Sarah Crompton

London

Freelance Writer at Freelance

Theatre critic for WhatsOnStage. Dance critic for the Observer. Co-host of the WhatsOnStage podcast. https://t.co/aKGMkc6YNX

Articles

1536 at the Almeida Theatre - review

1 day ago | whatsonstage.com | Sarah Crompton

ReviewsAva Pickett’s play is set in 16th century rural England The year is 1536. In far away London, King Henry VIII has just arrested his Queen and sent her to the Tower for treason. In an Essex village, three young women, friends since childhood, can hardly believe the news that takes days to reach them. Even once they do, they can’t imagine that the goings on in a court far away will have any impact on their lives.
Review: too much, too young for Carlos Acosta’s stars of the future | The Observer

4 days ago | observer.co.uk | Sarah Crompton

The nuanced moods and movements of the Russian ballet masters stretch Carlos Acosta’s junior company, but the Matsena brothers speak with their feet BRB2: Diaghilev & the Birth of Modern Ballet Birmingham Hippodrome; touring until 17 May Matsena: Kabel Sadler’s Wells East, London E20 The American choreographer William Forsythe is the latest winner of the prestigious annual Kyoto prize in arts and philosophy, in a distinguished cultural list (there are also prizes for technology and science)...
The best UK theatre to see this summer

6 days ago | whatsonstage.com | Alex Wood |Sarah Crompton

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Here We Are at the National Theatre review - Sondheim’s final musical is mystifying and magical

6 days ago | whatsonstage.com | Sarah Crompton

ReviewsThe UK premiere of Stephen Sondheim’s final musical runs in the Lyttelton Theatre until 28 June As a last hurrah, Stephen Sondheim’s Here We Are is quite something. An acerbic, absurdist take on late-stage capitalism, he was still working on it when he died – suddenly – in 2021 at the age of 91. But it has been given a production at the National Theatre by his collaborator director Joe Mantello that serves it as crisply, smartly and stylishly as it deserves.
Krapp’s Last Tape with Stephen Rea at Barbican Theatre - review

1 week ago | whatsonstage.com | Sarah Crompton

Krapp is the man of the moment. Sixty-seven years after Samuel Beckett’s monologue was first performed by Patrick Magee, there are two versions on stage in the UK simultaneously. In York, the hour-long play stars Gary Oldman; in London, Stephen Rea is reprising his version, first seen at the Dublin Festival last year. Meanwhile, Samuel West and Richard Donner are indulging in some advance planning.
Scenes from a Repatriation at the Royal Court Theatre - review

2 weeks ago | whatsonstage.com | Sarah Crompton

The small studio space of Upstairs at the Royal Court is transformed by TK Hay’s design. With spectators sitting either side, the narrow stage is covered in fine white sand. At one end, a statue wrapped in fabric, ties binding folded limbs so it looks bandaged, sits in a blue-lit recess. At the other, a huge screen – and a label as if we are in a gallery. “Performance in traverse. Joel Tan (born 1987). Wood, steel, acrylic, sand, linen, bodies.”The setting is perfect.
My Master Builder review – Ewan McGregor’s Ibsen spin-off is ill-constructed

2 weeks ago | whatsonstage.com | Sarah Crompton

There’s something about Henrik Ibsen. For whatever reason, the plays of a bearded Norwegian who died in 1906, are seen as constantly relevant today. Hot on the heels of an updated revival of Ghosts by Gary Owen, which transplanted a tale of abuse to a contemporary setting, comes this modern take on The Master Builder, starring the appealing trio of Ewan McGregor, Elizabeth Debicki and Kate Fleetwood.
Dealer’s Choice at Donmar Warehouse - review

2 weeks ago | whatsonstage.com | Sarah Crompton

ReviewsMatthew Dunster’s 30th-anniversary revival runs until 7 June What a blisteringly good play Dealer’s Choice is! A sharply funny, acutely insightful study of male insecurities, of the toxic relationships between fathers and sons, friends and colleagues, of the impulse to gamble a life on the turn of a card. It was Patrick Marber’s first play, written in 1995.
A 'radically odd' version of Daphnis and Chloé

2 weeks ago | observer.co.uk | Sarah Crompton

Royal Festival Hall, London SE1The best-known dance version of Daphnis and Chloé was choreographed by Frederick Ashton in 1951, but it hasn’t been seen on British stages since 2012. Its absence is perhaps partly to do with a plot full of pillaging pirates and lovelorn shepherds, but it’s much missed, not least for its command of Ravel’s sumptuous score, premiered by Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in 1912.
The greatest theatre feuds in history plus swings and covers decoded in our latest Q&A podcast

2 weeks ago | whatsonstage.com | Alex Wood |Sarah Crompton

Welcome to the latest instalment of the WhatsOnStage Podcast!Editor-in-chief Alex Wood and chief critic Sarah Crompton return for their third Q&A episode, this time diving into the murky depths of theatre feuds and backstage friction. They then turn to the calmer and cheerier waters of warm up drama games, Paddington the Musical, set to make a splash in the West End, and the truly incredible role played by swings, covers and more. Crompton and Wood present a weekly series on all things theatrical.