Ben Brantley
Posts
Othello and Iago, a Marriage Made in Both Heaven and Hell
Because Shakespeare gave his hero and antihero equal weight, the contest between the actors playing them has never been that easy to call.
‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ Is Haunted by Brando and Ghosts of Actors Past
With a revival starring Paul Mescal and Patsy Ferran in Brooklyn, a look at the carefully weighted balance that actors playing Blanche and Stanley need...
‘The Roommate’ Pairs Patti LuPone and Mia Farrow on Broadway
The longtime friends are appearing together in the new Broadway play “The Roommate.” Everything you think you know about them may be wrong.
Onstage, Michael Gambon’s Depth Transcended the Unspoken
The actor conveyed the gravitational force of mortality, tugging the men he played so commandingly toward a void beyond meaning, our critic writes.
Charles Busch, Drag Legend, Tells All in His New Memoir
“Leading Lady,” a mosaic of reminiscence and self-analysis, explores the ascent of a man who’s really good at playing women.
Glenda Jackson, an Unnervingly Energizing Presence at Every Age
“I had been prepared to be awed, intimidated, even terrified,” Ben Brantley writes of meeting the actress in person five years ago.