David Benedict

London

Columnist at The Stage

Critic and Broadcaster at Freelance

Articles

‘Giant’ Review: John Lithgow Is Incendiary in an Arresting Debut Play About Roald Dahl and Antisemitism

1 week ago | variety.com | David Benedict

The biggest, most trenchant laugh on the London stage is nightly cracking up the audience at the West End staging of “Giant” — and it’s a moment indicative of the blissful timing in the writing and the expert acting.
Theatre is losing originality in the era of adaptations

2 weeks ago | thestage.co.uk | David Benedict

OpinionRosie Sheehy and Brian Gleeson in The Brightening Air at the Old Vic, London – a mesmerising and refreshingly surprising theatrical production, says David Benedict. Photo: Manuel HarlanToo much commercial theatre is missing the thrill of controlled surprise – Conor McPherson’s The Brightening Air is one of the increasingly rare exceptionsSupport The Stage by registering or subscribingTo continue reading this article you must be logged in.
Ian McKellen on the RSC's Charles Dickens adaptation that inspired him

3 weeks ago | thestage.co.uk | David Benedict

FeaturesIan McKellen. Photo: Oliver Rosser/Feast CreativeWhich productions most inspired, moved and delighted our leading theatremakers? Actor Ian McKellen chooses a Dickens adaptation by David Edgar at the RSCSupport The Stage by registering or subscribingTo continue reading this article you must be logged in. Register or login below to unlock 3 free articles every month. OR Or subscribe from just £7.99 and get unlimited access to thestage.co.uk. Remember Login
Stage adaptations demand fizz over fidelity

4 weeks ago | thestage.co.uk | David Benedict

OpinionIsobel McArthur, Hannah Jarrett-Scott, Christina Gordon, Tori Burgess and Meghan Tyler in Pride and Prejudice* (*Sort Of). Photo: Matt CrockettFrom Midnight Cowboy to Pride and Prejudice* (*Sort Of), worrying about how faithful an adaptation is to its source misses the point, says David Benedict – a show should succeed on its own termsSupport The Stage by registering or subscribingTo continue reading this article you must be logged in.
Adjoa Andoh on the David Hare play that changed her life

1 month ago | thestage.co.uk | David Benedict

FeaturesWhich productions most inspired, moved and delighted our leading theatremakers? Actor, director and Bridgerton star Adjoa Andoh chooses David Hare’s play Plenty, which changed everything for her Plenty, Bristol Old Vic (1978)I was a year early in sixth form, very depressed, with teenage angst dialled to 11, anorexic, my parents were divorcing, and the only thing that made me happy was doing drama. We had to go to a play and then write about it.
All awards systems are flawed, but some are more flawed than others

1 month ago | thestage.co.uk | David Benedict

I have, shamefully, not read the novel and despite the existence of umpteen adaptations of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, I’m sorry to say that outside of Helen Edmundson’s stage version and Joe Wright’s film, I have somehow missed them all. I’m especially sad not to have caught Broadway’s 1992’s flop musical – although I’m relieved to learn that, courtesy of an overseas production, its score was preserved on disc. In Japanese.
My favourite play: Jenna Russell

1 month ago | thestage.co.uk | David Benedict

I wrote to him later about what I felt. Not only was it so theatrical with a beautifully spare design that told the story so well, but everyone on stage knew what play they were in. I know people bang on about that, but it’s rare. When actors aren’t sure, they go into panic mode and it’s everyone for themselves.
Will Operation Mincemeat be the next toast of Broadway?

1 month ago | thestage.co.uk | David Benedict

Opinion It’s all, as is widely known, in the timing. Rupert Goold’s taut production of Peter Morgan’s political portrait of Russia, Patriots, was lauded at the Almeida in 2022 and again in its limited West End run in 2023. In April 2024, it opened on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore and eight days later, Tony voters handed a Tony nomination for best actor to Michael Stuhlbarg as Boris Berezovsky but not, alas, to anyone else.
My favourite play: Richard Eyre

2 months ago | thestage.co.uk | David Benedict

I don’t speak German, but I was extraordinarily moved by it, most of all by the wit and the bravura of Ekkehard Schall’s performance as Coriolanus. He was absolutely prodigiously brilliant, like a combination of Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce: very mercurial and charismatic. But it was also the sheer astonishing beauty of Helene Weigel as Volumnia.
David Benedict: Olivier Awards 2025 – what can we learn from this year's nominations?

2 months ago | thestage.co.uk | David Benedict

OpinionThe company of Fiddler on the Roof at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, London. Photo: Marc BrennerThis year’s Olivier nominations are dominated by shows affiliated with Tim Sheader, in particular Fiddler on the Roof with a well-deserved 13 nodsSupport The Stage by registering or subscribingTo continue reading this article you must be logged in. Register or login below to unlock 3 free articles every month. OR Or subscribe from just £7.99 and get unlimited access to thestage.co.uk.