Four decades of expertise lie behind veteran theatre critic Michael Billington's new book State of the Nation: British Theatre since 1945 (Faber, November), which explores the relationship between theatre and society over the years since the Second World War.

As the longstanding drama critic for the Guardian (he took up his...

You may not recognise Mark Oliver Everett—even some of his biggest fans would walk straight past him in the street. Also known as "E", the unassuming Eels frontman defines himself as a "poor excuse for a rock star", someone who shuns the limelight in favour of making music that challenges audiences and does not kowtow...

Caroline Michel, m.d. of the William Morris agency in the UK, is leaving to become chief executive of rival agency PFD. Michel has been brought in over the heads of the PFD management team, who have been attempting to negotiate a £4m buyout from parent CSS Stellar.

Michel’s appointment was made by David Buchler, the new...

To a certain Joan Johnson, a maidservant at the house of the Mountjoy family in London's Silver Street in the early years of the 17th century, William Shakespeare was not the Bard of Avon, the genius of his age and the foundation stone of the English theatrical canon. No. Instead, he was "one Mr Shakespeare that lay in the house"...