Dominic Cavendish

2 weeks ago | telegraph.co.uk | Dominic Cavendish

The bold-minded Belfast-born playwright David Ireland has a rare ability to attract top-flight actors for his darkly comic, often taboo-testing work, with unhinged male psyches his forte. In his breakthrough, Cyprus Avenue, Stephen Rea played a Belfast loyalist convinced his baby grand-daughter has the face of Gerry Adams. And late in 2023, Woody Harrelson starred in Ulster American as a Hibernophile Hollywood A-lister aghast to realise he has signed up to play a Protestant Unionist on stage.

3 weeks ago | telegraph.co.uk | Dominic Cavendish

Much as we can say we hanker after chewy state of the nation dramas, sometimes froth can be no less an imperative. Mischief Theatre have taken shrewd stock of the state of the nation and decided we need cheering up. The troupe - probably the most successful UK comedy outfit since the Pythons - struck gold with their send-up of bumbling am-dram The Play That Goes Wrong (2012), which shows no sign of relinquishing its perch at the Duchess (and has enjoyed multiple international iterations).

3 weeks ago | aol.co.uk | Dominic Cavendish

If any David Mamet screenplay warranted a stage adaptation at the moment, it’s surely Wag the Dog (1997), which cheeked the Clinton era with its depiction of a Hollywood producer concocting an international crisis in order to divert attention from a presidential sexual scandal. Reprised amid 2025’s disinformation and Trumpian spin, it could hit home hard.

3 weeks ago | telegraph.co.uk | Dominic Cavendish

If any David Mamet screenplay warranted a stage adaptation at the moment, it's surely Wag the Dog (1997), which cheeked the Clinton era with its depiction of a Hollywood producer concocting an international crisis in order to divert attention from a presidential sexual scandal. Reprised amid 2025's disinformation and Trumpian spin, it could hit home hard.

4 weeks ago | yahoo.com | Dominic Cavendish

When Stephen Sondheim died in November 2021, he left behind a body of work that had collectively transformed the American musical and that ensured his pre-eminence among composer-lyricists of the post-war era. He also bequeathed us, tantalisingly, one last effort – unveiled in New York two years later: a reimagining and yoking-together of two films by that arch surrealist Luis Buñuel: The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) and The Exterminating Angel (1962).