UK Regional Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 13

Review: INTO THE WOODS, Theatre Royal Bath
by Cheryl Markosky - August 26, 2022

A terrifically trippy child's world on speed in a Victorian toy theatre within a theatre, conjured up by inventive 81-year-old Gilliam, and his co-director and choreographer, Leah Hausman....

Review: ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, Royal Shakespeare Theatre
by Gary Naylor - August 26, 2022

Not an easy play to watch, but a fascinating analysis of some of humanity's darker corners...

Review: PHAEDRA/MINOTAUR, Theatre Royal Bath
by Cheryl Markosky - August 18, 2022

They say good things come in small packages. This adage certainly applies to Theatre Royal Bath’s larger-than-life double bill of Benjamin Britten’s Phaedra and newly commissioned ballet, Minotaur, in the diminutive Ustinov Studio....

Review: IDENTICAL, Nottingham Playhouse
by Laura Lott - August 03, 2022

From Erich Kastner's classic 1949 novel, to the 1961 movie starring Hayley Mills and the 1998 remake featuring Lindsay Lohan, The Parent Trap has been delighting families for generations. Its newest incarnation comes in the form of this charming new musical, produced by Kenny Wax and directed by Tre...

Review: BUGSY MALONE, Birmingham Repertory Theatre
by Laura Lott - August 01, 2022

It's Prohibition-era New York, but not as you know it. The speakeasies and gang tensions are present and correct, but the mobsters and showgirls look like children, and the machine guns fire cream instead of bullets....

Review: BILLY ELLIOT THE MUSICAL, Leicester Curve
by Mickey-Jo Boucher - July 21, 2022

Six years after it closed in the West End, the first new staging of Billy Elliot The Musical has opened at the Leicester Curve, made possible by liaison with the original filmmakers. Though it is a bold departure in many ways from the beloved original production, its story endures and continues to r...

Review: ESTELLA, Trinity Theatre, Tunbridge Wells
by Gary Naylor - July 17, 2022

Charles Dickens' novels are filled to the brim with characters who capture different elements of the human condition - evil and good and, crucially, plenty in-between. Perhaps the most fascinating of them all - at least she was to me when first I read Great Expectations in my mid-20s - is Estella, P...

BWW Review: LES MISERABLES, Bristol Hippodrome
by Tim Wright - July 16, 2022

It’s tough to keep a musical juggernaut like Les Misérables going. It’s even tougher to keep it feeling fresh, night after night for well over 35 years. Where others have faltered, Les Misérables has kept marching on to its own revolutionary drum beat. ...

Review: BUGSY MALONE, Theatre Royal Bath
by Alice Cope - July 14, 2022

A delightfully entertaining performance full of energy and talented young stars....

Review: RICHARD III, Royal Shakespeare Theatre
by Gary Naylor - July 01, 2022

Gregory Doran brings the RSC's decade long History cycle to its conclusion with a worthy, if wordy, Richard III...

BWW Review: THE SOUTHBURY CHILD, Chichester Festival Theatre
by Gary Naylor - June 18, 2022

Funny, frightening and thought-provoking, The Southbury Child cannot quite keep all its plates spinning, but is bold in its ambition and execution...

Review: PLAYBOY OF THE WEST INDIES, Birmingham Rep
by Laura Lott - June 16, 2022

It's been over a century since John Millington Synge's Irish play The Playboy of the Western World was first performed, and almost 40 years since Mustapha Matura transported the story to Trinidad in the original version of Playboy of the West Indies. Sadly, Matura passed away in 2019 before he finis...

BWW Review: SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, Birmingham Hippodrome
by Laura Lott - June 08, 2022

Often cited as one of the best movie musicals ever made, the 1952 romantic comedy Singin’ In The Rain, starring Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds, has a special place in many people's hearts. It was first adapted for the West End stage in 1983 and since then there have been multiple pr...

