National Theatre Archives

Life is a terrible price to pay for birth

Robert Tanitch reviews Peter Gynt at National Theatre/Olivier, London When the 39-year-old Henrik Ibsen wrote Peer Gynt in 1867 he thought of it as a long dramatic poem and never thought it would be s ...

markbendle 239 views 0 likes Jul 16, 2019

A major play of the Edwardian era is successfully revived

Robert Tanitch reviews Rutherford and Son at National Theatre/Lyttelton Githa Sowerby wrote her bleak, solid North Country family drama, in 1912 when feminist plays dominated the Royal Court Theatre. ...

markbendle 311 views 0 likes Jun 4, 2019

The National Theatre stages Andrea Levy’s epic novel

Robert Tanitch reviews Small Island at National Theatre/Olivier Andrea Levy’s prize winning novel has been successfully adapted for the stage by Helen Edmundson and given a fine cast and an epic stagi ...

markbendle 350 views 0 likes May 28, 2019

Have things improved for women since the 1980s?

Robert Tanitch reviews Top Girls at National Theatre/Lyttelton Caryl Churchill’s 1982 play about the price women pay for competing in a man’s world has always been grossly overrated. It is not, as has ...

markbendle 270 views 0 likes Apr 16, 2019