UK REGIONAL THEATER REVIEWS

Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera delivered with the emphasis on the comic and more than a nod to the realities of 2018 sensibilities....

What happens to musicians when they are old and grey? Where do famous singers retire when their voices are an echo of what they once were? Ronald Harwood's Quartet follows the antics of four elderly former opera stars as they live out their days in a specialist musician's retirement home in an expan...

A sensational Bernadette Robinson brings five 'nobodies' and five superstars to life in a series of monologues with music that explore human fallibility with wit and wisdom to spare....

A splendid production that shifts the action from Chekhov's original short story into 1920s Britain to add layers of meaning and depth to both the themes and characters - fringe theatre at its best....

'Only by forgetting all we've ever learned can we learn to live at all': wise words from a work that was, itself, forgotten....

Phil Willmott's The Cherry Orchard picks up Chekhov's action and moves it forward a decade or so to 1917, when the balance of power in Russia was tilted rather differently....

A looming European referendum, a Labour party internally divided and drastic spending cuts. You could be forgiven for thinking that James Graham's This House is set just a few years ago. In fact, we're back in 1974 with a hung parliament and another election seemingly imminent....

April De Angelis's adaptation of Frankenstein, directed by Matthew Xia, stays true to its source's literary narrative....

Charting the rise of Cilla Black's pop career is tough ask for a musical. She may have been an entertainer of superlative quality, but she lacks the back catalogue that is the engine room of similar jukebox style shows....

Ara Malikian showcases his talents with an eclectic mix of music spiced with showmanship and stories, with a twist in the tail....

The Bristol Old Vic has opened it's 'Year of Change' in spectacular fashion in this riveting new translation of Chekhov's final play The Cherry Orchard....

Bold re-imagining of an early Tennessee Williams play that gives its themes a universality in a uniquely theatrical experience....

Annie Baker's 2014 Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Circle Mirror Transformation, transports you to a studio in a community centre in Vermont. Samal Blak's design features mirror-covered walls, in which the audience can view themselves - helpful for making the audience feel a part of the group....

Technical shortcomings and an incoherent book overpower a show with a fine pedigree and good tunes....

Setting a musical in 1960s Baltimore against a backdrop of increasing racial tension between white and black American's doesn't exactly scream feelgood musical. Yet Hairspray manages to achieve a rare thing- a musical with all the schmaltz you could want but with just enough of a message stop you fo...

Classic French farce gets a Bollywood makeover for the 21st century in Nigel Planer's enjoyable adaptation of Marivaux's comedy....

Macbeth delivered by dancers in a unique space, beautifully lit, creating an electrifying theatrical experience....

There were more than a few raised eyebrows when the all new Factory Company from Tobacco Factory Theatres announced it's first play would be a Shakespeare. Having moved the acclaimed Shakespeare at The Tobacco Factory company from their usual Spring slot to accommodate its inaugural season, it seeme...

A timely revival of Peter Morgan's play about David Frost's interviews with Richard Nixon is beautifully staged and powerfully acted....

Princess Margaret brought to life by Felicity Dean in a production that promises more than it delivers about a tragic figure born a generation too early to change the Royal Family....

Ambition not quite matched by execution in an all-female production of The Tempest, one of fringe theatre's more challenging plays to get right....

Liberties have been taken with Bizet's opera, but none are diabolical, and what emerges is something which is sometimes less and sometimes more than its inspiration....

BroadwayWorld Sydney was given an exclusive taste of ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER: UNMASKED: THE PLATINUM COLLECTION ahead of it's release on 16th March 2018 through Universal Music. ...

Just when the grimness is becoming tiresome, Philip Goodhew's script is transformed by an injection of darkest comedy without ever losing its focus as a searing indictment of modern life....

Families are tricky things. They have the capacity to love and frustrate us like no one else. It is little wonder they provide such a rich vein for dramatists. In Andrew Bovell's Things I Know To Be True we're with the Price family who have four grown up children, all at different stages of flying t...