Nicholas Hytner

The Guardian view on excellence in the arts: not about elites | Editorial

Editorial: It is refreshing to hear new ideas, but dividing culture into the best and the rest won’t do anyone any good

Editorial

28, May, 2023 @5:25 PM

Musicals are having an exceptional moment – but classic plays are vanishing from our stages | Michael Billington

There are invigorating versions of Guys and Dolls, Oklahoma! and Cabaret in London – and some enticing new dramas coming up – yet theatre risks being cut off from its past

Michael Billington

23, Mar, 2023 @5:23 PM

The week in theatre: five stars for Guys & Dolls, plus Marjorie Prime and The Tragedy of Macbeth – review

The audience is swept along with the action in Nicholas Hytner’s thrillingly immersive new Guys and Dolls; Nancy Carroll and Anne Reid surf memory and identity; and Shakespeare’s witches multitask

Susannah Clapp

19, Mar, 2023 @10:30 AM

Guys and Dolls review – Nicholas Hytner’s gamble pays off

This immersive production of the New York musical has a bold design, superb singing and chemistry between its stars

Arifa Akbar

15, Mar, 2023 @12:01 AM

‘I threw my arms around Beckett!’ – electrifying first nights, by Ciarán Hinds, Eileen Atkins and more

The author of a new book about the greatest openings in theatre history asks stars of stage to recall their most thrilling first nights – and the occasional disasters that befell them

Interviews by Dominic Dromgoole

26, Oct, 2022 @2:59 PM

‘I want to do things I’ve never done’: The History Boys’ Samuel Barnett on his new one-man show

Making his fringe debut with a show about a troubled standup, the actor explains why he loves solo performance, his issues with The History Boys, and why this government’s days are numbered

Natasha Tripney

16, Aug, 2022 @6:00 AM

The Southbury Child review – a vicar picks an odd hill to die on

Even-handed to a fault, Stephen Beresford’s new comedy coasts by on sub-Alan Bennett humour and the odd eye-roll at wokeness. But its hero’s stance on balloons beggars belief

Ryan Gilbey

19, Jun, 2022 @10:12 AM

Straight Line Crazy review – Ralph Fiennes enthrals as the man who shaped New York

Fiennes heads an electrifying cast in David Hare’s dynamic portrait of Robert Moses, an aggressive yet visionary urban planner who refused to back down

Mark Lawson

24, Mar, 2022 @12:01 AM

Until I get a second pink line on the lateral flow, I’m going to squeeze the pips out of life | Rachel Cooke

The daily Covid test provides each morning’s drama. A negative result means another evening of food for the soul

Rachel Cooke

19, Dec, 2021 @8:00 AM

‘Hanging on by our fingertips’: theatres fear Omicron’s impact on festive season

With a surge in cancellations across the country, the new strain of Covid might be the biggest threat to the UK’s stage industry yet

Chris Wiegand Stage editor

16, Dec, 2021 @2:21 PM

The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage review – a theatrical marvel

Nicholas Hytner brings a dazzling wizard’s touch to this adaptation of Philip Pullman’s fantasy tale