The last time a critic admitted to nodding off on the job, it sent James McAvoy into a fury. One wonders what he would have made of Duckie’s Lullaby, which expressly aims to send audiences to sleep. Critics this week duly donned their pyjamas and tucked themselves in. So is it pure theatrical Night Nurse? Um, not exactly. The Telegraph’s Charles Spencer came over all crotchety, after being woken three times for his snoring, and promptly gave Lullaby a single star
Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian
The late Harold Pinter will be the subject of celebration in Stratford this October. The RSC will mark his birthday with a week of special events running alongside its production of The Homecoming at the Swan Theatre, directed by David Farr. Lenny and Ruth will be played by the ensemble’s current Mr and Mrs Macbeth, Jonathan Slinger and Aisleen McGuckin Photograph: Getty Images
Margaret Tyzack, who died aged 79 last Saturday, first appeared with the RSC in 1963, playing Vanessa in Gorky’s Lower Depths at the Arts Theatre, later playing major roles in under Trevor Nunn in the early 70s. She was twice named Best Actress at the Olivier awards: in 1981 for the National Theatre’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and in 2009 for The Chalk Garden at the Donmar Warehouse. Her final UK stage appearance was as the Nurse in Phèdre at the National; she's pictured here in that production with Helen Mirren Photograph: Donald Cooper/Rex Features
It’s a subject repeatedly explored onstage, from Enda Walsh’s Chatroom to Look Back in Anger (seen here in its film incarnation with Claire Bloom, Richard Burton and Gary Raymond), but bullying is rife within the UK’s theatre sector, according to industry newspaper the Stage. In a recent survey conducted by Anne-Marie Quigg, 65% of participants believed that bullying in the workplace occurs “commonly” or “not uncommonly”, with almost 40% claiming to have been on the receiving end Photograph: Ronald Grant Archive
Also announced this week was Rupert Goold’s site-specific production Decade, which will explore the way the world has changed in the 10 years since the attacks on the World Trade Centre. Produced by Headlong, the company behind Lucy Prebble’s Enron, Decade will take place in a disused office block in London’s St Katharine Docks, a decision that has already stirred controversy Photograph: Richard Cohen/Corbis
Kevin Spacey has drawn superlatives for his Richard III; a part the Old Vic’s artistic director was “born to play”, according to his director Sam Mendes. It’s the first time the pair have collaborated since American Beauty. A flashy military dictator in epaulettes and Aviators, Spacey “acts with every fibre of his being,” writes Michael Billington in his review of the final transatlantic Bridge Project production Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian
Meanwhile, a very different Anglo-American ensemble has announced a West End transfer. The critically acclaimed Broadway production of Driving Miss Daisy will arrive at the Wyndham’s Theatre in September. Vanessa Redgrave, who won a Best Actress nomination at this year’s Tony’s, will reprise the role of Miss Daisy alongside James Earl Jones as her chauffeur Hoke Coleburn Photograph: Carol Rosegg/AP
