Affair of the Heart

"The best theatrical read of the year." - British Theatre Guide
A book of selected theatre reviews from 1992 to 2020 from one of the foremost authorities on British theatre.
Each chapter starts with a brief commentary on the developments of that era and the social, political and cultural context within which British theatre was being produced. Key obituaries and letters in response to reviews written are also included, providing a rich collection of curated archival material.
Following on from his first collection, One Night Stands, Michael Billington's chronicle offers a rich, authoritative insight into British theatre over the last 3 decades from his unique professional perspective. It begins with Tony Kushner's UK premiere of Angels in America at the National Theatre in 1992 and culminates with Inua Ellams's celebrated adaptation of Chekhov's Three Sisters at the same venue almost 30 years later. En route, we're exposed to the fallibility of theatre criticism through his much-regretted original criticism of Sarah Kane's Blasted and its role in identifying major talents at the first opportunity.
Having recently retired from his 48-year position as the Guardian newspaper's drama critic during which time he wrote around 10,000 theatre reviews, Michael Billiington was Britain's longest-serving theatre critic. Through his work, he was present at an eye-watering number of premieres during this time and witnessed first-hand the exciting developments in British theatre over the past 30 years and the substantial pressures it faced - never more so than today.

MICHAEL BILLINGTON is a theatre critic and has written several biographies of well-known playwrights. Having worked as a publicist and director for Lincoln Theatre Company in the 1960s, he was employed by The Times newspaper as a theatre critic in 1965, before joining The Guardian in 1971. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to the theatre. His books include The 101 Greatest Plays: From Antiquity to the Present (2016), State of the Nation: British Theatre Since 1945 (2009) and Harold Pinter (2007).

Acknowledgements xi
Introduction
1. Towards the End of the Millennium: 1992-9

1992
Angels in America
Faith Healer
Moby Dick
The Rise and Fall of Little Voice
1993
Is there Life after Deptford? 400 Years since the Death of Christopher Marlowe
Arcadia
Moonlight
Cabaret
1994
The Atheist's Tragedy
Footfalls
John Gielgud: a celebration of his 90th birthday
The Queen and I/Road
Measure for Measure
Pentecost
The Life and Legacy of John Osborne
1995
Blasted
Letters to the Editor about Blasted
Dealer's Choice
Skylight
The Importance of Being Earnest/ Private Lives
Mojo
1996
Shakespeare on Screen
The Beauty Queen of Leenane
Divine Right
Hedda Gabler
Ashes to Ashes

1997
Bird and Fortune
Ivanov
A Six-Point Plan for Theatre
Playhouse Creatures
Blue Heart
The Weir

1998
An Experiment With An Air Pump
Naked
Cleansed
Copenhagen
The Merchant of Venice/As You Like It
Via Dolorosa
1999
The Colour Of Justice
Lift Off 71
House and Garden
Ricky Jay and his 52 Assistants
Mnemonic
Noel Coward Centenary
2. Hopes of Renewal: 2000-9

2000
The Island
Celebration/The Room
Richard II
Blue/Orange
4.48 Psychosis
The Bogus Woman
Is there a Crisis in Black Theatre?
2001
A Raisin in the Sun
Alive From Palestine
Mother Clap's Molly House
The Seagull
No Man's Land
2002
The York Realist
Up For Grabs
The Marriage of Figaro
Frozen
The Coast of Utopia
Joan Littlewood
A Number
2003
Iphigenia
Henry V
Fallout
The Elephant Vanishes
Iain Duncan Smith's Leader's Speech at the Conservative Party Conference
The Sugar
Syndrome
Cut-Price Shakespeare
Lear's Daughters
2004
The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?
When Harry Met Sally
Endgame
Festen
Sing Yer Heart Out for the Lads
Guantanamo
Stuff Happens
Thou shalt not cough
Don Carlos
2005
Professor Bernhardi
Mammals
Is the Fashion for the 90-minute Play suffocating Dramatists?
Elmina's Kitchen
Talking to Terrorists
Death of a Salesman
Blackbird
The Wild Duck
2006
Nights at the Circus
Resurrection Blues
The Clean House
Rock 'N' Roll
Frost/Nixon
A Moon for the Misbegotten
Krapp's Last Tape
2007
The Seagull
Black Watch
King Lear
Macbeth
The Crisis in West End Theatre
Noughts and Crosses
2008
Tribute to Paul Scofield 1922-2008
Gone With the Wind
The English Game
The Pitmen Painters
Her Naked Skin
Hamlet
Breaking the Rules: Leading Article on Harold Pinter
Tribute to Harold Pinter
2009
Be Near Me
Death and the King's Horseman
The Arts in the 1980s: Reflections on Theatre under Margaret Thatcher
The Great Game: Afghanistan
The Contingency Plan
Jerusalem
Enron
Critic's Notebook
3. Bright Spots in the Lost Decade: 2010-19

2010
Off the Endz
Sweet Nothings
Ruined
Religion and Theatre
The Persians
The Game
Onassis
Men Should Weep
2011
What's Wrong with Spoilers?
The League of Youth
The Merchant of Venice
truth and reconciliation
Othello
Tribute to Shelagh Delaney
Foxfinder
The Animals and Children Took to the Streets

2012
Signs of Second-Rate Plays
Julius Caesar
Ten Billion
Three Sisters
This House
All That Fall
Red Velvet
The Effect
2013
The Audience
Chimerica
A Season in the Congo
Handbagged
The Scottsboro Boys
50 Years of The National Theatre

2014
Ellen Terry With Eileen Atkins
King Charles III
Khandan (Family)
Wonderland
Ballyturk
The James Plays
Gypsy
2015
Oppenheimer
The Hard Problem
Nicholas Hytner's 12-year-reign as Director of the National
Lampedusa
The Trial
Hamlet
Hangmen
Tribute to Brian Friel
Elf the Musical
2016
Escaped Alone
Cleansed
Hamlet
The Flick 246
Sixty Years of the Royal Court
Why Shakespeare lives on 400 Years after his Death
Father Comes Home from the Wars
Oil
The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism
King Lear
2017
Hamlet
Consent
The Ferryman
An Octoroon
Barber Shop Chronicles
Donald Trump and Shakespeare
Fatherland
Girl From The North Country
Tribute to Sir Peter Hall
Albion
Ken Dodd at 90
2018
The Inheritance
The Writer
Nine Night
Red
The Jungle
The Lehman Trilogy
Caryl Churchill at 80
Company
The Watsons
Sweat
2019
Our Lady of Kibeho
Rutherford and Son
Betrayal
Kunene and the King
Small Island
Romersholm
Ian McKellen
The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black,
Black Oil
Fleabag
A Very Expensive Poison
Three Sisters
Letter to Oliver Dowden in The Guardian
Index