UK / West End Theater Reviews Page 2

Review: TWELFTH NIGHT, Regent's Park Open Air Theatre
by Debbie Gilpin - May 10, 2024

“More matter for a May morning.” Given that the majority of Shakespeare’s plays began with outdoor performances of one kind or another, it’s a perfect fit for the leafy surroundings of Regent’s Park – which has made it all the more conspicuous for its absence from the programming over the past few s...

Review: WHAT THE BUTLER SAW, Theatre Royal Windsor
by Gary Naylor - May 09, 2024

Landmark show creaks at the edges, but gets its share of laughs in this highly accomplished touring show...

Review: BETWEEN THE LINES, New Diorama Theatre
by Alexander Cohen - May 09, 2024

Sparks fly in this plucky grime infused play, but it doesn't quite catch fire...

Review: GILLIAN COSGRIFF: ACTUALLY, GOOD, Soho Theatre
by Kat Mokrynski - May 10, 2024

Gillian Cosgriff: Actually, Good begins with Cosgriff performing using a looper pedal, with backwards vocals and some chords from the onstage keyboard. She gives us context for several things in order to understand the show, including that the Whitsundays are islands and Australians like to make tou...

Review: THE GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR, Marylebone Theatre
by Mica Blackwell - May 09, 2024

Nikolai Gogol's 1836 satire The Government Inspector caused a stir for calling out the Russian government's corruption. It's easy to see why Peter Myers wanted to bring its relevant story to the stage two centuries later, but the biting commentary under the silliness is lost in translation in this c...

Brighton Fringe Review: WHOA MAMA!, Spiegeltent, Bosco Theatre
by Caroline Cronin - May 09, 2024

The strapline for Stephanie Ware’s WHOA MAMA! had me intrigued – a one woman comedy about a 40-something woman and her choice to remain childfree. There’s certainly no shortage of rhetoric on this subject, particularly on social media where the childfree “movement” has a real chokehold. But the conc...

Review: VANITY FAIR, Open Bar Theatre
by Aliya Al-Hassan - May 09, 2024

Pub garden theatre specialist Open Bar Theatre has returned for a spring season with a deft and slightly chaotic version of William Thackeray's Vanity Fair. Dealing with the fortunes of two young women, the story explores early 19th-century English society, specifically how money and ambition can de...

Review: SPIRITED AWAY, London Coliseum
by Cindy Marcolina - May 09, 2024

Hayao Miyazaki’s legacy is one for the ages. The co-founder of Studio Ghibli revolutionised the Western consumption of anime and set a new standard for Japanese animated films. London isn’t a stranger to the stage adaptations of his creations: a major example is My Neighbour Totoro, which took up sh...

Review: CAPTAIN AMAZING, Southwark Playhouse Borough
by Aliya Al-Hassan - May 07, 2024

Mark sits in a white box on a red chair. He is dressed in a grey t-shirt and jeans. With the exception of sporting a red cape, he is nondescript, ordinary, normal. In the next 65 minutes, we are taken on an emotional ride through Mark's experiences of love, parenthood and devastating loss, all while...

Review: TIM RICE: MY LIFE IN MUSICALS, Liverpool Playhouse
by Sarah OHara - May 07, 2024

Currently on tour across the UK, Tim Rice: My Life In Musicals is two hours of musical theatre bliss that you will never forget....

Review: THE WINTER'S TALE, Royal Opera House
by Franco Milazzo - May 06, 2024

Part violent psychodrama, part sunny romcom, The Winter’s Tale was not the most obvious of plays for the Royal Ballet to take on....

Review: MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, Shakespeare's Globe
by Abbie Grundy - May 04, 2024

Much Ado About Nothing is a laughter-filled production with stellar performances throughout....

Review: KING LEAR, Riverside Studios
by Cindy Marcolina - May 04, 2024

Cutting Shakespeare isn’t rare, with time restraint and accessible efficiency at the top of the list. What happens when you remove the text altogether, leaving only the bare bones of the story? Hong Kongese company Nonverbal Theatre of Gesture have the answer....

Review: THE CHERRY ORCHARD, Donmar Warehouse
by Alexander Cohen - May 03, 2024

An excellent cast are let down by self-obsessed direction....

Review: BILAL ZAFAR: IMPOSTER, Soho Theatre
by Kat Mokrynski - May 03, 2024

'Bilal Zafar: Imposter is an hour-long story in which Zafar uses comedy to tell the audience about a wild experience he had when his housemate tried to get him arrested five separate times.'...

Review: CYCLES, Barbican Centre
by Franco Milazzo - May 02, 2024

With their new work Cycles, it is clear that Boy Blue are at something of a crossroads....

Review: MARIE FAUSTIN: SORRY I'M LATE, Soho Theatre
by Kat Mokrynski - May 03, 2024

As soon as Faustin takes the stage, she immediately jumps right in, creating a conversational atmosphere with the audience. She designates a table of audience members in the front row as the “rich table” and begins by talking about her experiences flying first class....

Review: FROZEN, Greenwich Theatre
by Niamh Jones - April 30, 2024

Is serial killing ever a forgivable act? A controversial question certainly and the central premise of Bryony Lavery’s Frozen. Told from three points of view, this play explores the impacts of trauma and loss on very different members of society....

Review: A CHORUS OF DISAPPROVAL, Salisbury Playhouse
by Cheryl Markosky - May 01, 2024

What can be more cheering on a dreary, wet evening than seeing a jolly Alan Ayckbourn comedy?...

Review: PIPPIN - 50TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT, Theatre Royal Drury Lane
by Louise Penn - April 30, 2024

Stephen Schwartz's 70s musical Pippin makes a triumphant return with a note perfect casting at Drury Lane's concert version, with Fosse-inspired choreography and costumes given a disco pride vibe. Alex Newell's vocals do not disappoint, Jac Yarrow is a fine lead, while Patricia Hodge is a poignant B...

Review: LAUGHING BOY, Jermyn Street Theatre
by Cindy Marcolina - May 01, 2024

When Connor dies whilst in the care of the NHS, his mum, Sara, wants answers. Premiering under Stephen Unwin’s taut direction, Sara Ryan’s Laughing Boy is a bittersweet docu-play about brutal neglect and apathy. While it’s a damning inquiry into the shortcomings of public health, is it a good play o...

Review: MINORITY REPORT, Lyric Hammersmith
by Alexander Cohen - April 30, 2024

It ought to echo with eerie prescience in 2024 as an ever-closer prophecy for an age where AI and algorithms will dictate the minutiae of our lives. But David Haig's new stage adaption is more like a cyberpunk-themed orgy at Printworks....

Review: REMEMBRANCE MONDAY, Seven Dials Playhouse
by Niamh Jones - April 29, 2024

Many of us ask ourselves about the definition of love, what is the purest form perhaps, or what does it mean to make promises while in love. Michael Batten’s play Remembrance Monday asks these questions through the lens of a seventy minute psychological thriller....

Review: MACBETH IN CINEMAS, Filmed at Dock X
by Alice Cope - April 29, 2024

An intense and well filmed release of an atmospheric production of Macbeth. Showing in cinemas from 2 May....

Review: THIS IS MEMORIAL DEVICE, Riverside Studios
by Cheryl Markosky - April 29, 2024

If you've ever idolised a lesser-known band and endlessly reminisce about its utter brilliance through rose-tinted spectacles, then This Is Memorial Device at Riverside Studios is a must-see....