Alice Saville writes on 1809’s Old Price Riots, and what they can teach commercial theatre producers over two centuries later.
Essays
16 September 2019
Features • Essays
Relaxed venues, liberated audiences
By Maddy Costa
“To react and respond is just human”: Maddy Costa writes on how audiences are silenced, and the complex history of ideas of ‘civilised’ behaviour.
9 September 2019
Features • Essays
The Doctor, and theatre’s troubled relationship with identity politics
By Ravi Ghosh
Ravi Ghosh writes on Rob Icke’s dive into minority identity, and why audiences need to be pushed towards self-examination, not self-congratulation.
2 September 2019
Features • Essays
If not now, when?: Falsettogate, and what it teaches us about meaningful minority inclusion
By Adam Lenson
Theatre director Adam Lenson writes on the Falsettos casting controversy, and why the Jewish community needs to be involved in telling its own stories.
1 July 2019
Features • Essays
Hearty: Bringing Fire to Trans Pride
By Emma Frankland
Emma Frankland writes on her new show Hearty, and the shifting cycles which underpin attitudes to trans identity.
12 June 2019
Features • Essays
Do trigger warnings ruin theatre’s power to surprise?
By Alice Saville
Alice Saville writes on theatre’s uneasy relationship with trigger warnings, and the faultlines they reveal.
19 December 2018
Features • Essays
How can we talk about ‘thirst’ in theatre?
By Dr Kirsty Sedgman
After #hotgate, Dr Kirsty Sedgman writes on the complex territory of gender and objectification in theatre, and why it’s time for “a more radical, ethical kind of thirst”.
12 December 2018
Features • Essays
An Open(ness) Letter on Transparency
By Duncan Gates
For every play that makes it to the stage, there are many more languishing under commission. Duncan Gates makes a case for more transparency in new writing for theatre.
21 November 2018
Features • Essays
Theatre and Performance Criticism in the UK: A Survey
By Margherita Laera and Diana Damian Martin
Dr Diana Damian Martin and Dr Margherita Laera introduce their new research project, a survey which will explore who writes about theatre and performance, and map the conditions they work under.
16 November 2018
Features • Essays
A Very Very Very Dark Matter, and the limits of satire
By Desiree Baptiste
“This is a play about race matters by a writer for whom race matters not” – Desirée Baptiste’s essay unpicks the racist and ableist themes of Martin McDonagh’s play.
15 October 2018
Features • Essays
Is the hype real?
By Alice Saville
As social media takes a starring role in 21st century theatre marketing, Alice Saville writes on the power and pitfalls of Twitter-era criticism.
19 September 2018
Features • Essays
Time to Fly: Remembering Lindsay Kemp
By Amit Lahav
Gecko’s Amit Lahav writes on his relationship with the late, visionary choreographer, who created “an alternative version of the world, every second of the day, on and off stage”.
30 July 2018
Features • Essays
The Festival That Never Sleeps
By Andy Field
Andy Field writes on sleep-deprivation at the Edinburgh fringe, and the challenges of making new spaces in a world where time is commodified.
27 June 2018
Features • Essays
Finding New Voices Starts Young
By Rabiah Hussain
Playwright Rabiah Hussain writes on why it’s time theatres did more to reach out from young people from working class and minority backgrounds.
26 June 2018
Features • Essays
Remaking Musical Theatre’s Misogynist History
By Alice Saville
Alice Saville writes on Kiss Me Kate, and her complex relationship with musical theatre’s problematic back catalogue.