Rhinoseros review – absurdist fable gets a Welsh twist as villagers sling the mud
Manon Steffan Ros has translated Ionesco’s play into Welsh for this technically ambitious and compelling production
December 2022
2022 in Culture
The best theatre of 2022
In a superb year for the stage, our chief critic gives 10 shows an extra round of applause. Plus, Guardian theatre reviewers each pick their 2022 standout
July 2022
The Lesson review – Ionesco’s sinister comedy still shocks
Southwark Playhouse, London It can feel exasperating at times but this well-performed 1951 drama offers a smart balance of discomfort and laughs
February 2022
The week in theatre: Two Billion Beats; Running With Lions; The Forest; The Chairs – review
The Chairs review – slapstick sadness from a spine-shiveringly good duo
July 2018
The week in theatre: Exit the King; Pity; River Stage festival – review
Exit the King review – Rhys Ifans’s dying despot is majestic
August 2017
Zinnie Harris brings stampeding rhinos and marooned lovers to Edinburgh
The Scottish playwright’s take on an Ionesco classic comes with added festival gags, while her drama Meet Me at Dawn looks at the difficulty of letting go
March 2017
Amédée review – Josie Lawrence and Trevor Fox take corpsing to another level
A dysfunctional couple do battle with a body in their bedroom in Sean Foley’s off-kilter adaptation of Ionesco’s comedy
January 2016
Olwyn Hughes obituary
Literary agent with a fearsome reputation who was devoted to the work of her brother, Ted Hughes, and the posthumous literary life of his wife Sylvia Plath
July 2015
When Orson met Larry: 'Welles was a very bad boy. But he was a great artist'
It was a clash of two massive egos. As Orson’s Shadow makes its European premiere, its playwright Austin Pendleton about how he turned Orson Welles and Laurence Olivier’s famous theatrical fall out into a play
November 2014
Exit the King review – Alun Armstrong absurdly good in Ionesco’s drama
Alun Armstrong rules in Ionesco’s absurdist drama, writes Kate Kellaway
Exit the King review – a production with panache
Ionesco’s imperfect study of a power-crazed monarch facing death is helped by a powerful performance from Alun Armstrong, writes Michael Billington
This week's new theatre
This week’s new theatre
Assassins | Quizoola24 | La Soirée | An Ideal Husband | Mmm Hmmm | Exit The King
August 2013
Sławomir Mrozek obituary
One of Poland's greatest playwrights whose most famous play, Tango, was a modern-day Hamlet
June 2013
Olwen Wymark obituary
American-born dramatist known for her affinity with French absurdist theatre and her many BBC radio adaptations
July 2012
Tsilla Chelton obituary
French actor known for her role as the cantankerous widow in Tatie Danielle, the 1990 film directed by Étienne Chatiliez
December 2011
Michael Billington’s A to Z of modern drama
A is for absurdism
Michael Billington opens a new series on modern theatre with a twentieth-century movement that has lost its momentum in a complex world
August 2010
The Chairs
Theatre Royal at the Ustinov, Bath A spot-on revival gets all the grim undercurrents of Ionesco's challenging absurdist classic from 1952, writes Elisabeth Mahoney
March 2009
V&A unveils Kylie's dressing room, Jagger's jumpsuit and Ionesco's Rhinoceros
The V&A's new galleries explore the art of performance, with a little help from Kylie, Mick Jagger and some monkey marionettes
