One of the joys of contemporary playwriting is its openness to flexible casting. In Ruby Thomas’s 2019 play Either, for example, there are two lovers — denoted as A and B — whose story is performed in different variations by actors of different genders, different sexualities, different ethnicities. The result is a neat way of […] The full version of the article Nikoletta Soumelidis’s Spent at the Old Red Lion Theatre: Intriguing And Suggestive Exploration Of Gender Roles is available on The Theatre Times ..read more

Getting to the truth - the emotional truth and understanding.  I think emotion more than ideology.  It resonates with us is how we feel. I can understand that we can be in conflict, I have an emotional connection to both sides of an emotional argument.  I not only resonate and feel seen, then I have a better understanding of the person whose thought was in opposition of me. The full version of the article Getting To an Emotional Truth With Padraic Lillis is available on The Theatre Times ..read more

The theatrical kamikaze that destroys all the mechanisms of the world and itself—that is, theatre as such—is the performance Nexxt, directed by András Urban, which premiered at the Novi Sad Theatre/Újvidéki Színház (Serbia) on February 28, 2025. A show of communication with the audience and the public in live broadcast, “ultraviolence,” excessive consumption of the […] The full version of the article Brave New Theatrical World or One Flew Over the 21st Century’s Cuckoo’s Nest?: “Nexxt” is available on The Theatre Times ..read more

In November 2024, the world premiere of a new musical by composer Iván Macías, The Pillars of the Earth, took place at the Teatro EDP Gran Vía in Madrid. The book, written by Félix Amador, is based on the bestselling novel by Ken Follett of the same name. Americans justly consider Broadway musicals – to be the […] The full version of the article “The Pillars of the Earth”: The Evolution of Spanish Musical Theatre. An exclusive interview with Iván Macías. Part I is available on The Theatre Times ..read more

In February I caught Antonio Syxty’s staging of Romeo e Giulietta (Romeo and Juliet) at Milan’s Leonardo Theatre in a production by Manifatture Teatrali Milanesi. Syxty’s interpretation, which puts onstage nearly all the original script, has a three-hours running time, with no interval. This means the five acts are left almost intact, notable exceptions being the absence […] The full version of the article An Innovative “Romeo E Giulietta” In Milan is available on The Theatre Times ..read more

But a woman is a changeling, always shifting shape Just when you think you have it figured out Something new begins to take …I am no mother, I am no bride, I am King. – Florence + The Machine, “King”   As the topic of gender and sexuality, particularly the recognition of female-identifying, non-binary, and […] The full version of the article Woman Is A Changeling: Redefining Femininity In “Maiden Mother Crone” is available on The Theatre Times ..read more

How long would you wait for your soulmate? In “The Demon Lover”, a short story by Elizabeth Bowen, published in 1945, a young couple make a passionate vow during the first world war. When he fails to return from the Front, she moves on and finds someone else to marry — only to be confronted […] The full version of the article Nick Payne’s One Day When We Were Young at Park Theatre: Time-Hopping Love Story Is Restrained By The Slenderness of the Plot is available on The Theatre Times ..read more

Rarely have I spent such an intense ninety minutes watching a show, as I did the other evening at Milan’s Franco Parenti theatre. From start to finish French dramatist Nicolas Bedos’s Le voyage di Victor (Il viaggio di Victor, Italian title, translation Monica Capuani) grabbed my imagination. Bedos’s gripping theatrical thriller, which premiered in Paris […] The full version of the article Victor’s Journey is available on The Theatre Times ..read more

Interview with Handan Salta – co-founder of the Istanbul Theatre Showcase – TheatreIST, theatre critic, literary translator. Handan Salta is a freelance critic and translator. She taught courses on English, dramaturgy, theatre history, text analysis, theatre criticism, and Turkish theatre at Istanbul University and Maltepe University. She has a Ph.D from Istanbul University’s Theatre Criticism […] The full version of the article The Showcase Is To Feed From Academic Research And Knowledge, But It Is Hands-On Job Rather Than Dry Research is available on The Theatre Times ..read more

To read PART I of this report, go to this link.   The line of Irish productions at 2024 Dublin Theatre Festival provoked questions about how to make theatre relevant to contemporary audiences and what role can drama play in the debates about today’s societies. In the festival programme note, Willie White mentions “turbulent and […] The full version of the article 2024 Dublin Theatre Festival – Subjective Report [Part II] is available on The Theatre Times ..read more