Holly Williams
@hollywilliams.bsky.social
Author, critic, journalist. The Start of Something and What Time is Love? published by Orion. Editor of Exeunt @exeuntmagazine.bsky.social.
I hope you're all outside in the sun... but if you ARE looking at your phone, now's the last chance to take advantage of Exeunt and The Crush Bar's HISTORIC offer
20 per cent off, babes! That's four quid a month! I mean!!!
exeuntmagazine.substack.com/subscribe
thecrushbar.substack.com/subscribe
20 per cent off, babes! That's four quid a month! I mean!!!
exeuntmagazine.substack.com/subscribe
thecrushbar.substack.com/subscribe
March 9, 2025 at 3:20 PM
I hope you're all outside in the sun... but if you ARE looking at your phone, now's the last chance to take advantage of Exeunt and The Crush Bar's HISTORIC offer
20 per cent off, babes! That's four quid a month! I mean!!!
exeuntmagazine.substack.com/subscribe
thecrushbar.substack.com/subscribe
20 per cent off, babes! That's four quid a month! I mean!!!
exeuntmagazine.substack.com/subscribe
thecrushbar.substack.com/subscribe
And Love's Labour Lost (More or Less) - which was definitely less Shakespeare, more Venga Boys... Three stars: not totally my bag, this, but a brilliant cast really sell it and it's a fun and funny night out
Love’s Labour’s Lost review — is this Shakespeare or a Nineties club comedy?
Goofy performances save this Ibiza-set take on the Bard, but why does a Shakespearean replica theatre seem to trust the playwright so little?
www.thetimes.com
March 5, 2025 at 3:57 PM
And Love's Labour Lost (More or Less) - which was definitely less Shakespeare, more Venga Boys... Three stars: not totally my bag, this, but a brilliant cast really sell it and it's a fun and funny night out
Plus a couple of recent reviews: four stars for The House Party from me - Headlong and Frantic Assembly's update of Miss Julie
The House Party review — this Strindberg update crackles with energy
Laura Lomas’s contemporary take on Miss Julie is a zesty tangle of desire and resentment, brilliantly acted
www.thetimes.com
March 5, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Plus a couple of recent reviews: four stars for The House Party from me - Headlong and Frantic Assembly's update of Miss Julie
I, too, have written something about Meghan Markle. And trad wives. Oh yes! Although wrote this before the show aired, so it's less fine-grain, detail-heavy Meghan mockery, and more general "oh, the lies capitalism sells us about how about to a woman!!"
With Love, Meghan and the unstoppable rise of the 'domestic goddess'
From Martha Stewart to Meghan: Why there's no stopping the TV celebrity homemaker – and why "we're in a retro domestic goddess moment".
www.bbc.co.uk
March 5, 2025 at 3:45 PM
I, too, have written something about Meghan Markle. And trad wives. Oh yes! Although wrote this before the show aired, so it's less fine-grain, detail-heavy Meghan mockery, and more general "oh, the lies capitalism sells us about how about to a woman!!"
So pleased to publish this ace piece - feels like the sort of thing Exeunt can host that wouldn’t get space anywhere else
Lora has written a thoughtful essay on being an migrant and being an artist - but it’s also a creative response, featuring its own instructions for an imaginary performance… 🔥🔥
Lora has written a thoughtful essay on being an migrant and being an artist - but it’s also a creative response, featuring its own instructions for an imaginary performance… 🔥🔥
"How much do we change when we move to a new country? What do we embrace, resist, leave behind?"
Lora Krasteva made a show about applying for citizenship and if it's possible to 'become' British. Here, she expands her scope - asking what it costs to be a migrant within the British theatre industry?
Lora Krasteva made a show about applying for citizenship and if it's possible to 'become' British. Here, she expands her scope - asking what it costs to be a migrant within the British theatre industry?
