Sitemap - 2025 - The Crush Bar

There is a lot to look forward to

As a theatre journalist, you see the industry at its optimistic best and exploitative worst

"I am used to taking risks as a producer. I’m addicted to it, in fact."

Five talking points from Indhu Rubasingham's first National Theatre season

"I met Caryl Churchill in a café in Hackney. She was cooler than everyone else there."

Please leave this bear alone

Songs in shows can be devastatingly effective

What is with all these plays about men behaving badly?

"The British Museum really pissed me off. That anger became the motivation behind this play."

Are A-list actors saving theatre or spoiling it?

"Nikesh Patel described it as the result of putting Severance and PhoneShop in a blender."

4000 subscribers, 200 issues, and a new way for organisations to support this newsletter

The Crush Bar Champions

Your favourite TV series was built on a bedrock of theatrical talent

What do this year's Edinburgh festivals have in store?

"I sometimes think about these three characters as three corners of my mind, wrestling with each other."

What went wrong at the Royal Exchange?

Is Scottish theatre back?

The Crush Bar does Only Connect (again)

"I masqueraded as a property developer who wanted to build a theatre."

A golden age of American propaganda and AI-generated musicals awaits...

Chatting about theatre is just the best, right, guys? Guys?

Trigger warnings are not the problem. The conversation around them is.

"I have nightmares where I look out into the audience and see his face."

What is with all these terrible Greek tragedies starring Hollywood A-listers?

"I think self-indulgence can be really radical."

Shouts and Murmurs - February 4, 2025

Are things really better for the performing arts in Ireland?

Shouts and Murmurs - January 28, 2025

I want to see a new theatrical movement. Someone start one.

Shouts and Murmurs - January 21, 2025

"We wanted to make a big show in a small space."

Shouts and Murmurs - January 14, 2025

"I thought: ‘Where could all this go?' And that led to the idea of someone kidnapping Jeremy Corbyn."

Shouts and Murmurs - January 7, 2025