To see or not to see? Every single Shakespeare play – ranked!
Antony and Cleopatra? Exhausting. Lear? Magnificent but flawed. Hamlet? Limitless. For Shakespeare’s birthday, the Guardian’s former theatre critic ranks all the plays
February 2025
‘The snake fell out of my wig’: why Judi Dench lost her voice when playing Cleopatra
The actor recalls a terrifying moment when playing the doomed Egyptian queen during a 1987 production of the Shakespeare classic
August 2024
The best theatre to stream this month
The best theatre to stream this month: comedians do Chekhov, Into the Woods and Dear Octopus
Get a taste of Edinburgh fringe, enjoy Shakespearean insights from illustrious actors and sing along with a handful of musicals in our pick of streaming shows
October 2023
Barcelona opera production among first to use intimacy coordinator
Ita O’Brien says producers initially questioned need for her role in staging of Antony and Cleopatra
June 2023
‘Mine’s lobster and champagne’: Judi Dench reveals secret onstage supper at Shakespeare play
The Oscar-winning star discusses her Shakespearean roles and the characters she brought to life in watercolours in her new book
January 2023
The best theatre to stream this month
The best theatre to stream this month: Richard II, All of Us and more
Our roundup of drama to watch at home includes Sheridan Smith in Funny Girl, a festival of mime and a rock’n’roll panto
April 2022
It’s time for the Royal Shakespeare Company to be led by an actor
Michael Billington
Gregory Doran has achieved much at the RSC and directed some fine productions. Let’s have an actor in charge next: how about Adjoa Andoh or Simon Russell Beale?
May 2020
Lockdown culture
To Egypt, with love: Antony and Cleopatra at the National Theatre
Lockdown culture
This week's best culture, at home – from superlative Shakespeare to a walk along Offa's Dyke
April 2020
Lockdown culture
Danny Boyle's Frankenstein reanimated for National Theatre streaming service
Lockdown culture
Play on! 12 of the best Shakespeare productions to stream
August 2019
Anguis review – what if Cleopatra went on Desert Island Discs?
Playwright Sheila Atim puts a female scientist on stage with the pharaoh to chat about music, men and misrepresentation
November 2018
Love and hisses: Cleopatra star Sophie Okonedo on acting with live snakes
Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo win at Evening Standard theatre awards
September 2018
The week in theatre: Antony and Cleopatra; Touching the Void; Poet in da Corner – review
Ralph Fiennes’s Antony grapples with a midlife crisis while Sophie Okonedo’s Cleopatra is the ultimate diva in an outstanding production at the National
Antony and Cleopatra review – Okonedo and Fiennes are a magnificent match
Simon Godwin directs a terrific and epic National Theatre production, filled with passion and delusion
Cleopatras comin' atcha: queens of the Nile on stage and screen - in pictures
Sophie Okonedo plays Cleopatra in a new production at the National Theatre in London. From Liz Taylor to Mark Rylance, here’s a reminder of the other stars who have ruled as the Egyptian leader
August 2018
Autumn arts preview 2018
Dazzling drama: the unmissable theatre, dance and comedy of autumn 2018
Gender-swapped classics, Hans Christian Andersen’s closet secrets, two giants of US comedy sharing a stage, plus Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo as rulers in love
March 2017
Julius Caesar/Antony and Cleopatra review – Rome truths from the RSC
Josette Simon: 'Powerful women are reduced to being dishonourable'