Baked beans, cups of tea, and colonialism: the six-hour show about becoming British
Lora Krasteva's durational piece was inspired by applying for citizenship. Now, she reflects on what it means to be a migrant within the theatre industry
exeuntmagazine.substack.com
March 1, 2025 at 11:23 AM
So pleased to publish this ace piece - feels like the sort of thing Exeunt can host that wouldn’t get space anywhere else
Lora has written a thoughtful essay on being an migrant and being an artist - but it’s also a creative response, featuring its own instructions for an imaginary performance… 🔥🔥
Lora has written a thoughtful essay on being an migrant and being an artist - but it’s also a creative response, featuring its own instructions for an imaginary performance… 🔥🔥
Put on my most orange clothes and took my very orange paperback - half set in Sheffield- on a tour of other orange things around Sheffield! 🍊
March 1, 2025 at 10:41 AM
Put on my most orange clothes and took my very orange paperback - half set in Sheffield- on a tour of other orange things around Sheffield! 🍊
It’s… PAPERBACK PUBLICATION daaaay! Excited that my slimmer, cheaper, but still very orange, book is now out in the world…
February 27, 2025 at 2:17 PM
It’s… PAPERBACK PUBLICATION daaaay! Excited that my slimmer, cheaper, but still very orange, book is now out in the world…
Great to see @waterstones.bsky.social doing a sweet deal on pre-orders - 25% off upcoming books!
And that just about includes The Start of Something which is out in paperback THIS THURSDAY... meaning with the discount it's a mere £7.50 (giant elbows not included)
And that just about includes The Start of Something which is out in paperback THIS THURSDAY... meaning with the discount it's a mere £7.50 (giant elbows not included)
The Start of Something by Holly Williams | Waterstones
Buy The Start of Something by Holly Williams from Waterstones today! Click and Collect from your local Waterstones or get FREE UK delivery on orders over £25.
www.waterstones.com
February 24, 2025 at 10:58 AM
Great to see @waterstones.bsky.social doing a sweet deal on pre-orders - 25% off upcoming books!
And that just about includes The Start of Something which is out in paperback THIS THURSDAY... meaning with the discount it's a mere £7.50 (giant elbows not included)
And that just about includes The Start of Something which is out in paperback THIS THURSDAY... meaning with the discount it's a mere £7.50 (giant elbows not included)
Well I think this is the first time I’ve been in a bomb scare at a theatre…
tonight’s production of Mary and the Hyenas at Hull Truck evacuated, seemingly because of a ‘suspicious package’ in a neighbouring shopping centre
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
tonight’s production of Mary and the Hyenas at Hull Truck evacuated, seemingly because of a ‘suspicious package’ in a neighbouring shopping centre
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Bomb squad called to 'suspicious package' found in Hull
People are advised to avoid the area around St Stephen's Shopping Centre until further notice.
www.bbc.co.uk
February 18, 2025 at 9:57 PM
Well I think this is the first time I’ve been in a bomb scare at a theatre…
tonight’s production of Mary and the Hyenas at Hull Truck evacuated, seemingly because of a ‘suspicious package’ in a neighbouring shopping centre
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
tonight’s production of Mary and the Hyenas at Hull Truck evacuated, seemingly because of a ‘suspicious package’ in a neighbouring shopping centre
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
It was a real pleasure to get to chat properly with @chrisbushwrites.bsky.social about her new play Otherland - eight years in the making, and both an unusually personal play for her, and also a typically expansive, theatrical one…
exeuntmagazine.substack.com/p/i-wasnt-in...
exeuntmagazine.substack.com/p/i-wasnt-in...
'I wasn’t interested in writing just a trans play - Otherland is about womanhood'
Chris Bush talks about her own experience as a trans woman for the first time - and explains why her new show is actually so much bigger than that
exeuntmagazine.substack.com
February 17, 2025 at 1:33 PM
It was a real pleasure to get to chat properly with @chrisbushwrites.bsky.social about her new play Otherland - eight years in the making, and both an unusually personal play for her, and also a typically expansive, theatrical one…
exeuntmagazine.substack.com/p/i-wasnt-in...
exeuntmagazine.substack.com/p/i-wasnt-in...
Delighted to actually get commissioned to write about one of my minor grumbles about Sheffield… why does no one dress up here??
