UK / WEST END THEATER REVIEWS

It's better late than never for a neglected classic to receive a major production. American dramatist Alice Childress's 1955 play Trouble in Mind is one such work with controversial beginnings and belated revivals. If Childress had agreed to revise her play in 1955-57 to make it more palatable for a...

Though flawed by too much dialogue, West Side Story will thrill young and old with its set pieces and soaring score...

After being cancelled last year, the traditional musical extravaganza at the Rose Theatre is back with a bang. Typically for the festive production, Beauty And The Beast brings together professional actors along with talented performers from the Rose Youth Theatre for a magical production....

James Graham's new play bristles with wit, recreating Gore Vidal and William F Buckley's TV debates of 1968 - and a whole lot more...

Fine theatrical effects, but thus adaptation of Lyra Belacqua's first year of life never escapes the confines imposed by the origin story genre's structure...

Sex, gender identity, competition and friendship are all touched upon in Ella Road’s energetic new play Fair Play. In this intense two-hander, when Ann joins Sophie’s running club, the pair strike up a friendship amid the endurance of training, despite their very different backgrounds. As Ann ov...

This concert production of Sunset Boulevard was a celebration of show business: glamorous costumes, shining spotlights, intrigue, and incredible voices. Its cast of musical theatre stars transported us to Hollywood in a performance that was musically impeccable, brought to life by the power of the o...

It doesn’t take much for Wilton’s Music Hall to be atmospheric. The Victorian building, with its balcony, stripping paint, and heartbreakingly beautiful cast-iron pillars, lends itself very well to Christmas ghost stories. All of this, combined with Tom Piper’s ambitious set design and Hayley ...

A lesson not just in history, but in theatre, from an ensemble and creative team in complete command of complex, riveting material...

Life in the UK at the moment feels uncannily like we’re going through a ‘Worst of the 70s’ playlist: periods of no economic growth, food shortages, an increase in the cost of living, and rumblings over a referendum on Europe. There was also an attempt to kickstart the conversation about equali...

The National Theatre’s acclaimed production of a boy trying to find his place in a world that doesn’t understand him is back, running at Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre for seven weeks, before heading out on tour in the new year. Based on the best-selling novel by Mark Haddon, Simon Stephens ada...

As the first show out of the gate at The Other Palace since the pandemic, and the first show housed there since the venue was bought by Bill Kenwright, Heathers the Musical has a lot of attention to shoulder. Not only has it returned to its original home but it’s also got a brand new cast to boot ...

The Sleeping Trees are doing it all. After their phenomenal first online lockdown panto from last year, they’re back not only with an in-person takeover of Battersea Arts Centre, but with an incredible on-demand show too. Catering for all types of audiences and their needs, Sleeping Beauty and the...

Oh, how life changes in 20 months. Not quite two years, not quite one and a half. In March 2020, artistic director of Jermyn Street Theatre Tom Littler teamed up with Michael Pennington to deliver Shakespeare’s swansong. That production played for six performances before closing down due to the  ...

A madcap, spoofing comedy briiming with energy and chest hair...

Rare Earth Mettle doesn’t need any more publicity. Headlines started talking about Al Smith’s play before its previews were cold in the grave, and reviews have flocked in agreement of its generally disappointing outcome. An exploding controversy, a hasty statement from the top floors of the Roya...

Lolita Chakrabarti’s adaptation of Yann Martel’s Booker prize-winning novel Life of Pi received rave reviews when it debuted at Sheffield’s Crucible theatre back in 2019. The pandemic delayed the West End run, but it has now finally opened at the Wyndham’s theatre and goodness, it was worth ...

A new play with music tells the story of Anne Bonny and Mary Read, two cross-dressing pirates, through song and rhyme...

Ferocious and funny, Ireland's play has lost none of its power, and gained even more relevance, ten years on from its Omagh debut...

Sheer joy radiates on The Unicorn Theatre main stage, in Julian Clary’s on-stage adaptation of his well-loved book collection. Having seven in the collection, this play focuses on the first book - the story of The Bolds; a family just like the majority of us, who live in a nice house, have nice jo...

Other than being the source material for the plotless musical Cats and its equally abysmal film, T. S. Eliot was a prolific poet and writer. But the cute but posthumously rendered horrifying felines of his writings have nothing to do with the depths of his reflections on the human race of Four Quart...

The Drifters Girl, despite that missing apostrophe, should be a smash-hit jukebox musical. A plethora of familiar hits, a remarkably talented cast and the inspiring story of Faye Treadwell, the African-American woman who took over as the group’s manager and steered them to global success despite l...

A heavy storm prompts a group of strangers to take refuge in a dilapidated manor, but they soon learn that they might not be as safe as they imagined. Joining Lady Diana (Nancy Carroll) in her home is far-right extremist Ted (Shaun Evans), his partner Ruth (Amy Forrest) and a host of other individua...

As Bobby becomes engulfed by misunderstandings and misgivings, the script delights in lavender-tinged jokes, a wise ‘trollop,’ and a pair of would-be suitors from Free France and the United States. Farce is hard to get right, but the comings and goings, double-takes and cheeky dialogue are all o...

A definite sign that London may be heading back to some sort of normality is the live return of The Old Vic’s award-winning adaptation of A Christmas Carol. After streaming a version last year, the theatre is now back to hosting one of the highlights of the festive season, complete with Victorian ...