A Card from Angela Carter </a>and a regular broadcaster. Twitter<a href=https://www.theguardian.com/profile/"https://twitter.com/susannahclapp">
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Susannah Clapp

Susannah Clapp is the theatre critic of the Observer. She is the author of With Chatwin and A Card from Angela Carter and a regular broadcaster. Twitter
@susannahclapp

April 2025

  • A tattooed Samuel Edward-Cook in a vest.

    The week in theatre: Manhunt; Jab – review

  • Joshua McGuire and Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù in Rhinoceros.

    The week in theatre: Rhinoceros; Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Musical – review

March 2025

  • Cate Blanchett looks serious in a grey coat.

    The week in theatre: The Seagull; Punch – review

    Cate Blanchett is magnetic – and maddening – as faded actor Arkadina in Chekhov’s supreme play about writers. Plus, James Graham’s bracing real-life drama of actions and consequences hits home
  • Arinzé Kene (Walker Holt) in Alterations

    The week in theatre: Alterations; A Knock on the Roof review – material worlds

    A black British tailor dreams big in Michael Abbensetts’ 70s comedy, made new by director Lynette Linton and designer Frankie Bradshaw. Plus, a one-woman show about relentless fear in Gaza
  • Fizz Sinclair and Jade Anouka look at one another, dressed in wedding clothes, on stage in Otherland.

    The week in theatre: Otherland; Backstroke – review

    Chris Bush’s insightful take on the trans experience drifts into the fantastical; Tamsin Greig and Celia Imrie spar as discomfited daughter and unabashed mother

February 2025

  • Luke Thallon as Hamlet, in a sword fight

    The week in theatre: Hamlet; Much Ado About Nothing; Richard II – review

  • Illustration of a radio mic-cum-tombstone

    BBC radio drama is in grave danger. Without it we may lose the next generation of writing talent

    Katie Hims
  • Stephen Mangan (Nick) sitting on a sofa with his legs across Nicola Walker in the middle, both of them smiling and they look towards Erin Doherty, on the right of the sofa, who's talking and gesticulating with her hands

    The week in theatre: Unicorn; Churchill in Moscow – review

  • Rami Malek (Oedipus) and Indira Varma (Jocasta) in Oedipus at The Old Vic (2025)

    The week in theatre: Oedipus; Elektra review – all Greek

  • The week in theatre: Inside No 9: Stage/Fright; Cymbeline – review

  • Curtain up! Meet the new artistic directors with great plans for British theatre

January 2025

  • The cast of Play On! in a row on stage.

    The week in theatre: Play On!; A Good House; Moby Dick – review

    The spirit of Duke Ellington pulses through a glorious musical spin on Twelfth Night; neighbourliness has its limits in Amy Jephta’s South African satire; and puppets have a whale of a time with Herman Melville
  • CIAN EAGLE-SERVICE (OLIVER TWIST) and JAMIE BIRKETT (MRS SOWERBERRY) in Oliver!

    The week in theatre: Oliver!; The Devil May Care review – consider yourself entertained

    Lionel Bart’s great musical is a gift for Matthew Bourne; a nifty reworking of Shaw’s comedy would surely have pleased him; and a fresh start for Welsh theatre
  • From left, Brie Larson in Elektra, Harriet Walter in Brian and Maggie, Malachi Kirby in A Thousand Blows, Louise Bourgeois’s spider, and one of Leigh Bowery’s costumes.

    2025 culture preview
    From Edvard Munch to Central Cee: Observer critics choose their cultural highlights for 2025

    From Thom Yorke’s Shakespearean score to 25 years of Tate Modern, Bridget Jones to Leigh Bowery, our writers anticipate the most exciting shows, releases and events of the year

December 2024

  • Daisy Edgar-Jones and Kingsley Ben-Adir in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

    The week in theatre: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; The Little Foxes; The Invention of Love – review

    Daisy Edgar-Jones is on the prowl; Anne-Marie Duff channels Bette Davis; and Simon Russell Beale gleams in the literary afterlife
  • Phia Saban (Antigone), Mark Strong (Oedipus), Lesley Manville (Jocasta), James Wilbraham (Polyneices) and Jordan Scowen (Eteocles) in Oedipus.

    Theatre: Susannah Clapp’s 10 best shows of 2024

    Kudos to five Annie Ernauxs, a memorably storm-lashed Lear and that Gwyneth Paltrow ski trial musical, while Oedipus reigns supreme

    • The week in theatre: The Tempest; Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812; You Me Bum Bum Train – review

    • The week in theatre: Ballet Shoes; The Importance of Being Earnest; The Devil Wears Prada; The Massive Tragedy of Madame Bovary – review

    • The week in theatre: Tender; Expendable review – small provocations

November 2024

  • A woman in red shoes dances on a table, surrounded by other cast members

    The week in theatre: The Red Shoes; Wolves on Road – review

    The shoes do the talking, eventually, in the RSC’s handsome yet overpolite take on Andersen’s grisly fairytale
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