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy walking boots in the pub as much as the next Peak District fan, but I also miss a sense of sartorial flourish…
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy walking boots in the pub as much as the next Peak District fan, but I also miss a sense of sartorial flourish…
The perfect Saturday morning read doesn’t exist…yes it does!
Why is Sheffield so un-glam by @hollywilliams.bsky.social 👠
www.sheffieldtribune.co.uk/mirror-mirro...
Why is Sheffield so un-glam by @hollywilliams.bsky.social 👠
www.sheffieldtribune.co.uk/mirror-mirro...
Mirror, mirror on the wall: Who is the frumpiest of them all?
Northern cities are famous for glamming up. But in Sheffield, it’s Merrells on the dancefloor
www.sheffieldtribune.co.uk
February 17, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Delighted to actually get commissioned to write about one of my minor grumbles about Sheffield… why does no one dress up here??
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy walking boots in the pub as much as the next Peak District fan, but I also miss a sense of sartorial flourish…
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy walking boots in the pub as much as the next Peak District fan, but I also miss a sense of sartorial flourish…
Belated sharing of my interview with Billy Nomates and Maureen Lennon about a new show on Mary Wollstonecraft - this was a fun one!
How do you put Mary Wollstonecraft - the 'mother of feminism', and also of Mary Shelley - on stage? With songs by Billy Nomates!
@hollywilliams.bsky.social discusses Wollstonecraft's radical legacy, sexism in the music industry, and being sick of the term Strong Woman
@hollywilliams.bsky.social discusses Wollstonecraft's radical legacy, sexism in the music industry, and being sick of the term Strong Woman
'She'd be buzzing!' Billy Nomates & Maureen Lennon on Mary Wollstonecraft
'It is important that the music has some guts, and a rawness ... I don’t think Mary listens to Ed Sheeran'
exeuntmagazine.substack.com
February 1, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Belated sharing of my interview with Billy Nomates and Maureen Lennon about a new show on Mary Wollstonecraft - this was a fun one!
Belated repost for Friday's Exeunt piece, I'm chatting once more about my love for Sheffield but also how different reviewing work here can feel...
From the pleasures of feeling part of a community to awkward conversations and hostile glares after a lukewarm review… @fergusmorgan.bsky.social, @traceysinclair.bsky.social, Frank Peschier and @hollywilliams.bsky.social on what it’s like to be a critic within a small theatre scene
'It feels like punching a pal'
Four writers on what it's like to be a critic in a close-knit theatre community
exeuntmagazine.substack.com
January 27, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Belated repost for Friday's Exeunt piece, I'm chatting once more about my love for Sheffield but also how different reviewing work here can feel...
Had a frankly headspinning 48 hours of viewing over the weekend: the Strictly Live Show to Revenge: After the Levoyah to Calamity Jane to The Employees... variety is the spice etc
Strictly was predictably slick, glittery entertainment:
Strictly was predictably slick, glittery entertainment:
Strictly Come Dancing Live! review — a glitzy victory lap for the TV show
The 2024 winner Chris McCausland may not be part of the live stage tour, but the runners up revisited their routines with infectious glee at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham
www.thetimes.com
January 22, 2025 at 11:34 AM
Had a frankly headspinning 48 hours of viewing over the weekend: the Strictly Live Show to Revenge: After the Levoyah to Calamity Jane to The Employees... variety is the spice etc
Strictly was predictably slick, glittery entertainment:
Strictly was predictably slick, glittery entertainment:
So happy to have Rosemary Waugh doing this occasional series for us, going in deep in a kind of career retrospective exploring a designer’s work, their aesthetic, their collaborators, their development…
In the first of a new series on designers, Rosemary Waugh looks at the work of Soutra Gilmour, frequent collaborator with directors like Jamie Lloyd and Yaël Farber, instrumental in constructing their striking aesthetics and the lasting impact of their productions. For paid subscribers - read now!
