Shouts and Murmurs - January 23, 2024

Subsidised theatre is facing an existential crisis, Stephen Rea is superb in Krapp's Last Tape, and theatre critics are pointless.

Hello, and welcome to Shouts And Murmurs, a weekly email for paid supporters of The Crush Bar, written by me, Fergus Morgan.

Every week, I round up the best - and worst - theatre writing elsewhere, from reviews, to interviews, to features, to opinions, as well as any other fun or interesting theatre-related stuff I come across. It will mostly be UK-based, but I’ll keep an eye on international stuff, too.

This week, there is a look at the financial woes faced by several leading subsidised theatres, a glance at the week’s reviews (Kin at the NT, Cowbois at the Royal Court, Krapp’s Last Tape in Dublin, and a couple of Jekyll and Hydes), a few interviews and opinions worth reading, plus a whole lot more - including a particularly entertaining round on BBC quiz show Pointless.