UK REGIONAL THEATER REVIEWS

Premiering at Nuffield Southampton Theatres' City venue, SS Mendi: Dancing the Death Drill resurrects those lost at sea in a little-known wartime tragedy through a cultural feast of powerful theatre, music and song....

A show about Judy, Audrey and Marilyn including songs by the gifted Beth Burrows - but does it tell us anything new?...

Big themes play out through dozens of small scenes in this effervescent production of Caryl Churchill's play....

Courtroom drama set on the Western Front that doesn't convince in its script and staging but still presses the emotional buttons....

A diverse cast; a score packed with many musical genres, including rap; and a sung-through treatment of an important period of American history... No, it's not Hamilton, but a superb concert presentation of the late Martin Smith's King The Musical by Hackney Empire and London Musical Theatre Orc...

Balancing Ashton's charming choreography with bright characterisation and breezy ballon, Birmingham Royal Ballet are absolutely beaming in this most charming of ballets....

My Beautiful Circus brings a traditional entertainment to the village green but delivers it with 21st century savvy and morals....

'Siri, when do I become an adult?' Alicia asks. She is, we are told, a 'hot mess'; a typical twentysomething, a classic millennial, caught somewhere between her days as a student and 'real life'....

As You Like It - wit, wisdom and flaws - done in the squares of London on beautiful summer evenings, What's not to like?...

Whilst the 1930s may be almost a century behind us, the suspense that this aged text brings rivals that of any psychological thriller on the silver screen these days....

Moliere's masterpiece is given a 'fake news' update, but the narrative thrust gets lost in an avalanche of words....

Based on a true story, The Little Pony examines how two parents react to their child who clings to his pink backpack as the bullying, physical and psychological, piles up....

'Omigod You Guys!', Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin's 2007 musical adaption of the hit 2001 comedy film starring Reese Witherspoon is in Brighton as part of its second UK tour since the West End production closed in 2012....

A curious tone in this bold adaptation that doesn't get everything right, but it's Chekhov, so there's more than enough to enjoy!...

RashDash's Three Sisters, after Chekhov is thrillingly irreverent: to rules, to theatrical form, and even to reviews, but it's their irreverence that's so deserving of reverence....

Oh, what a beautiful evening in West Horsley! Grange Park Opera open their 2018 summer festival season with Rogers and Hammerstein's vintage musical (the first of its kind in 1943), set in the farming heartlands of America....

The Daughter-in-Law bristles with working class reality buoyed by dialect and accent rooted in the Nottinghamshire pits - but the characters never emerge from that backdrop and the play leaves one with an unsatisfying sense of disbelief....

Paterson Joseph's homage to a forgotten person, indeed, a forgotten people, has its moments but ultimately falls short of the drama required for it to really fly....

A timely and important new play that blends movement, comedy and pathos into a compelling mix that says much about how we value life in 2018....

George and Ira Gershwin have written some of the most memorable songs of the 20th century. Crazy for You contains some of their most beloved hits: 'I Got Rhythm', 'Embraceable You', 'Someone to Watch Over Me', and more....

As the centenary of the armistice of the First World War approaches, there is no better time for Sebastian Faulks's Birdsong to be revived once again in its staged adaptation by Rachel Wagstaff....

A revival of a work by the revered French playwright, Paul Claudel, that probably doesn't say enough, but does so at enormous length....

The Mental Health Foundation reports that there were 8.2 million cases of anxiety in the UK in 2013. All of us may feel stressed at some point in our lives, but it can be an unwanted and overwhelming strain on many people's day-to-day activities....

A curiously intrusive structure gets in the way of the extraordinary, one-off comic genius that was Spike Milligan in an affectionate tribute from Chris Larner and Jeremy Stockwell....

Despite an incredible back catalogue to choose from, and a nine year production history, the show never really captivates it's audience in the way it should....