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Sally Cookson

March 2022

  • Raphel Famotibe as Sonny with Ramesh Meyyappan as Captain Chatter.

    Wonder Boy review – a school play with soul-stirring super powers

    With brilliant performances, eye-popping visuals and a gloriously profane script by Ross Willis, this is an unforgettable tale of adolescence

January 2021

  • ‘It’s really hard to express the pain of not being able to say your own name.’

    Future plays
    Captain Chatter and the stammering student: Ross Willis on his play Wonder Boy

    Our series of extracts from new scripts continues with a play capturing the frustration and worries of 12-year-old schoolboy Sonny

April 2020

  • Madeleine Worrall as Jane Eyre at the Lyttelton, National Theatre

    Lockdown culture
    'Wow, I'd love to be someone like that!' Sally Cookson on our passion for Jane Eyre

    As her bold staging of the classic novel is screened as part of National Theatre at Home, the director discusses Brontë’s genius – and the seismic effects of lockdown

August 2019

  • John Pfumojena (Peter Pan) in Peter Pan by JM Barrie @ Troubadour Theatre,White City.

    Peter Pan review – it’s all over the place, Darling

    Despite a soaring lead and plenty of ideas, this production doesn’t quite get off the ground

July 2018

  • Matthew Tennyson, centre, as 13-year-old Conor in Sally Cookson’s production of A Monster Calls.

    A Monster Calls review – adolescent reality meets fairytale fantasy with wit and charm

    Sally Cookson delivers an exhilarating production of Patrick Ness’s story about a lonely boy coping with grief, bullying and a monster in a yew tree

December 2017

  • Ensemble spirit … The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe at West Yorkshire Playhouse.

    The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe review – Sally Cookson conjures magic of make-believe

  • Rhys Ifans as Scrooge in A Christmas Carol at the Old Vic

    Christmas culture 2017
    The best theatre shows this Christmas – from panto to Pinocchio and Narnia

November 2017

  • Sally Cookson, director of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, at West Yorkshire Playhouse

    Finding Narnia: Sally Cookson on the real trauma in CS Lewis's fantasy

    After the wild success of Jane Eyre and Peter Pan, the director and her company are conjuring up The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. She talks about how the Good Fairy got her into theatre – and why kids are the most exacting audiences

August 2017

  • Amy Morgan and Naana Agyei-Ampadu in Touch

    Five of the best… theatre shows
    Touch and Sacrifice: this week’s best UK theatre and dance

    Fleabag director Vicky Jones’s filthily enjoyable play enters its last week at Soho theatre, while Iceland Dance Company takes over Royal Festival Hall

June 2017

  • ‘Unforgettable sweetness’: Audrey Brisson (centre) in La Strada.

    La Strada review – a finely realised fanfare for Fellini

  • Killology at the Royal Court

    Five of the best… theatre shows
    Killology and Scottish Ballet: this week’s best UK theatre and dance

April 2017

  • The Lion King at the Lyceum

    Five of the best ... new dance performances
    The Lion King and The Legend of Mulan: this week’s best UK theatre and dance

  • The National Theatre’s Jane Eyre

    Five of the best… theatre shows
    Jane Eyre and Betroffenheit: this week’s best UK theatre and dance

March 2017

  • Circus charm … Bart Soroczynski, centre, and the rest of the cast of La Strada.

    La Strada review – Fellini's ragtag circus comes to the stage

    Sally Cookson directs a fine ensemble in a witty and inventive high-wire production with a modern edge

December 2016

  • Anna Francolini (Hook), centre, in Peter Pan @ Olivier.

    Peter Pan review – this Neverland is Now

    Sally Cookson tumbles expectations in a fine production that’s true to Barrie’s sadly twisting story
  • Paul Hilton (Peter Pan) and Madeleine Worrall (Wendy) in Peter Pan @ Olivier, National Theatre. Directed by Sally Cookson.

    Peter Pan review – spirited exuberance with a touch of sadness

    Sally Cookson’s inventive playfulness reinforces the hero’s devotion to fun and games but remains true to the melancholy spirit of JM Barrie’s play
  • Baz Luhrman’s Strictly Ballroom The Musical

    This week's best culture
    The best theatre and dance shows this week

    Strictly Ballroom | Bollywood Jack | Sweet Charity | Peter Pan | Cinderella | Annie Get Your Gun | Saint Joan | Simon Callow | The Siege Of Christmas | Black Beauty | The Nutcracker | The Wolf And Peter | Up & Down

November 2016

  • Sally Cookson

    How I made Wendy the real star of Peter Pan

    The director Sally Cookson is renowned for turning family shows upside down. As her National Theatre Peter Pan opens, she talks about why she made Wendy the real star of the show

February 2016

  • Bryony Kimmings and Tim Grayburn performing Fake It Til You Make It at the Edinburgh festival in 2015

    Rufus Norris's National Theatre ushers in new generation of writers

    The artistic director’s second NT season welcomes devised pieces, experimentation and co-productions, and includes new shows by Bryony Kimmings and Lucy Kirkwood – plus a transfer of the acclaimed Young Chekhov

January 2016

  • Guy Warren-Thomas (Dorian) in The Picture Of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde @ Trafalgar Studios. directed by Peter Craze. (Opening 20-01-16) ©Tristram Kenton 01/16 (3 Raveley Street, LONDON NW5 2HX TEL 0207 267 5550 Mob 07973 617 355)email: tristram@tristramkenton.com

    The Picture of Dorian Gray review – Wilde staging gets ugly

    It’s the work of his grandson, but this adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s great novella is miscast, plodding and dull
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