UK / WEST END THEATER REVIEWS

****'Brendan Gleeson's West End debut is quietly soul crushing'...

A Hamlet shorn of gimmicks allows its power to come through...

Thor Stenhaug: One Night Stand Baby has quite the simple concept - the title basically says it all. Thor Stenhaug, a Norwegian comedian living in the UK, is the result of a one night stand between his mother and father, who met when his mother was a student and his father was in the Army....

How does one know when they have completed what they have been put on this planet to do? Is it when they win an award? Is it when they raise a child they’ve dreamed of having? Or is it when they have a show at Soho Theatre and have put a white box on display on a pedestal? For Joz Norris, it’s t...

'Was what I did 'wrong'?' In 1945 Germany, Ruth is part of a UN relief programme which is seeking to reunite displaced people with their families - she’s passionate about the work, and is certain that what she’s doing is for the best. But in London 45 years later, she’s not so sure....

Alice Birch’s Romans, a novel is an expansive portrait of literary masculinity through the ages. With an ever-shifting form, an array of subtle references, and an intricate, thought-provoking script, this is a play that many will find difficult and impenetrable. At its core, however, it’s a trul...

Michael McKeever's play mixes fact, gossip, and invention in a spicy drama that offers a biting comment on the grime behind the glitter of Hollywood. John Partridge is superb as Billy Haines, both a smooth charmer and a crumpled defeatist.The Code is a very artificial play in many ways. It gleefully...

Lock a few theatre characters in a room together, sit them around a dinner table and they surely won’t leave without revealing a few hidden resentments, infidelities, or family secrets they thought they’d take to their graves. It’s a tried and tested dramatic formula, and one that’s hard to ...

What did our critic think of EMMA at Theatre Royal Bath?...

Now that days are getting colder and nights are getting longer, it’s time to get spooky. When a viral video asked women if they’d rather choose to be alone with a man or with a bear last year, the internet exploded. To this day, more than half of the women in the 18-29 range who took part in the...

Incredible as it seems, globally renowned magicians Penn & Teller have finally got around to their first residency in London’s theatre district. Now both in their seventies, this could well be their West End debut and farewell. ...

With a cast as starry as the Ibsen’s Norwegian skies, The Lady from the Sea is adapted into a thrilling, biting comic drama by Simon Stone. It features the theatrical return of Andrew Lincoln alongside the stage debuts of Academy Award winner Alicia Vikander, Brutalist actor Joe Alwyn, and rising ...

Adapted by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan from Brooks’ 1968 film of the same name, with lyrics by Brooks and music by Brooks and Glen Kelly. As in the film, the story concerns two theatrical producers who scheme to get rich by overselling interests in a Broadway flop. Complications arise when the sh...

Paul Coulter’s 5 Mistakes That Changed History is an ingenious historical exploration, which is as sharp in its storytelling as it is rich in historical detail. Coulter has created an exciting, energetic and highly amusing show, which blends the world of knowledge with entertainment. This is a ski...

It took over twenty years for a revival of Mel Brooks's The Producers to come to London and the diminutive Menier Chocolate Factory more than held its own for a sold-out and universally well-received show. Now it makes a triumphant move to the West End's Garrick Theatre and continues to prove that ...

Little Angel Theatre delivers a vibrant, triumphant and delightful production of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt. This much-loved story by Michael Rosen, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury, is transformed into a vibrant 45 minute adventure which captivates children and adults alike with its exquisite puppet...

Orange Tree artistic director Tom Littler first directed Howard Brenton’s adaptation of August Strindberg’s Creditors at Jermyn Street Theatre in 2019, in rep with Miss Julie. He has secured quite a coup in gathering such a star-studded cast of acting veterans with Geraldine James, Nicholas Far...

Have you ever wished to have the same auditory experience as a deer? Or maybe a cow? Now you can. Katie Mitchell partners with playwright Nina Segal and sonic artist Melanie Wilson to explore the world from the eyes – or, more accurately, ears – of the titular animals. It’s a crude reproductio...

London City Ballet return for their second season with another mixed bill, and the results are also mixed. Director Christopher Marney has chosen the repertoire well, finding chamber-sized works to fit the company of 14, however two out of the four works presented are weak choreographically....

After 86 concerts spanning over the past eight weeks, the 130th season of the Proms has come to a close, ending with the iconic Last Night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, which has hosted over 3,000 musicians these past few months. This performance brings together the BBC Singers, BBC Symphon...

Not Your Superwoman has already sold out its entire run, which is pretty unusual for an Off West End play. It’s less surprising, however, when you consider the combined star power of actors Golda Rosheuvel and Letitia Wright, and outgoing Bush Artistic Director Lynette Linton. In this play, co-cre...

Every Brilliant Thing, now on in the West End, never be the same show, so it could be watched 10 times, 100 times, a million and still reach deep into the heart of you. It won't be for everyone. It may come across as over-sentimental or simplistic to some. I'm not one of those people....

“All you need is love”, said The Beatles - a mantra that John Wilson and the Sinfonia of London seemed to take when putting together the programme for the penultimate Prom of 2025. With the starting point of Daphnis and Chloe, they expanded to include Richard Strauss’ tone poem Don Juan and Le...

Chris England's warm show is funny and clever and unafraid to pose some difficult questions...

If you come to opera via film musicals and, later, stage shows, Tosca is amongst the most accessible. The story of the lovers and the evil apparatchik is told at a furious pace, trauma after trauma piling up as the emotional heft becomes all but unbearable. There’s no standing about for twenty min...