Design in focus: an appreciation of Soutra Gilmour
The first in a regular series by Rosemary Waugh, exploring the work of British stage designers
exeuntmagazine.substack.com
January 17, 2025 at 5:23 PM
So happy to have Rosemary Waugh doing this occasional series for us, going in deep in a kind of career retrospective exploring a designer’s work, their aesthetic, their collaborators, their development…
Mariupol Drama review — actors from a bombed theatre tell their story. This felt an odd thing to ‘review’ really… terribly moving, and important to hear
Mariupol Drama review — actors from a bombed theatre tell their story
The cast of this show performed at HOME in Manchester relive the horror of being besieged by the Russian army. It’s spare, direct and moving
www.thetimes.com
January 16, 2025 at 8:57 AM
Mariupol Drama review — actors from a bombed theatre tell their story. This felt an odd thing to ‘review’ really… terribly moving, and important to hear
Love reading, don’t love expensive heavy hardbacks…?
My novel THE START OF SOMETHING is now on kindle for a mere 99p!
www.amazon.co.uk/Start-Someth...
My novel THE START OF SOMETHING is now on kindle for a mere 99p!
www.amazon.co.uk/Start-Someth...
January 15, 2025 at 11:43 AM
Love reading, don’t love expensive heavy hardbacks…?
My novel THE START OF SOMETHING is now on kindle for a mere 99p!
www.amazon.co.uk/Start-Someth...
My novel THE START OF SOMETHING is now on kindle for a mere 99p!
www.amazon.co.uk/Start-Someth...
Reposted by Holly Williams
Accents can be a last bastion of realism on stage. Why is that - and is it finally changing?
@hollywilliams.bsky.social looks at what ditching accents might mean for cultural specificity, class assumptions, and releasing classic texts...
But what do you think? Accents: 'In' or 'Out'?
@hollywilliams.bsky.social looks at what ditching accents might mean for cultural specificity, class assumptions, and releasing classic texts...
But what do you think? Accents: 'In' or 'Out'?
Is it time to ditch accents on stage?
An argument with myself about default realism, cultural specificity, and class assumptions
exeuntmagazine.substack.com
January 7, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Accents can be a last bastion of realism on stage. Why is that - and is it finally changing?
@hollywilliams.bsky.social looks at what ditching accents might mean for cultural specificity, class assumptions, and releasing classic texts...
But what do you think? Accents: 'In' or 'Out'?
@hollywilliams.bsky.social looks at what ditching accents might mean for cultural specificity, class assumptions, and releasing classic texts...
But what do you think? Accents: 'In' or 'Out'?
They can certainly be tricky but I do think in-the-round theatres are some of my favourites - the New Vic, Royal Exchange, and Orange tree are all gorgeous…
All for one and one for all! The joint joys of in-the-round theatre
All for one and one for all! The joint joys of in-the-round theatre
For audiences, it has a campfire vibe and immersive appeal. Performers and directors explain the rewards – and challenges – of ‘acting 360 degrees’
An actor strides down the stairs inches from where I sit. Another speaks from the far side of the…
www.theguardian.com
January 8, 2025 at 2:02 PM
They can certainly be tricky but I do think in-the-round theatres are some of my favourites - the New Vic, Royal Exchange, and Orange tree are all gorgeous…
Belatedly sharing this because I was too busy watching Hadestown, drinking fizz, and celebrating being another year older on the day we published it…
Fun and helpful and more-varied-than-your-average theatre in 2025 recs, I reckon 🙂
Fun and helpful and more-varied-than-your-average theatre in 2025 recs, I reckon 🙂
It's our last piece of 2024: Exeunt writers' initial round of recommendations for 2025! From the new new to transfers to Summerhall survivors, and an ode to the glorious, undersung Maureen Beattie, who can be seen in a Caryl Churchill double bill at @rxtheatre.bsky.social Feb - March! HNY, all.
