Explore West End show reviews and critics' ratings from London's top productions.
There’s the truth and then there’s the story. When a white teacher is killed in a black neighbourhood, four journalists race to get the headline – at any cost. But when shocking new evidence pulls them into the dark heart of the case, they are each forced to confront what they’re prepared to risk to tell their version of the truth.
Directed and adapted by Benedict Andrews, this new play is based on both Sophocles' story of Electra from Greek mythology and Ingmar Bergman's celebrated 1966 film Persona – exemplifying The National Theatre's commitment to re-examining classic stories in new forms. Creating a charged dialogue that spans over 2000 years between the ancient and the modern, this ambitious new production will interrogate the inner life of an actress and query how grief can make us strangers to ourselves. What did the critics think?
Essex, 1977. Beverly is hosting, the alcohol is flowing, Demis Roussos is on the record player and the cheese and pineapple cocktail sticks are ready to go. Queen of the castle in her suburban semi, Beverly and husband Laurence welcome new neighbours Angela and Tony round for drinks. Sue from next door is invited too but the real party is happening back at her place, as Sue's teenage daughter Abigail can't seem to keep the racket down. Awkward small talk quickly descends into inappropriate flirtation and marital disputes: a soiree from hell, but it'd be rude to leave. What did the critics think?
Frank Wildhorn's Death Note Musical is now officially open in the West End. See what the critics are saying about the production in BroadwayWorld's Review Roundup!
Alan Ayckbourn’s brilliantly crafted masterpiece juggles time and space to present the lives and loves, passion and panic of three married couples. The action takes place at two dinner parties given on different nights, with situations that lead to a string of misunderstandings and almost farcical events with hilarious consequences. A single set represents two living-dining rooms at once. The play tackles contemporary issues of sex and class in English society… creating true comedy we all can relate to. What did the critics think?
The reviews are in for Royal Shakespeare Company's world premiere of George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones: The Mad King, a new play based on novels by George R. R. Martin. Read the reviews here!
What did our critic think of ROMEO AND HAMED, RIVERSIDE STUDIOS at Riverside Studios?
There’s the truth and then there’s the story. When a white teacher is killed in a black neighbourhood, four journalists race to get the headline – at any cost. But when shocking new evidence pulls them into the dark heart of the case, they are each forced to confront what they’re prepared to risk to tell their version of the truth.
Rosalind Adler and Lea Sellers tackle the artistic consequences of tyranny in this sluggish, derivative, and uninteresting piece of theatre. Taking Dmitri Shostakovich’s relationship with Stalin’s regime as their protagonist, they try to weave a thought-provoking exploration of creativity and politics, but neglect to actually dive into what made this man intellectually appealing. Active in Petersburg at the height of Socialism, he toed the line between compliance and resistance, composing music in defiance of a system he could never believe in. Politically, psychologically, and morally, the topic is absolutely fascinating. The reality of Holy Fool is that this is a boring play, both dramatically and conceptually.
What did our critic think of THE ARCHERS: LIVE AT 75, NEW WIMBLEDON THEATRE at New Wimbledon Theatre?
Led by a wonderfully accomplished Molly Hockham as the cross-dressing Viola, everyone has a wonderful time and goes home happy to ask Alexa to play the Bee Gees.
In an unintentionally timely piece of programming, The Story opens at the National a month or so after Jason Arday’s death. Much like that saga, US playwright Tracey Scott Wilson’s play is concerned with the failure of institutions to protect talented people from minority backgrounds, the urge to cheat one’s way in under a broken system, and the immense personal cost of both these phenomena to reputations and lives.
What did our critic think of PRESENT LAUGHTER, THEATRE ROYAL BATH at Theatre Royal Bath?
