred Years (Oberon, 2015). His latest book is Good Nights Out: A History of Popular British Theatre 1940–2015 (Methuen, 2019). Sierz has written for publications including Tribune, The Arts Desk and The Stage, as well as newspapers such as The Independent.
Posted by Aleks Sierz | 20th Feb 2026 | Playwriting, Review, Theatre and Politics, Ukraine, United Kingdom
Today, in Geneva, there are tentative peace talks between Ukraine and Russia; today, in London,...
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 19th Feb 2026 | Acting, Directing, Review, United Kingdom
Terence Rattigan is a posh playwright whose work encapsulates the emotional restraint of the...
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 9th Feb 2026 | London, Playwriting, Review, Theatre and Gender, United Kingdom
Some shows have great moments, but somehow just don’t work — the whole is less than the sum of its...
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 8th Jan 2026 | Acting, London, Playwriting, Review, United Kingdom
New Year, new line up of West End stars. This time it’s the turn of Olivier-Award-winner Sheridan...
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 2nd Nov 2025 | London, Review, Theatre and Politics, United Kingdom
Thatcher, and the image of Thatcher’s Britain, continues to cast a long shadow over contemporary...
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 30th Oct 2025 | Adaptation, London, Review, Theatre and Decolonization, United Kingdom
In 2023, Malaysian actor Michelle Yeoh won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance in...
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 27th Oct 2025 | Ireland, Playwriting, Review, United Kingdom
Weird scenes inside the farmhouse; weird scenes in Northern Ireland; weird scenes of the 1980s....
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 26th Oct 2025 | London, Playwriting, Review, United Kingdom
The Royal Court, Britain’s premiere new writing venue, celebrates its platinum anniversary next...
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 30th Sep 2025 | Documentary Theatre, Review, Theatre and Politics, United Kingdom
Broken Britain has a big problem with youth. About a million of those aged 16 to 24 are NEETs (not...
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 26th Sep 2025 | Acting, Dramaturgy, London, Review, United Kingdom
Perhaps it’s an indicator of the feebleness of new writing after the pandemic that so many of the...
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 23rd Aug 2025 | Playwriting, Review, United Kingdom
Slowly, very slowly, the audience begins to arrive. Taking their seats, shedding jackets,...
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 2nd Aug 2025 | London, Review, United Kingdom
Is there such a thing as the seven-year itch? Named after Billy Wilder’s 1955 comedy, which...
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 6th Jul 2025 | Playwriting, Review, Theatre and Gender, United Kingdom
George Bernard Shaw is the supreme example of old writing. Maddeningly verbose, eye-poppingly...
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 19th Jun 2025 | LGBTQ+ Theatre, Review, United Kingdom
Let us always remember the pioneers. Although there is a fair amount of relatively mainstream...
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 17th Jun 2025 | London, Review, Theatre and Politics, United Kingdom
Only the truth, we are told, can set us free — but there are times in love when the New Testament...
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 29th Apr 2025 | Ireland, Playwriting, Review, United Kingdom
Theatre needs mystery. In the darkened auditorium, with a crowd of strangers sharing your...
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 15th Apr 2025 | LGBTQ+ Theatre, Review, United Kingdom
Coming of age stories are more or less all the same. But what distinguishes Julia Grogan’s...
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 11th Apr 2025 | Documentary Theatre, Dramaturgy, Review, United Kingdom
Are we really in “a new era of male anger, societal discontent and rage”? This is what Royal Court...
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 28th Mar 2025 | Acting, London, Review, United Kingdom
Anxiety. Apprehension. Angst even. Yes, that’s the feeling that rises in me as I come into the...
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 21st Mar 2025 | London, Playwriting, Review, United Kingdom
One of the joys of contemporary playwriting is its openness to flexible casting. In Ruby Thomas’s...
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Olga Braga’s “Donbas” at Theatre 503: Complex… by Aleks Sierz 20th February 2026
In the City of al-Sayyab, Theatre Still Speaks by Amir Al-Azraki 19th February 2026
Frantic Assembly’s “Lost Atoms” at the… by Aleks Sierz 9th February 2026
Terence Rattigan’s “Man and Boy” at the National… by Aleks Sierz 19th February 2026 

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