John Nathan

Latest from John Nathan

Wicked: For Good: Pitch-perfect escapism that surpasses the smash-hit original ★★★★★

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are superbly matched in the roles of Elphaba and Glinda in this film version of Stephen Schwartz’s musical

1 min read

Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo as Glinda and Elphaba in Wicked (Photo: Universal Pictures)

Hunger Games on stage at the Troubadour Theatre (Photo: Johan Persson)

The Hunger Games On Stage: Concept and spectacle aplenty but no heart ★★

1 min read

Nuremberg review: ‘It all feels too sexy, glamorous even’ ★★★

2 min read

I am my beloved's: Eddie Toll as Schmuli and Katerina Tannenbaum as Esther

The Wanderers – review: Marriage? Be careful what you wish for ★★★★

2 min read

This revival of Othello should be called Iago ★★★★

David Harewood is in the title role, but it is Toby Jones who steals the show

1 min read

November 6, 2025 14:33

Towering performance: Toby Jones as Iago and (right) David Harewood as Othello

Turn up the volume on this wartime yarn of death and Elgar ★★★

Nicholas Hytner’s production of Alan Bennett’s First World War drama in the Yorkshire Dales is quietly moving, but maybe too quiet

1 min read

November 4, 2025 17:06

Eminently watchable: Ralph Fiennes in The Choral

Fantasy Life review: ‘I think I suffer from internalised antisemitism’ ★★★

In this neurotic and funny film, Matthew Shear plays a failed tax lawyer who’s ashamed of being Jewish

1 min read

October 31, 2025 10:49

Fantasy Life review: ‘I think I suffer from internalised antisemitism’ ★★★

How bad can a Friday night dinner get? How long you got?

New York film director Daniel Robbins on his comedy about having your future Catholic in-laws over for Shabbat

5 min read

October 31, 2025 10:38

Don't say grace: the two families at the dinner table in Bad Shabbos

The Assembled Parties: ‘Oberman is in the form of her life’ ★★★★

The Jewish actor stands out in this beautifully performed play about Jews at Christmas

2 min read

October 29, 2025 16:19

Tracy-Ann Oberman as Faye (Photo: Helen Murray)

Unbelievers review: A mother in the grip of her worst nightmare ★★★

Nicola Walker conveys with fevered obsession how a mother’s mind implodes when her teenage son disappears

1 min read

October 22, 2025 15:18

Tortured: Nicola Walker as Miriam, whose teenage son disappears (Photo: Brinkhoff Moegenburg)

After The Hunt review: Julia Roberts at her superb best in campus thriller ★★★★

The actor shines as a lecturer caught in the crossfire of a culture war showdown

2 min read

October 22, 2025 15:05

Commanding performance: Julia Roberts as brittle, high-flying Yale professor Alma

Mary Page Marlowe review: ‘no life is uninteresting’ ★★★★

Susan Sarandon brings steel to Tracy Letts’s play about the unremarkable life of one American woman, but it is Andrea Riseborough who delivers an outstanding performance

1 min read

October 13, 2025 16:35

The drama of life: Andrea Riseborough in Mary Page Marlowe

Good Boy review: Woof! Woof! A four-legged star is born ★★★★

The director and his producer wife’s dog is the star of this supernatural horror film

1 min read

October 13, 2025 16:16

Pooch perfect: Indy the dog and his on-screen owner Todd, played by Shane Jensen

The Land of the Living review: ‘Fatally wears its messaging on its sleeve’ ★★★

Based on interviews with journalist Gitta Sereny, this new play about child victims of war spans 45 years – but still takes too long to answer its main mystery

1 min read

October 9, 2025 15:13

Juliet Stevenson, Cosima Shaw and Caroline Loncq star in the National Theatre's 'The Land of the Living.' (Photo: National Theatre)

Amy Rosenthal on what drove the Mitford Sisters to extremes

The playwright believes her new play answers this long-standing question

4 min read

September 25, 2025 15:31

Flora Spencer-Longhurst as Debo in The Party Girls

Patrick Marber: I’m seen as the ‘Jew director’ of our times

The director on why he saturated The Producers with a Jewish sensibility, about his late-onset Jewishness and why he thinks hatred from strangers is not the worst thing

5 min read

September 22, 2025 12:04

Patrick Marber in rehearsal for The Producers

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John Nathan

Latest from John Nathan

Wicked: For Good: Pitch-perfect escapism that surpasses the smash-hit original ★★★★★

The Hunger Games On Stage: Concept and spectacle aplenty but no heart ★★

Nuremberg review: ‘It all feels too sexy, glamorous even’ ★★★

The Wanderers – review: Marriage? Be careful what you wish for ★★★★

More from John Nathan

This revival of Othello should be called Iago ★★★★

Turn up the volume on this wartime yarn of death and Elgar ★★★

Fantasy Life review: ‘I think I suffer from internalised antisemitism’ ★★★

How bad can a Friday night dinner get? How long you got?

The Assembled Parties: ‘Oberman is in the form of her life’ ★★★★

Unbelievers review: A mother in the grip of her worst nightmare ★★★

After The Hunt review: Julia Roberts at her superb best in campus thriller ★★★★

Mary Page Marlowe review: ‘no life is uninteresting’ ★★★★

Good Boy review: Woof! Woof! A four-legged star is born ★★★★

The Land of the Living review: ‘Fatally wears its messaging on its sleeve’ ★★★

Amy Rosenthal on what drove the Mitford Sisters to extremes

Patrick Marber: I’m seen as the ‘Jew director’ of our times