UK Regional Theater Reviews

Review: WE'LL ALWAYS HAVE PARIS, The Mill at Sonning
by Mickey-Jo Boucher - January 30, 2023

Billed as a romantic comedy, the eye-catching poster artwork courtesy of Oink Creative seems to promise a sort of European '9 to 5', but upon closer inspection the play scarcely lives up to this colourful concept. What's the French for beige?...

Review: WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?, Ustinov Studio, Bath
by Mickey-Jo Boucher - January 19, 2023

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is not an easy play to watch, rather a theatrical storm that must be endured with three contempt-filled acts making up a three and a half hour runtime....

Review: THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW UK TOUR, Theatre Royal Brighton
by Caroline Cronin - January 05, 2023

What have I just witnessed? That was my overriding thought as I wandered out of the Theatre Royal Brighton, dumbstruck, baffled, fascinated and charmed by this extraordinary production of The Rocky Horror Show. ...

2022 Year in Review: Cheryl Markosky's Best of 2022 - and Picks for 2023!
by Cheryl Markosky - January 01, 2023

One of my favourite theatrical moments of the year at Theatre Royal Bath was Into the Woods: a trippy version of Stephen Sondheim's musical, thanks to Terry Gilliam's surreal Monty Python-esque imagination. This mind-bending show deserves space in the West End soon....

BroadwayWorld UK's Best of 2022
by Aliya Al-Hassan - December 29, 2022

After Covid dealt a stuttering start to the year, 2022 brought some standout shows and performances. Here are some of our critics' highlights from the past twelve months....

Review: WHITE CHRISTMAS, Liverpool Empire Theatre
by Abbie Grundy - December 22, 2022

While last week's snow may have melted away, there will still be a White Christmas in Liverpool thanks to the touring production of Irving Berlin's beloved Holiday classic....

Review: THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE, The Lowry
by Mickey-Jo Boucher - December 21, 2022

Just over a year after the opening of its West End run at the Duke of York’s Theatre, the critically acclaimed production remains a singularly thrilling piece of storytelling....

Review: TALKING HANDS, Streaming
by Cheryl Markosky - December 12, 2022

Actions can speak louder than words - a proverb that's especially relevant with the new release of Deafinitely Theatre's final two films of its Talking Hands series....

Review: MOTHER GOOSE, Theatre Royal Brighton
by Caroline Cronin - December 11, 2022

As a self-professed panto enthusiast, Mother Goose has never been a favourite of mine...until now. This high profile production written by Jonathan Harvey is a super smart interpretation which has been updated sympathetically for 2022 without losing the original intent. ...

Review: A CHRISTMAS CAROL, Reading Rep Theatre
by Imogen Usherwood - December 06, 2022

This small-scale production chimes with the spirit of Christmas in the Cratchit house by making the most of everything it has to create plenty of good cheer....

Review: GOLDILOCKS AND THE THREE BEARS, New Wolsey Theatre
by Molly Richardson - December 05, 2022

Goldilocks and the Three Bears is one of the lesser known titles in the pantomime collection, but it has seemed to find a recent resurgence; and the New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich and Director Peter Rowe are known to enjoy dusting off the less-obvious names and giving it a rock’n’roll twist....

Review: TOP HAT, The Mill at Sonning
by Mickey-Jo Boucher - November 28, 2022

West of London, the Mill at Sonning is hugged on either side by the Thames and neighbours George Clooney’s 17th century mansion. The venue, which provides all its audience members with a sumptuous buffet dinner before the evening’s entertainment, is currently hosting a toe-tapping revival of Top Hat...

Review: NATIVITY! THE MUSICAL, Birmingham Rep
by Laura Lott - November 25, 2022

Since it was released in 2009, the warm-hearted movie comedy Nativity! has been on many families' essential Christmas viewing lists. This festive season, the stage version of the film returns to Birmingham Rep, where it received its world premiere in 2017. Written, directed and composed by Debbie Is...

Review: STRICTLY BALLROOM THE MUSICAL, Birmingham Hippodrome
by Laura Lott - November 01, 2022

The cast and creatives attached to this production of Strictly Ballroom the Musical are enough to make any Strictly Come Dancing fan salivate. Yet despite what should be a winning team, this production fails to find all the right moves....

Review: JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT, Edinburgh Playhouse
by Fiona Scott - October 26, 2022

Way, way back, what back feels like, many centuries ago, an all-singing, all-dancing revival of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, directed by Laurence Connor, opened at the London Palladium in the summer of 2019....

Review: THE FAMOUS FIVE: A NEW MUSICAL, Chichester Festival Theatre
by Gary Naylor - October 26, 2022

A show full of good songs, fine singing and engaging characters doesn't quite live up to the sum of its parts...

Review: DIDO AND AENEAS, Theatre Royal Bath
by Cheryl Markosky - October 21, 2022

It's a double first at Theatre Royal Bath with Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. Regarded as England's first opera when initially performed around 1688, it's also the first opera to be performed in the intimate Ustinov Studio....

Review: GOOD LUCK, STUDIO, Salisbury Playhouse
by Cheryl Markosky - October 19, 2022

Mischief's new catastrophe comedy, Good Luck, Studio, goes very wrong - but perhaps not in the way the Mischief team intended....

Review: KINKY BOOTS, Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch
by Gary Naylor - October 14, 2022

If the show lacks a little in power having been pared back, many more people will have a chance to enjoy a super show...

Review: JEKYLL & HYDE, Reading Rep Theatre
by Mickey-Jo Boucher - October 14, 2022

Audrey Brisson is a quirky intrigue at 4’10”. With little capacity to seem towering and imposing, Brisson has instead perfected the subtleties that are available to her, her ever widening eyes and steadily creeping sneer betray volumes about the conflict raging within the respectable Victorian gentl...

Review: O, ISLAND!, The Other Place, Royal Shakespeare Theatre
by Gary Naylor - October 13, 2022

Nina Segal's new play is hamstrung by an old set up....

Review: DREAMGIRLS, King's Theatre, Glasgow
by Fiona Scott - October 12, 2022

What did our critic think of DREAMGIRLS at King's Theatre, Glasgow?...

Review: TRIO, New Wolsey Theatre
by Mickey-Jo Boucher - October 12, 2022

At its core, Trio’s biggest wound is a self-inflicted one. It undercuts its own capacity for dramatic impact due to its structure, with each character taking turns to discuss the events of their tumultuous shared history in the past tense, emotionally removed from each historic detail and inherently...

Review: THE WELLSPRING. Salisbury Playhouse
by Cheryl Markosky - October 13, 2022

The Wellspring is a new father and son two-hander by award-winning playwright Barney Norris (Visitors, Eventide, Nightfall) and novelist (Five Rivers Met on a Wooded Plain, Undercurrent); and his father - pianist, composer and broadcaster David Owen Norris....

Review: GODS OF THE GAME, Grange Park Opera
by Gary Naylor - October 07, 2022

Football opera land perfectly between the Women's Euros and the Men's World Cup finding plenty of common ground to delight fans of both art forms...