This adaptation of Hemingway’s famous novel about the lost generation who survived WWI bristles with lust and spiritual longing. Ex-pat American writers Jake Barnes and Robert Cohn are soaking up the excesses of post war Paris with matey abandon when the irresistible Lady Brett Ashley turns up, newly divorced and looking for excitement. It’s hard to convey bullfighting backdrop on stage, particularly one as ...

'I think someone in their 50s being childlike becomes a little sad' said Rowan Atkinson, explaining why he has chosen to perform in a play for the first time in 25 years, taking the title role in Quartermaine's Terms, Simon Gray's 1981 tragi-comedy which hits the West End next week. Quartermaine is an affable sort. Somewhat vague and definitely an outsider, he is nevertheless a far cry from Mr Bean, the gau ...

The name of this show always makes me laugh. Here is a musical about a couple who do nothing apart from fight, argue, cheat and defy one another. Any sort of reconciliation is going to take a lot more than a kiss. And if the infuriated Lilli does pucker up, how long will it last as she and her egotistical ex-husband vye for the limelight in every sense. The plot turns on a group of actors who are touring th ...

This is a preview of London's new theatre, the indoor Globe, which opens in 2014 when for the first time we will have an all-weather London venue dedicated to Shakespeare productions. Like it's outdoor neighbour, the indoor Globe will be Jacobean in style and atmosphere and the stage will be largely lit with 100 candles. This is a revolutionary return to a practice which died out in the 18th century when ke ...

All sorts of privates are on parade at London's Noel Coward Theatre, for Michael Grandage has left no stone unturned in this revival of Peter Nicholls 1977 play about an innocent young soldier sent to Malaya in 1948. With everything you might imagine: wine, women, song, men of every sexual persuasion, intrigue, murder and revenge it's all served with a huge dose of understatement and an amateur quality that ...

A fascinating play about the elusive nature of happiness is being revived by gifted young playwright Penelope Skinner exactly 45 years after Ian McKellen and Judi Dench starred in the legendary British version of 1967. True to form, Skinner's version seeks out the comedy in tragic situations and is brimming with sexual tension. Alex Sims' fast paced production gives Matt Bennett a chance to shine as the com ...

Stephen Fry is back on stage at last, and has been perfectly chosen to play the pompous Malvolio in Twelfth Night, which opened last night at the Apollo Theatre, Shaftsbury Avenue for a 14 week run. And there's more. For the first time we are allowed to sit on stage in side seats that bring us within inches of the action. The idea is to recreate the atmosphere of Middle Temple Hall where the first recorded ...

Alan Bennett has written a play about Us, the culture-hungry Public. But he doesn't want to upset us too much, after all we are paying his wages, so he's kept it light-hearted and dealt a few pokes elsewhere too. First, there is his well-publicised gripe with the National Trust, its purchasing power and its staff. It's an unstoppable monster to which heroine Dorothy Stacpoole (Frances de La Tour), succumbs ...

He was not thrilled to be 'doing Crawley' on a Wednesday evening, poor thing. But spare a thought if you will for his poor audience. He tried to cheer us up with the idea that he disliked posher Dorking even more. It nearly worked. For Julian is an acquired and fairly expensive taste. An intelligent man with a once beautiful face, he stars on Radio 4's Just a Minute, frequently bringing more literary types ...

In this version of Romeo and Juliet, the older star-crossed lovers are afflicted not by their warring families but by the disease that is savaging Juliet's fragile body. In response to a challenge set by the RSC's artistic director Michael Boyd, Ben Power's play remixes many lines from Romeo and Juliet to create a modern tragedy as, daily confronted by the prospect of a life that continues without joy or pu ...