“Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead” at the Barbican Theatre
Imagine yourself in a remote place: it could be a mountaintop, or a lost village, or the Amazon....
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 | 3rd May 2023 | Adaptation, London, Review, United Kingdom
Imagine yourself in a remote place: it could be a mountaintop, or a lost village, or the Amazon....
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 1st May 2023 | London, Review, Theatre and Gender, United Kingdom
We are watching history being made: after decades of being in the shadows, queer drama is now...
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 28th Apr 2023 | Review, Theatre and Gender, United Kingdom
Is it possible to successfully challenge naturalism in British theatre today? At a time when...
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 27th Apr 2023 | Directing, Ireland, Review, United Kingdom
Brian Friel’s classic play about the blending of Paganism and Christianity in 1930s Ireland is...
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 21st Apr 2023 | London, Playwriting, Review, Theatre and Gender, United Kingdom
The popularity of plays that feature trauma is certainly a trend in British theatre today. But is...
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 13th Apr 2023 | London, Review, Theatre and Politics, United Kingdom
Some plays are instantly forgettable, others leave a tender fold in the memory. I well remember...
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 13th Mar 2023 | London, Norway, Playwriting, Review, Translation, United Kingdom
Bjørg Vik’s The Journey to Venice at the Finborough Theatre: Norwegian memory play is tender if slight
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 6th Mar 2023 | London, Playwriting, Review, United Kingdom
Is anyone still nostalgic about their teen years? The coming-of-age drama is a staple of...
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 16th Feb 2023 | LGBTQ Theatre, London, Playwriting, Review, United Kingdom
The female monologue is a well-established contemporary theatre form, but often the content is...
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 15th Feb 2023 | Adaptation, London, Review, United Kingdom
How can old texts speak to us now? The point is not just to adapt classics, but to reimagine them...
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 5th Feb 2023 | LGBTQ Theatre, Review, Theatre and Religion, United Kingdom
Willy Hudson is a writer and performer from Exeter — his Willy Hudson Ltd theatre company...
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 23rd Jan 2023 | Adaptation, Nigeria, Review, Theatre and Decolonization, Theatre and Politics, United Kingdom
Earlier in the week, I enjoyed a rainy afternoon at home by watching Inua Ellis’s 2019 adaptation...
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 25th Dec 2022 | London, Playwriting, Review, Theatre and Religion, United Kingdom
Pain is, at one and the same time, something to avoid, and also something you can use. Kahlil...
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 22nd Dec 2022 | Directing, London, Review, Theatre and Politics, United Kingdom
Is British new writing in deep trouble? With the Arts Council defunding venues such as the...
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 17th Dec 2022 | London, Playwriting, Review, Theatre and Politics, United Kingdom
What is the best way of talking about the Middle East? Should plays take a documentary or verbatim...
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 10th Dec 2022 | Israel, London, Review, Theatre and Politics, United Kingdom
Julia Pascal is a resourceful theatre-maker who is unafraid of being controversial. Her interest...
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 30th Nov 2022 | Acting, London, Playwriting, Review, United Kingdom
Joe White is great at staging fraught emotions. His Mayfly in 2018 vividly showed a family whose...
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 22nd Nov 2022 | Acting, London, Review, United Kingdom
Last night, at the Arcola, I witnessed the return of The Poltergeist, Philip Ridley’s blazing...
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 19th Nov 2022 | London, Playwriting, Review, Theatre and Politics, United Kingdom
Every day there is bad news about the NHS — junior doctors are exhausted, nurses need food banks...
Read MorePosted by Aleks Sierz | 12th Nov 2022 | Canada, Dramaturgy, Review, Theatre and Science, United Kingdom
The fictional world is our world, but at the same time it’s another place; likewise, the digital...
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