UK REGIONAL THEATER REVIEWS

Gary Naylor sees a superbly staged adaptation of Mozart's opera, sung in English and packed with comedy and villainy - and with a message for today too....

David Walliams' bestseller is a child-pleasing tale of how the elderly can surprise us....

Gary Naylor sees an opera that, though is Italian as a gondolier eating an ice cream while conducting a loud argument with his best friend, has much in common with Shakespearean tragedy....

Gary Naylor sees something between a play and an illustrated lecture that tells the story of one of Britain's forgotten sporting greats....

It's been an exciting few months for Noma Dumezweni. At the end of last year she stepped into the lead role of Linda at the last minute, replacing Kim Cattrell, it was announced that she would be playing the role of Hermione Granger in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child opening this summer and in I S...

Gary Naylor sees a simply staged but powerful production of Gluck's 18th century opera about the sister and brother reunited far from home who seize the opportunity to fulfil their destinies....

In this time of austerity, Alexandra Wood offers up a neat two-hander about the effects of both wealth and poverty on morality, questioning what merits real action....

Gary Naylor sees a play based on the true story of a girl who fled the Nazi Holocaust on the Kindertransport that has much to say about that and about people more generally....

Gary Naylor sees a production of a Shakespearean classic that starts unconventionally and spins off into mayhem!...

The fifth longest-running play in the West End, The 39 Steps is currently being performed country-wide as part of its tenth anniversary tour. This multiple award-winning comedy was originally adapted by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon  from Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 film of the same name for a cast of o...

This season, the Royal Shakespeare Company celebrates not only the 400th anniversary of the death of their namesake, but also that of Miguel de Cervantes, with a brand new adaptation of Don Quixote. After a lifetime of reading books on chivalry, Don Quixote decides to embark on a quest of his own...

Gary Naylor sees a 20th century classic that makes plenty of demands on its audience but rewards it with a rich mix of politics, stylistic innovation and insight into human nature....

Gary Naylor sees a fine production of the Swedish classic about class, sex and social norms that retains its relevance over a century since Strindberg wrote it.....

Film and stage biopics surrounding the life of a celebrity hold particular intrigue for many people. They can be inherently risky due to the validity of the information being portrayed but ultimately, the general public want to gain an otherwise unforeseen insight into that person's life. Here with ...

The Patriotic Traitor is the story of close friends, Charels de Gaulle and Philippe Petain, who despite sharing a love of France, wind up on opposing sides during World War II....

Following the Birmingham Repertory Theatre Company's successful collaboration with Chichester Festival Theatre in 2015, producing The King's Speech, the two companies have worked together once more to present Alan Bennett's award-winning double-bill. First performed in 1988, Single Spies consists of...

Gary Naylor sees a play that has a curious structure but too flimsy and over-familiar a plot to carry a production that boils down to two men talking....

Gary Naylor sees a fine performance in a concert / play that shines a light on a somewhat neglected but important figure in the 1960s counterculture....

Fresh from its hugely successful run in the West End, Impossible is a brand new stage spectacle featuring six of the best magicians and illusionists that this country has to offer. From death-defying stunts to close-up magic, the show manages to strike the perfect balance in scale and has the audi...

Gary Naylor sees a fine black comedy that has lots to say 33 years on from its premiere and showcases three tours-de-force from the three actors...

Sheffield Theatres' associate director Charlotte Gwinner returns to directing duties at the Crucible with Waiting For Godot. This version of Samuel Beckett's classic features a stark, yet somewhat beautiful set from designer Simon Daw that sits on the boundary between art and nature; life-and-death;...

Completing his trio of Tchaikovsky's great ballets, Sir Matthew Bourne has turned his choreographic hand to Sleeping Beauty, with the added surtitle 'a gothic romance.' After reportedly experiencing divine inspiration whilst staying in the former bedroom of the renowned Russian composer, Bourne has ...

Gary Naylor sees some magnificent singing and dodgy acting in something best described as a 'Jukebox Opera'....

Tamara Harvey begins her tenure as artistic director of Theatr Clwyd with Robert Hastie's delightful and thought-provoking production of Tennessee Williams's Southern plantation melodrama, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof....

Gary Naylor sees an ill-focused but nevertheless rewarding Sondheim musical about two brothers who each succeed and fail in their own ways....