Julianne Nicholson stars in playwright Annie Baker’s languidly charming and tasteful debut feature about a girl’s increasingly fraught holiday at home
August 2023
Heart of Stone review – Netflix’s Mission: Impossible-esque thriller is rock solid
Gal Gadot leads the streamer’s latest ambitious franchise-starter that delivers just about enough dumb summer fun to have us curious for more
April 2023
Young Soul Rebels review – life-giving ode to diversity in silver jubilee London
Part thriller, part drama, part comedy, Isaac Julien’s urban pastoral set in the aftermath of a homophobic murder still feels fresh, buoyant and likable
March 2023
Observer New Review Q&A
Sophie Okonedo: ‘I’m a really emotional person – I sometimes feel like all my skin is off’
The award-winning actor on taking on the challenge of Medea, her love of cycling, and playing the long game in TV’s Slow Horses
February 2023
The week in theatre: Grenfell: System Failure; Medea; Trouble in Butetown – review
Medea review – Sophie Okonedo is magnificent as ancient Greece’s preeminent rebel woman
January 2023
Sophie Okonedo: 30 years on stage, from the RSC to Broadway – in pictures
As she plays Medea in the West End, take a look back at the star’s theatre roles including Cleopatra, Cressida and Ruth Younger in A Raisin in the Sun
December 2022
Charlotte review – absorbing animation about a remarkable artist, murdered at Auschwitz
Keira Knightley gives voice to Charlotte Salomon, the German-Jewish painter who said she killed her own grandfather after he abused her, in a powerful but flawed biopic
October 2022
Raymond & Ray review – Ewan McGregor and Ethan Hawke wasted in meagre comedy-drama
Sophie Okonedo to play Medea at new West End theatre
June 2022
Stars urge Commonwealth to oppose UK plan to send refugees to Rwanda
Celebrities including Sophie Okonedo and David Harewood say scheme shows ‘colonial view’ of Africa as ‘dumping ground’
February 2022
Death on the Nile review – Kenneth Branagh makes heavy weather of Christie caper
Branagh’s spirited performance as Poirot and a big-name ensemble cast can’t keep this stale and two-dimensional whodunnit afloat
June 2021
Song of the Reed: Swallowtail review – Mark Rylance and Sophie Okonedo shine in hyped eco drama
Recorded on a bird reserve in Norfolk, the first instalment of this new Radio 4 play sees its stars bring their A-game using sound alone
November 2020
Tristram Kenton at the Guardian
Before they were famous, part two: stars' early stage roles – in pictures
Tristram Kenton’s archive reveals more performers heading for the big time, including Rachel Weisz, Idris Elba, Daniel Kaluuya, Felicity Jones and more
October 2020
Scenes of a Sexual Nature review – hit-and-miss Hampstead romcom
Ewan McGregor, Tom Hardy and Sophie Okonedo are among the big names doing small roles in this mostly pleasant portmanteau film from 2006
September 2020
Knock before entering: stars in their dressing rooms – in pictures
Remote controller
Adrian Lester: ‘We’ll never have another TV villain like JR Ewing’
July 2020
Tristram Kenton at the Guardian
Caesar, Cilla and a superstar cast: Tristram Kenton's stage archive – in pictures
Tristram Kenton’s photographs have accompanied reviews in the Guardian for more than 30 years. Ahead of a series of themed galleries, we open up his archive with 40 fabulous shots
May 2020
Lockdown culture
To Egypt, with love: Antony and Cleopatra at the National Theatre
As the NT streams the epic tragedy online, Hildegard Bechtler recalls bringing a monumental setting to the Olivier stage while creating an intimate atmosphere
April 2020
Lockdown culture
Danny Boyle's Frankenstein reanimated for National Theatre streaming service
Hit 2011 show joins Antony and Cleopatra, starring Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo, in being broadcast as part of free scheme