Natalya Petrovna has it all: a devoted husband, a gentle life, and she has enough wealth not to care about any of it. In spite of her long list of admirers and a silver tongue to go with it, she’s bored. Everything changes when she hires Aleksey as her son’s tutor. Ennui, the potential of a young lover, and plenty of jealousy make Brian Friel’s take on Ivan Turgenev’s play the perfect end-of-summer treat. Friel succeeds in maintaining the classic idle nature of Russian drama, and Lyndsey Turner turns it into a delicious slow burn.
Peter Marinker brings his own past and his own present to a man living in both timeframes
Jewers returns to Samuel Pepys as a subject of fiction following his debut novel, The Lost Diary of Samuel Pepys (2022). At the start of Seething Lane, Pepys is again looking for signs of corruption in and outside of the Court, but when violent death raises its head, he realises it is folly to trust anyone.
What should have been a provocative journey into the ethics of AI becomes a shallow rumination on selfishness. As the work has been translated from Korean, we could suggest a margin for error when it comes to semantics and musicality. This, however, doesn’t excuse the shortfalls of the material. The production looks and sounds good–Bob Sterrett and Lu Herbert design a cosy set and the cast is fabulous–but that’s not enough.
Directed and adapted by Benedict Andrews, this new play is based on both Sophocles' story of Electra from Greek mythology and Ingmar Bergman's celebrated 1966 film Persona – exemplifying The National Theatre's commitment to re-examining classic stories in new forms. Creating a charged dialogue that spans over 2000 years between the ancient and the modern, this ambitious new production will interrogate the inner life of an actress and query how grief can make us strangers to ourselves. What did the critics think?
In Ingmar Bergman’s 1966 Modernist classic Persona, an actress named Elisabeth breaks down mid-performance, becomes mute, and goes on to develop a strange codependent relationship with her nurse, Alma. Much ink has been spilled over the film and its varied psychological readings, but Australian writer-director Benedict Andrews takes a new tack – he poses the question of why, of all the plays, Elisabet’s breakdown should happen during Sophocles’ Electra.
Alan Menken is an incredibly well renowned composer whose music has the power to transport an audience back to childhood effortlessly. From the moment the first notes of Beauty and the Beast’s ‘Be Our Guest’ encompassed the Royal Albert Hall, it was clear that the evening was going to be a joyous celebration of pure Disney magic.
The beauty of the BBC Proms is that you don’t always know what you’re going to get - and sometimes the most unlikely event can become one of your absolute favourites. This was the situation in which I found myself at the Royal Albert Hall last night when Altın Gün took to the stage to celebrate their album Garip, which itself is a tribute to legendary Turkish folk musician Neşet Ertaş. A modern twist on the music they were brought up listening to.
This year’s Proms season has been awash with commemorations of America’s 250th anniversary, the entire season beginning with Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man” - and that piece featuring at several other points in various ways across the festival. So it was about time that there was a concert wholly focused on American composers, and celebrating the country’s more romantic aspects. It was only fitting that Marin Alsop curated the programme and was there to conduct the Philharmonia Orchestra.
Much like Georgie Dettmer’s blockbuster debut play Are You Watching?, her sophomore effort Wanton begins and ends with childhood, and the messages women receive from a distressingly early age. A group of primary school girls do cartwheels and put on costumes in the playground – except most of them are dressed as murdered historical women. Thus begins a series of disconnected, intelligently written, disturbing vignettes.
Yes, yes: ask the average person about Frankenstein and they will speak at length about the book and the films but, if it wasn't for the theatrical adaptations, Mary Shelley's gothic classic would arguably just be collecting dust in your local library.
Ultimately, it’s difficult to single out what Stephens wants to say here. Leaving aside the logistics of the events, which only make sense when you don’t look into them too much, the story feels flat. Even running at two hours (plus an interval), where the first half consists of a lengthy set-up for the second act, the ending is muddled and rushed. The company is charming and the characters most definitely grow on you, but it’s rather indecisive and inconclusive in its aims.
This celebration of the scores and songs from the James Bond's film franchise leaves us stirred, not shaken, with a surprise appearance from Lulu.
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