Affair of the Heart

A book of selected reviews from one of the foremost authorities on British theatre.

Until his retirement in 2019, Michael Billington was Britain's longest-serving theatre critic, penning around 10,000 theatre reviews during his 48-year tenure as the Guardian's drama critic. He was present at an eye-watering number of premieres and witnessed first-hand the exciting developments in British theatre over the past 30 years, as well as the substantial pressures it faced - never more so than today.

Following on from Billington's first collection One Night Stands, Affair of the Heart 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.

Starting each chapter is a brief commentary on the developments of that era and the social, political and cultural context within which this theatre was being produced. Also included are key obituaries and letters in response to reviews written, providing a rich collection of curated archival material.