Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? review – sparks fly in this thrilling new production
In a small theatre this play is even more electric, as acclaimed director Sarah Goodes conducts the bloodsports – and a star-studded cast – with precision
February 2023
The Goat, Or Who Is Sylvia? review – Claudia Karvan stars in bestiality comedy that loses itself in farce
Edward Albee’s 2002 play has a deliberately ridiculous premise – but this production eschews the real issues it could interrogate in favour of broad laughs
January 2023
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? review – Elizabeth McGovern cracks the whip
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? review – Elizabeth McGovern and Dougray Scott face off
April 2022
Top 10s
Top 10 difficult marriages in fiction
Whether they induce schadenfreude or pangs of recognition, mismatched couples have inspired brilliant novels by authors from Evelyn Waugh to Jean Rhys
September 2021
Top 10s
Top 10 books about lies and liars
The untruths we believe in all to easily drive books by authors from Shakespeare to F Scott Fitzgerald and Neil Gaiman
May 2018
British theatre stars storm the nominations for 2018 Tony awards
Angels in America and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child are in the running for prizes at New York’s theatre ceremony
March 2018
Three Tall Women review – Glenda Jackson's astounding return to Broadway
Edward Albee’s psychodrama spells out the crueller fortunes of life for three ages of the same woman, leavened with some comic sympathy
December 2017
Best culture 2017
Michael Billington's top 10 theatre of 2017
Imelda Staunton simmered, Sondheim’s showgirls sizzled, Bryan Cranston gave us a cathode-ray Lear, and Jez Butterworth found love in the time of hunger-strikes
July 2017
Pass notes
Who’s afraid of unfinished work? Why Edward Albee wanted his leftovers destroyed
The playwright, who died last year, made provisions in his will to ensure any remaining manuscripts were never published. But, as with Nabokov and Kafka, will his dying wishes be ignored?
May 2017
Diversity on stage: who's afraid of color-blind casting?
The decision of Edward Albee’s estate to deny production rights over the casting choice of a black actor has reignited a debate over theater’s relationship with race
Edward Albee estate denies rights to production over casting of black actor
A planned Oregon performance of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was halted after the playwright’s estate refused to allow a black actor to play the role of Nick
Five of the best… theatre shows
While We’re Here and Rambert: this week’s best UK theatre and dance
Tessa Peake-Jones and Andrew French excel in a tragicomedy about lost love, while Sadler’s Wells hosts a triple bill from the celebrated dance company
April 2017
Observer New Review Q&A
Sophie Okonedo: ‘My body is my barometer – my instincts are physical’
The celebrated actor on her new play with Damian Lewis, why performing is an adventure, and leaving London for the country
The Goat, Or Who Is Sylvia? review – an unappetising plea for liberalism
Damian Lewis and Sophie Okonedo do their best with Edward Albee’s provocative play, but it is too knowing for its own good
The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? review – Damian Lewis shines in Albee's bestial classic
Lewis plays an architect in love with a goat in Edward Albee’s tragedy about uncontrollable sexuality – with Sophie Okonedo equally riveting as his wife
March 2017
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? review – Staunton ignites Albee's marital battle
To eat, or not to eat? That is the question
February 2017
Imelda Staunton: ‘I’m intimidated by following in very big shoes… But I bloody well will’
As she prepares to play Martha, Elizabeth Taylor’s role in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, the actor talks about how she ‘ducked and dived’ her way to the top
October 2016
Damian Lewis returns to West End for revival of Edward Albee play
Homeland and Wolf Hall star will appear in The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? at Theatre Royal Haymarket in spring 2017
