Letters from the Theatre

Theatre scholar Ana Tomskaya delights in frequenting London’s theatres, observing its theatrical life with care and affection, and sharing her impressions and observations. Her column is devoted to premieres, stage stars, and repertory that truly merits attention.

Culture

The Player: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest at The Old Vic

Ana Tomskaya

A countercultural icon, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey became popular almost immediately after its publication, while the film starring Jack Nicholson gained an independent life of…

Culture

London Theatre in April: Demons and Lovers

Ana Tomskaya

Hooray, April! The Easter holidays, the first real warmth (typically arriving just after the break!), and of course — premieres. Everything looks so good — what would you choose?..

Culture

Dream on, Monet, dream on: the musical A Mirrored Monet explores the artist’s impossible choices

Ana Tomskaya

Carmel Owen’s musical was first performed at the Edinburgh Fringe three years ago. Since then, it has travelled a long way — and has now finally reached the stage of…

Miscellaneous

Olivier Awards Nominees: What to See on Stage Right Now

Elena Poluyan

The 50th anniversary ceremony of the Olivier Awards will take place on 12 April at the Royal Albert Hall. It is easy enough to calculate that the first ceremony took…

Culture

Jump over the stream! At the National Theatre they have staged Gorky’s Summerfolk

Ana Tomskaya

Director Robert Hastie, Deputy Artistic Director at the National Theatre, seems to have only just finished Hamlet with Hiran Abeysekera before taking on the incredibly difficult play Summerfolk by Maxim…

Culture

London Theatre in March: Romance and Raw Nerve

Ana Tomskaya

What’s happening on the London stage this March? Not a huge amount — but what’s there is bright and intense. March promises to be fiercely interesting.

Culture

Morning Comes Unexpectedly: A staged reading of Vasily Zorky’s text took place at ARC.SPACE

Ana Tomskaya

“Night Conversation” is not a play but a film script that Vasily Zorky wrote before the war. The action unfolds over the course of several hours in a single location…

Culture

Loyalty Costs a Life: The premiere of Alexi Kaye Campbell’s Bird Grove has opened at Hampstead Theatre

Ana Tomskaya

This is a play about the making of the famous George Eliot — or rather about the days when Eliot did not yet exist, when there was only Mary Ann…

Culture

“The Conversation That Never Happened”: how to Choose and Not Make a Mistake?

Ana Tomskaya

On February 10, the theatrical reading with percussion “The Conversation That Never Happened” took place at Arc Space. It was not a performance in the traditional sense, but rather a…

Culture

Theatre interior with stage and rows of comfortable seats

Power — and How to Rid Oneself of It: London Theatres in February

Ana Tomskaya

What does February 2026 have in store for us? Quite a lot, as it turns out. Theatres have shaken off the Christmas frenzy, audiences have replenished their wallets, and the…

People

Stuart Lawson: “Dancers communicate through movement, not words!”

Ana Tomskaya

British photographer Stuart Lawson, the author of distinctive visual narratives about movement, memory, and identity, has long worked at the intersection of photography, choreography, and human character. His signature technique…

Culture

Another Music: Roman Mints’s New Festival in London

Ana Tomskaya

Violinist Roman Mints founded Another Music Festival and successfully staged it in late January. This was the first event of its kind that Roman has organised in London (Moscow audiences…

London Cult.

Letters from the Theatre

The Player: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest at The Old Vic

London Theatre in April: Demons and Lovers

Dream on, Monet, dream on: the musical A Mirrored Monet explores the artist’s impossible choices

Olivier Awards Nominees: What to See on Stage Right Now

Jump over the stream! At the National Theatre they have staged Gorky’s Summerfolk

London Theatre in March: Romance and Raw Nerve

Morning Comes Unexpectedly: A staged reading of Vasily Zorky’s text took place at ARC.SPACE

Loyalty Costs a Life: The premiere of Alexi Kaye Campbell’s Bird Grove has opened at Hampstead Theatre

“The Conversation That Never Happened”: how to Choose and Not Make a Mistake?

Power — and How to Rid Oneself of It: London Theatres in February

Stuart Lawson: “Dancers communicate through movement, not words!”

Another Music: Roman Mints’s New Festival in London

London Cult.