A new Henry V is a barometer of our times – what can Shakespeare’s war play tell us amid global chaos?
Michael Billington
Revivals of this history play usually reflect the politics of the moment. Now a fresh RSC retelling arrives in a world of instability and fractured alliances
December 2025
UK actors vote to refuse to be digitally scanned in pushback against AI
Equity says vote signals strong opposition to AI use and readiness to disrupt productions unless protections are secured
October 2025
Cyrano de Bergerac review – Adrian Lester brings sublime soul to roistering romance
The giant-hootered lover ventriloquising his passion for Roxane through a physically dashing rival is the standout star of this warm and likable revival
August 2025
Susan Sarandon, Whoopi Goldberg and Caliban’s take on The Tempest: the best theatre, comedy and dance of autumn 2025
Andrea Riseborough and Sarandon deliver a decade-hopping drama, superstar standups hit the road and Shobana Jeyasingh rewrites Shakespeare
June 2025
Adrian Lester and Alfred Enoch lead Royal Shakespeare Company’s ‘global’ new season
Joint artistic directors Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey say 2025/26 programme is celebration of ‘a 21st-century RSC’
July 2024
The week in theatre: Echo; Visit From an Unknown Woman; The Baker’s Wife – review
Echo review – starry meditation on shapeshifting meaning of home
July 2023
Leading actors and artists back Labour’s push for more creativity in schools
Exclusive: Grayson Perry and Olivia Colman lead group of creative figures supporting Keir Starmer’s plan to improve “human” skills
April 2023
Hamnet on stage: Maggie O’Farrell and Lolita Chakrabarti on adapting the hit novel for the RSC
O’Farrell’s novel about Shakespeare losing his young son to the plague struck a powerful chord in lockdown. She and Chakrabarti discuss class, place and loss in their theatre adaptation
December 2022
Prominent black and Asian Britons warn against BBC local radio cuts plan
David Harewood, Doreen Lawrence and others express concern at potential impact on shows aimed at BAME audiences
July 2022
‘The greatest director the world has ever seen’ – actors salute Peter Brook
Adrian Lester stripped back Hamlet with him, Janet Suzman can still hear the audience gasp, Glenda Jackson dug deep for the director and for Frances de la Tour he was incomparable
May 2022
Tony awards 2022: A Strange Loop leads the nominees, while British talents are lauded
Three actors from The Lehman Trilogy go head to head, the musical Six picks up eight nominations and the production MJ – about Michael Jackson – is also recognised
February 2022
Once more unto the breach! Burton, Branagh and the battling stars of Henry V – in pictures
Kit Harington is the latest actor to take on the role in Shakespeare’s history play. Look back at past portrayals by Michael Sheen, Mark Rylance, Laurence Olivier, Michelle Terry and many more
January 2022
Observer TV reviews
The week in TV: The Responder; Trigger Point; The Gilded Age; Survivors: Portraits of the Holocaust
TV tonight
TV tonight: Jamie Dornan’s identity is finally revealed in The Tourist finale
November 2021
Black British culture matters
‘I jumped for joy’: Floella Benjamin, Adrian Lester and more on their top screen moments
From In the Heat of the Night to Loose Women, Black British actors, directors and producers recall their landmark film and TV viewing experiences
August 2021
Adrian Lester: ‘I’ll never leave the stage’
As he prepares to return to live theatre, the actor reflects on a tumultuous 18 months, and on why he needs an audience
February 2021
Lockdown culture
The week in theatre: Hymn; Typical review – first-rate and perfectly balanced
Adrian Lester and Danny Sapani work as one in Lolita Chakrabarti’s brilliantly realised study of male friendship
October 2020
Scenes of a Sexual Nature review – hit-and-miss Hampstead romcom
The week in TV: Life; The Comey Rule; Honour; Brave New World – review