Exeunt recommends... for 2025
Our writers look ahead at some of the most tantalising new and returning shows of 2025 - and a spotlight on Maureen Beattie
exeuntmagazine.substack.com
January 3, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Belatedly sharing this because I was too busy watching Hadestown, drinking fizz, and celebrating being another year older on the day we published it…
Fun and helpful and more-varied-than-your-average theatre in 2025 recs, I reckon 🙂
Fun and helpful and more-varied-than-your-average theatre in 2025 recs, I reckon 🙂
Reposted by Holly Williams
Alexander Cohen writes about the perils of turning press nights into dates nights, and the search for that elusive spark - both on the stage and off
Why am I so single? Because I’m a theatre critic
The problem with turning press nights into date nights
open.substack.com
January 3, 2025 at 11:12 AM
Alexander Cohen writes about the perils of turning press nights into dates nights, and the search for that elusive spark - both on the stage and off
Reposted by Holly Williams
Merry Christmas, Chanukah sameach, and a great big festive THANK YOU to everyone who has supported Exeunt’s return this winter
From @hollywilliams.bsky.social, and a bear bauble gifted in honour of our Exeunt mascot 🤶🐻
From @hollywilliams.bsky.social, and a bear bauble gifted in honour of our Exeunt mascot 🤶🐻
Thank you, and merry Christmas
A brief seasonal appreciation post
open.substack.com
December 24, 2024 at 1:00 PM
Merry Christmas, Chanukah sameach, and a great big festive THANK YOU to everyone who has supported Exeunt’s return this winter
From @hollywilliams.bsky.social, and a bear bauble gifted in honour of our Exeunt mascot 🤶🐻
From @hollywilliams.bsky.social, and a bear bauble gifted in honour of our Exeunt mascot 🤶🐻
Always nice to get to suggest a bunch of stuff for these - this year, some of my faves that I got to write about included Till the Stars Come Down, Kenrex, The Buddha of Suburbia, A Doll’s House…
From remarkable debut plays to fresh spins on classics, bold new musicals to breathtaking opera and dance, 2024 was a year of extraordinary theatre. As the curtain falls on another season, here are our critics' top 50 shows of the year 👇
www.thestage.co.uk/features/the...
www.thestage.co.uk/features/the...
The Stage's Top 50 shows of 2024
Our critics' picks of the UK's top 50 shows from the past 12 months
www.thestage.co.uk
December 20, 2024 at 5:25 PM
Always nice to get to suggest a bunch of stuff for these - this year, some of my faves that I got to write about included Till the Stars Come Down, Kenrex, The Buddha of Suburbia, A Doll’s House…
Loved the book, the tape, and now the play - a Christmas treat to get to think and talk and write about Ballet Shoes!
Why has a 1936 children's book about going on the stage proved so enduringly beloved?
Three generations of Ballet Shoes fans and theatre critics - Susannah Clapp, @hollywilliams.bsky.social and @izlew.bsky.social - excavate their memories and ask if the NT's new production can live up to them
Three generations of Ballet Shoes fans and theatre critics - Susannah Clapp, @hollywilliams.bsky.social and @izlew.bsky.social - excavate their memories and ask if the NT's new production can live up to them
‘Feminist and empowering’: Why every generation falls for Ballet Shoes
From a 1936 children’s story to a beloved audio-book, TV film, and finally a play... three critics dig into the enduring appeal of the Fossil sisters
exeuntmagazine.substack.com
December 20, 2024 at 5:14 PM
Loved the book, the tape, and now the play - a Christmas treat to get to think and talk and write about Ballet Shoes!
Reposted by Holly Williams
In today's free-for-everyone piece, Natasha Tripney explores endurance theatre, with an international bent: treadmills, heart monitors, running on the spot. How do you take care of yourself while performing these feats night after night? What's all this strain for? How does it feel to watch it?
Gonna make you sweat
Torn muscles, personal bests, and strategic toilet trips: inside the breathless world of endurance theatre
exeuntmagazine.substack.com
December 17, 2024 at 10:34 AM
In today's free-for-everyone piece, Natasha Tripney explores endurance theatre, with an international bent: treadmills, heart monitors, running on the spot. How do you take care of yourself while performing these feats night after night? What's all this strain for? How does it feel to watch it?