Theatre
Has the National Theatre lost its way?
Alexander Larman considers Rufus Norris’s vision, and the future of the National Theatre.
Tom Stoppard – The ‘timid libertarian’ speaks for himself
Like Wilde, Tom Stoppard has finally realised the importance of being earnest
Non-nose job
In a free reworking of “Cyrano”, it takes pizzazz to rewrite French alexandrines in the manner of Eminem
Mood musical
An interesting new West End show about young millennials has echoes of far older classics
Thespians in the woods
Alexander Larman explains how pantomime went upmarket
Freedom fighters
The radical East German playwright Heiner Müller and Michael Frayn have a lot in common
Was Plácido a pest?
Domingo is far from the monster that America’s #MeToo movement has made of him
An appreciation of the late John Simon
Andrew Cusack remembers the apotheosis of criticism
The theatre of inconvenience
The Old Vic’s abolition of women’s toilets is an outrage
On the deceptive use of words
We must be very careful with redefinitions of commonly understood words
Sunak, false equivalence and the phantom far right
There is no comparison between the threat of Islamism and the threat of the far right
Fifth magician blues
He made the tea, he forged the autographs, and only once did he run out of plectrums
Left and right hooks
Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak exchanged sloppy blows as Lee Anderson found a warm welcome in the stands
End of the Biden farce?
The President’s fragility has been obvious for years — but was he ever in control?
Ironic fascism
Taboo-breaking counterculture paved the way for the return of the very fascism it claimed to subvert
Fine art versus luxury goods
The auction houses’ love expensive brands
The Church of England has failed on gender
To pursue kindness at the expense of truth is self-defeating
March 2024: Letters to the Editor
Record-setting sons and founding fathers
Crisis, what crisis?
The Spring Budget was a shameless manifesto of complacency and managed decline
The grim reality of a citizens’ assembly
A seemingly democratic initiative was nothing of the sort
