EDINBURGH 2025: Review: DEAR ANNIE, I HATE YOU, Pleasance Courtyard, Pleasance TwoAugust 14, 2025Dear Annie, I Hate You is a visceral, captivating account of survival which fuses raw storytelling with inventive theatricality. Written and performed by Samantha Ipema, this semi-autobiographical work confronts the life-altering impact of a brain aneurysm diagnosis at the age of twenty, crafting a narrative which is as darkly funny, as it is deeply affecting.
EDINBURGH 2025: Review: DREAM SPACE, Assembly George SquareAugust 13, 2025Dream Space by Creative Group SSAK is a shimmering piece of theatrical magic, transforming the everyday into the extraordinary through inventive puppetry, music, and movement. From the moment the playful kazoo ensemble opening sets the tone, the production invites audiences of all ages into its surreal island world, where the line between reality and fantasy melts away.
EDINBURGH 2025: Review: RAJIV KARIA: MAN ALIVE!, Pleasance CourtyardAugust 12, 2025Rajiv Karia’s Man Alive! is a thoughtful and sharply observed hour, which asks big questions with a light, playful touch. Karia discusses male friendships, issues around maintaining contact, social connection and weaves this into the everyday irritations and anxieties of modern life and with a lens of warmth, wit, and self-deprecation, skilfully keeping the audience laughing consistently.
Review: THE BADDIES, Cadogan HallAugust 11, 2025It’s not often that villains are the stars of children’s shows, but Freckle Productions’ adaptation of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s The Baddies gleefully flips the script. At Cadogan Hall, this wickedly silly romp delivers a charming, high-energy musical, which keeps its youngest audience members giggling, while slipping in theatrical polish to keep the grown-ups engaged.
Review: HORRIBLE HISTORIES: BARMY BRITAIN - THE BEST BITS!, Apollo TheatreAugust 4, 2025Horrible Histories: Barmy Britain – The Best Bits! presents the grizzly tales of British history with gusto. Celebrating 20 years of Horrible Histories Live on Stage and 14 years of entertaining London audiences, Birmingham Stage Company’s latest incarnation proves that even after two decades, history is far from dull, especially when it’s packed with peril and poo jokes.
EDINBURGH 2025 Review: AMY MASON: BEHOLD! Pleasance Courtyard, Baby GrandAugust 1, 2025Amy Mason is witty, unfiltered, and enjoyably coarse, diving right into how connection, intimacy, and the chaos of how modern life works in reality. Mason brings a refreshingly honest perspective to the hour, delivered in a deadpan yet inviting style which creates a sense of wonder at her candour, with every understated punchline.
Review: THE DIANA MIXTAPE, HERE At OuternetAugust 1, 2025There’s a new Queen in town, and her name is Keala Settle, with five pop princesses all called Diana, keen on stealing her limelight. The Diana Mixtape, currently lighting up HERE at Outernet, is a glitter-soaked, pop-powered celebration of the People’s Princess, unlike anything London has seen before. Blending drag spectacle, West End flair, and irresistible chart-toppers, this high-camp musical concert is less a traditional biopic and more a fabulously queer fever dream.
Review: ALICE IN WONDERLAND, Marylebone TheatreJuly 21, 2025Adapted by Penny Farrow based on the novel by Lewis Carroll, Broadway Haus and DEM Productions have conjured up a delightfully imaginative retelling of Alice in Wonderland at the Marylebone Theatre, under the inventive direction of Nate Bertone and the sharp, playful guidance of Associate Director Eva Sampson.
Review: THE SMEDS AND THE SMOOS, The Lyric TheatreJuly 21, 2025Performed at the Lyric Theatre, The Smeds and the Smoos is a delightful theatrical treat for families, delivering a charming adaptation of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s beloved book.
Review: KING OF PANGEA, King’s Head TheatreJune 12, 2025King of Pangea at the King’s Head Theatre, London is a striking and inventive one-act 90-minute play, which blends the personal experience of grief with surreal world-building.