BWW Review: NOISES OFF, Pitlochry Festival Theatre
by Fiona Scott - June 05, 2022

Forty years on from its debut at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre in London in 1982, Michael Fryan’s farce-within-a-farce, Noises Off, returns to Pitlochry Festival Theatre as part of their 2022 summer season. The comedy was last performed in Pitlochry in 2010 and this marks the first professional vers...

BWW Review: SUNSHINE ON LEITH, PITLOCHRY FESTIVAL THEATRE
by Fiona Scott - June 02, 2022

The sun is certainly shining on Perthshire, as Pitlochry Festival Theatres celebrates the opening of its recently renovated building. A cheery actor-musician revival of The Proclaimers’ jukebox musical Sunshine on Leith opens their 2022 summer season, a co-production in collaboration with Capital Th...

BWW Review: GAMBLE, Northern Stage
by Bryony Rae Taylor - May 20, 2022

Gamble is a show about gambling addiction. Informed by Walker’s own experiences of being the partner of a gambling addict, the multi-media show marries glorious levels of glamour with the humbling testimonies of those who have had issues with gambling....

BWW Review: WAITRESS, Birmingham Hippodrome
by Laura Lott - May 18, 2022

If there's such a thing as the perfect recipe for a musical, then Waitress has surely found it. Like each of Jenna's delicious freshly-baked pies, the show achieves the ideal balance of sweet and sour. By turns hilariously funny, heart-wrenchingly sad and achingly sweet, Waitress knows how to take t...

BWW Review: JUNIPER AND JULES, Soho Theatre
by Paige Cochrane - May 06, 2022

It must have been said at some point in history that the course of lesbian love never did run smooth. Jules is vivacious and unconventional, whereas Juniper is thoughtful and quiet. Lustful glances across a noisy bar leads the pair to embark on a fiery relationship, learning to love and trust each o...

BWW Review: MAMMA MIA!, Birmingham Hippodrome
by Laura Lott - May 05, 2022

There aren't many places in the UK where you can experience the charms and sunshine of a Greek island, but the Mamma Mia! tour is one of them. Read our critic's review. ...

BWW Review: JERSEY BOYS, King's Theatre, Glasgow
by Fiona Scott - April 21, 2022

Oh, what a night! The UK tour of Jersey Boys, the story of Frankie Balli & The Four Seasons returns to Glasgow. Read our critic's review....

BWW Review: HENRY VI: REBELLION and WARS OF THE ROSES, Royal Shakespeare Theatre
by Gary Naylor - April 21, 2022

Arthur Hughes is in showstealing form as the Duke of Gloucester, soon Richard III, as Henry VI loses his wife, his kingdom and his life. Read our BWW critic's review. ...

BWW Review: THE TAXIDERMIST'S DAUGHTER, Chichester Festival Theatre
by Paige Cochrane - April 20, 2022

Chichester Festival Theatre welcomes their 60th Anniversary season with The Taxidermist’s Daughter, a gothic tale of revenge set across the Sussex marshes in 1912. Adapted from her best-selling novel, author Kate Mosse has transported her literary vision to the stage in the very heart of the town th...

BWW Review: MAGIC GOES WRONG, Festival Theatre, Edinburgh
by Fiona Scott - April 14, 2022

​Mischief Theatre has brought their characteristic “Goes Wrong” spin to several shows on our stages and screens. Their latest collaboration with magicians Penn & Teller, Magic Goes Wrong, is making a stop in Edinburgh at the Festival Theatre as part of their UK tour....

BWW Review: HAIRSPRAY, King's Theatre, Glasgow
by Fiona Scott - March 29, 2022

Hairspray has returned to Glasgow at the nicest “Kings” in town! The show follows the antics of aspiring teen dancer, Tracy Turner, and her dreams of dancing on TV and ending segregation in her 1960s Baltimore community....

BWW Review: BEAUTIFUL - THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL, Leicester Curve
by Laura Lott - March 06, 2022

At one point in Beautiful - The Carole King Musical, Carole declines a request to sing with a band, because she can't imagine anyone would want 'to hear a normal person sing'. As it turns out, millions of people want exactly that, and the show starts and ends with Carole performing her smash-hit alb...