Spectator ejected from snooker; new podcast episode: 100 years of Liverpool politics theatre; theatre in Chicago; Dr Theatre; ENO project to help long COVID sufferers
News, reviews, features and podcast on theatre across the UK
The British Theatre Guide Newsletter
No 1263: 10 May 2026
Editorial
I mentioned last week about people getting told off in the crowd for the Snooker World Championships at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield for making noise or moving around while a player was taking a shot.
The referee for the final, Rob Spencer, went further, stating clearly that if a phone goes off and the security team sees whose it is, that person will be asked to leave. One did, and the culprit was escorted from the auditorium. Surely acting requires as much concentration as playing snooker, yet I’ve never seen anyone ejected from a theatre performance for a similar offence.
We’ve looked at political theatre in a few of our recent podcast episodes—specifically Bryony Kimmings on Bog Witch and Mark Calvert on I, Daniel Blake—and that continues with this week’s new episode.
The Unity Theatre Movement grew from left-wing workers’ drama groups in the 1930s and at one point included more than 50 local theatre groups, but now there is only one with that name, Unity Theatre in Liverpool. Current Artistic Director Elinor Randle has put together a series of events under the title “A Radical Reimagining” that looks at a century of radical theatre in Liverpool.
I spoke to Eli on the eve of the recent local council elections about the project and about political theatre in general. The Unity Theatre movement had its roots in the Spanish Civil War, and of course Brecht came into the repertoire at some point. I asked her about who her audiences were, noting that the danger of political theatre is that it only reaches those who already agree with it. She reinterpreted my question as, “will we reach anyone on the far side?”, which I loved.
There’s political theatre in our reviews section as well this week, including Dialectics of Erasure in London and, in a milder way perhaps, the musical Bank of Dave in Salford. But Brecht has come to Stratford in the form of The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, which Colin Davison reviews for us this week. This is the play in which Brecht draws parallels between authoritarian leaders of nations and Chicago gangster bosses—for Brecht, this was Hitler of course, but I don’t have to elaborate on where parallels exist today. One of my students on the Brecht module I teach at Rose Bruford has booked for it, but sadly it’s sold out so I won’t see it.
Talking of Chicago, Andrew Cowie has reached the Windy City on his American tour and gives us his views on three different theatre productions he’s seen there, one at the legendary Steppenwolf Theatre.
Philip Fisher started his latest feature by looking at ‘Doctor Theatre’, where performers seem to be able to overcome illness for the duration of a performance. I’ve witnessed it myself; I remember one performer coming from her sickbed, giving a fabulous acting and singing performance then collapsing in the wings. Even the great Stanislavski once had a heart attack on stage, but finished the scene and took his bows before he would allow an ambulance to be called (he lived for quite a few years after this but never acted again).
But the real subject of Philip’s piece is a remarkable project from English National Opera helping sufferers from long COVID (something Philip certainly knows about) using techniques from training operas singers to help them with breathlessness. And the success of it is quite astonishing, supporting more than 5,000 people with 87% saying that their general wellbeing had been improved. One said, “I had to stop working as I had real difficulty catching my breath. I could not speak for any length of time and was exhausted continuously.” He is now back at work.
Finally, I’ve added a load of ticket offers for LOVEtheatre Week with discounts on a lot of London shows available up to next Sunday. We get a cut of any purchases made from those links on our web site, but you still get the discounts.
Birmingham Rep is looking for a West Midlands-based assistant director for the 2026 Christmas show, Phil Porter’s adaptation of J M Barrie’s Peter Pan.
Birmingham Rep is looking for a West Midlands-based assistant director for the 2026 Christmas show, Phil Porter’s adaptation of J M Barrie’s Peter Pan.
War Horse (National Theatre) - National Theatre, London, –
The Harder They Come (Stratford East in association with Washington Square Films, Joshua Blum & Bruce Miller) - Theatre Royal Stratford East, London, –
The Monocle (RENDEZ-VOUS DANCE) - Wilton’s Music Hall, London, –
Bluey’s Big Play (Andrew Kay and Cuffe & Taylor with Windmill Theatre Co for BBC Studios) - The Crucible / Lyceum Theatre / Tanya Moiseiwitsch Playhouse, Sheffield, –
