UK / WEST END THEATER REVIEWS

Set in Tunisia in 1942, this new play sparkles with wit, but its exploration of the undercurrent of antisemitism that flows through even the most cosmopolitan of societies tells us much about today....

In a room at the Savoy, an Artist is desperately trying to deliver 100 artworks to the new manager to pay the bills. But his overbearing Mother and her ongoing legal battle make things difficult and the dystopian society the derelict hotel is set against doesn’t help either. While we meet the pret...

There are plenty of gay plays, some very successful and other less-so, that carefully depict life as a homosexual male. There aren’t too many that deal with being a bisexual man, with Mike Bartlett’s Cock perhaps being the most famous one. Somehow, someone’s sexual and romantic attraction for ...

Cirque Beserk! is a circus with a very good pedigree. Founded by Martin Burton, the original Zippo The Clown, this entertaining and skillful production brings the traditional circus show into the modern age, using talent sourced from around the globe....

The Royal Court hosts something different from their usual line up with this musical  theatre/cabaret/concert hybrid titled The Song Project, led by celebrated Dutch singer  Wende....

It’s been over four years since jukebox musical Jersey Boys was in the West End. The uplifting story of the rise of one of the most successful bands of the 1950s and 60s, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, now explodes back into London at the newly refurbished Trafalgar Theatre....

Tightly-buttoned Bach met a bombastic Shostakovich in this demonstration of four radically different works that came across as either under- or expressly overstated....

For much of the last 18 months, we've thought 'What would I be doing now - if only I could?' Things don't always turn out that way though, as Nick Payne's warm, funny and poignant play shows....

The pandemic - and perhaps Brexit - threw a spanner in the works of the steady ascent of smaller-scale European theatre in London. In The Before Times it was very easy to find these types of shows in dark rooms above pubs all across town. Now that everything is starting again, it’s great to see th...

Proud Embankment's Cabaret All Stars is back with a bang for another season of some the best burlesque, cabaret and circus acts in London at the moment. The company has an excellent reputation for the quality of its acts and has showcased a glitzy array of special guests in the past. On selected d...

“Perception is a choice!” Sam concludes in his pedantic and condescending tirade about ghosts and “the unexplainable”. Frustratingly, the remarks of such an insolent, smart, and snobbish man keep ringing true to the logical crowd. It’s quite difficult to stage a properly frightening show i...

State of the nation stuff at the National Theatre....

What would happen if the Prozorovs were a modern family in lockdown? What if they had to move to a small rural town not because of their father’s army job, but because of the pandemic? What if Irina worked in Greggs?...

If you think it’s too soon for jokes surrounding Prince Andrew’s sex abuse allegations or the Meghan and Kate wedding feud, it’s probably best you don’t see this show. Because this story, inspired by the hugely popular Channel 4 favourite of the same name, holds nothing back. There are jokes...

During the first three weeks of the initial lockdown in 2020, 16 women and children were murdered in the United Kingdom because of domestic violence. Those numbers were only going to rise during the following year. It is said that men were able to gain power and rule the world because murder makes t...

Opera Holland Park offers a variety of dishes to hungry audiences throughout the season. After the meatier affair of La Traviata and concept cuisine The Cunning Little Vixen, we move on to the chocolate soufflé of The Pirates of Penzance....

“Do you think I care for the souls of the poor?” It’s something that could come straight from a private conversation in Downing Street, but on this occasion it dates back to the first century in Domitius, a brand new musical about the fifth emperor of Rome: Nero. Born as Lucius Domitius Ahenob...

The two main supporting roles steal the show, along with the spectacular set-piece choreography. The big showstopper remains the title number, which has become one of those modern iconic stage moments that any theatre fan should see....

Ireland, 1922. A brand new facility to provide refuge and help to single expecting mothers and their babies opens in Cork, Bessborough Mother and Baby Home. Owned and operated by Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary, it was a horror house for many until its dismantling in 1999 - 22 yea...

Iris Theatre's take on the Arthurian legend benefits from a beautiful setting and an engaging cast to close out their Summer Festival....

The Globe’s Artistic Director Michelle Terry has not had the easiest start to her tenure. Until a few weeks ago, she had not put on a live show since last March. Happily, with the summer season now in full swing and Groundling tickets returned, she now stars in the theatre’s joyful new producti...

There’s a level of narcissism that pervades every relationship we build. If we take a deeper look at how our bonds operate, we’ll notice that intimacy and the boundaries we set for ourselves are what control them....

It’s the outward sigh and unexpected pause of two-time Tony winner Sutton Foster as she makes her first entrance onto the Barbican stage – to great applause and cheers we should add – that travels through your body like the greatest sense of relief: theatre is back. It’s a moment that, after...

Vincent Van Gogh's is one of those life stories that we love to retell. There are countless museums, films and documentaries cataloguing the tormented and tragically suicidal post-impressionist painter, and the Doctor Who episode dedicated to him is absolutely tear-jerking....

Sometimes theatre shows don’t work out. Some can feel like watching a train wreck in slow motion, and others build a brick wall without any mortar to keep the pieces together. It takes nothing, maybe a slight push for the latter to disintegrate. I Could Use a Drink is a mix of both under director ...