Neil Bartlett

‘It’s Shakespeare – as important as any modern piece of work’: Derek Jarman’s Blue comes to the stage

Russell Tovey, Simon Fisher Turner, Travis Alabanza and Neil Bartlett are teaming up to reimagine the director’s final film – a narrated meditation over a static blue screen – as a ‘thank you’ to the LGBTQ+ hero

David Jays

02, May, 2023 @10:00 AM

The new LGBTQ+ lit list, chosen by writers

From sensational memoirs to sublime poetry, Douglas Stuart, Ali Smith, Colm Tóibín and others share lesser-known books about queer life that deserve to be classics

09, Apr, 2023 @6:00 AM

Orlando review – Emma Corrin is glorious in a giddy, heartfelt show

In Neil Bartlett’s adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s wild-goose chase through time, Corrin shines as the hero who falls asleep as a man and wakes as a woman

David Jays

05, Dec, 2022 @11:59 PM

Jekyll and Hyde review – #MeToo transformation explores monstrous masculinity

Neil Bartlett’s version of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic has female leads laying bare the rot at the heart of a beastly boys’ club

Mark Fisher

07, Oct, 2022 @10:36 AM

'I want to protect and prepare them': why student shows attract starry directors

Three drama school productions highlight the appeal for established names in sharing passion projects with actors flexing their performance muscles

David Jays

11, Mar, 2020 @6:00 AM

'Bring a sleeping bag!' Manchester prepares for 24-hour peace epic

On Remembrance Sunday, a theatrical marathon will share the hopes and insights of 100 peace-workers around the UK. It’s an ode to optimism, says playwright Neil Bartlett

Helen Pidd

06, Nov, 2019 @2:08 PM

Jarvis Cocker to compose music for Manchester Royal Exchange's new season

Cocker to collaborate on new Simon Stephens play, while Lucy Ellinson to play Macbeth and Neil Bartlett to stage 24-hour work on Remembrance Sunday

Laura Snapes

04, Jun, 2019 @11:21 AM

A Christmas Carol review – a real Dickens cracker

Sound, light and sets brilliantly convey Scrooge’s turn from miserliness to philanthropy in Neil Bartlett’s joyous adaptation

Clare Brennan

23, Dec, 2018 @8:00 AM

The Plague review – Neil Bartlett's ingenious update of Camus' chilling fable

Bartlett asks what this 1947 allegory of Nazi occupation means today in a striking production as focused on optimism as on despair

Michael Billington

17, Apr, 2017 @6:00 AM

Victorians Got Talent: Liverpool rekindles its love for music hall

Liverpool Playhouse was once home to mesmerists, acrobats and all sorts of variety acts. A new show, The Star, celebrates the artists who knew how to make the audience laugh, cry and sing along

Lyn Gardner

08, Dec, 2016 @11:43 AM

Stella review – emotional hide and seek in real-life cross-dressing drama

Neil Bartlett returns to the scandalous story of Ernest Boulton in a piece that doesn’t quite deliver emotionally but has moments when it glows brightly

Lyn Gardner

01, Jun, 2016 @1:58 PM

Plan your week's theatre: top tickets

Joseph Fiennes is in Adrian Noble’s Rattigan revival in Chichester and you can go Into the Woods at the West Yorkshire Playhouse – plus the rest of the week’s best theatre

Lyn Gardner

30, May, 2016 @6:00 AM