UK / WEST END THEATER REVIEWS

“Thirteen is young for an existential crisis”. Eileen has barely entered her teens when her older sister, Olive, dies of anorexia. It was sudden, during their family Sunday roast. Eileen had made the Yorkshire puddings, so it must be her fault. Rosie Day writes an intense rollercoaster of a play...

Kathryn Hunter shines in this updated version of a classic exemplar of the Theatre of the Absurd...

Kate Bush was just 19 when she had her first hit in 1977 and went on to produce a catalogue of songs which are still admired today. In her show, superfan Sarah-Louise Young pays tribute not only to the iconic music but also to the star and her loyal supporters....

There’s a certain gravitas that follows Hamlet, a reverence that seems to accompany the great Dane alone. When you happen to have a centuries-old church at hand for Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy, this happenstance only grows. Freddie Fox stars at the Prince and Holy Trinity Church in Guildford ...

Football is not a subject often tackled in the theatre. The Red Lion though is set a world away from the riches of the professional game. Here we find the kit man, the manager and a talented, young prospect – all in the changing room of the semi-pro non-league game....

I did not have the time of my life at Dirty Dancing at the Dominion Theatre...

First seen in a 20-minute version in April 2021, as part of the Orange Tree's foray into theatrical streaming Outside, Two Billion Beats is Sonali Bhattacharyya's engaging and vibrant play that explores the relationship between two South Asian teenage sisters as they confront injustice, racism a...

Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers remains one of only three shows to play for over 10,000 performances in the West End, bringing audiences to their feet night after night in the days when standing ovations were not always the default. A tale more than tinged with Greek tragedy, Russell’s examinatio...

Marking twenty years since its premiere, Caryl Churchill’s sci-fi masterpiece A Number returns to the London stage. The hotly anticipated production stars Lennie James as a grief-stricken father who opts to clone his deceased son with the mindset of reattempting parenthood and making up for past m...

As if the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse wasn’t already atmospheric enough, it feels like a special treat to witness their first candlelit Hamlet. After directing the colourful A Midsummer Night’s Dream just across the courtyard at the Globe, Sean Holmes goes darker and moodier with our favourite reven...

“I am Heathcliff – he’s always, always in my mind.” Wise Children’s latest production – an ambitious adaptation of Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights – has finally made its way to the National Theatre, following COVID delays and a rearranged tour, starting at the Bristol Old Vic last y...

Comedy and magic show with scope to explore its format more fully...

What do nuns, granola bars and a string of pearls all have in common? It sounds like the start of a bad joke but really, they’re all part of Sarah Hanly’s vibrant one-woman show, Purple Snowflakes and Titty Wanks....

Another revival of a beautifully realised crowdpleaser that works perfectly in the difficult days of February 2022....

Derek Jarman, a seminal figure in British culture, is given a 21st century voice in this one-man show...

Since Hamilton debuted in 2015, the biographical musical genre has been at an all-time high. People love them, look at Six! Charlie Eglinton has now released a concept album for a new one based on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s life. Peter Shaffer gave us an imaginary account of the lives of the Salzbu...

Finally – a major theatrical event in a prime-time slot on a Saturday night. Not since Andrew Lloyd Webber’s array of reality shows have we seen musical theatre put front and centre on a mainstream channel, and after years of The Olivier Awards broadcast being relegated to a truncated late night...

Ambitious new play that examines the iniquitous effect of nostalgia requires greater clarity in its storytelling...

Beautifully executed production is let down by a dud script...

'Doctors must not carry their ghosts,' advises Johann Klein to his impatient assistant Dr Ignaz Semmelweis, a 19th-century obstetrics doctor. But Semmelweis is troubled: he feels it is only by carrying those ghosts that progress can be made....

One star recreates another, but we learn more about Ava's men than about Ava herself...

KIN at Sadler's Well Peacock Theater. Barely Methodical Troupe's Director, Ben Duke, together with 6 brilliantly talented performers, and a crack technical team have created magic with almost nothing and turn the nearly-empty stage into the arena for one of the most breathtaking theatrical events th...

John Patrick Shanley's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Doubt: A Parable, is a court room built to question your understanding of integrity. Chichester Festival Theatre's offering is equally sharp and profound, echoing the vast ambiguity and loss of faith hidden within a pursuit of righteousness....

One of our reviewers shares his top picks!...

Nicky Allpress puts Shakespeare's star-crossed lovers in the midst of an 80s Brixton feud....