UK / WEST END THEATER REVIEWS

Ambika Mod, of This Is Going to Hurt and One Day fame, is pretty perfect casting for the part. Exuding warmth and approachability, she handles the play’s demands with the ideal balance of humanity and confidence, putting audiences immediately at ease. She never feels like she’s fully playing a r...

There’s something of the early feminist short story The Yellow Wallpaper to the conceit of Vermin – the escape from a marriage tainted by violence is found not outside the house, but inside it. Except, in this variation, there’s not a ghostly woman beckoning the repressed housewife to freedom ...

Putin, Chekhov, Trump, art, principles, punishment, love, hate and that iconic, topless-on-a-horse photo of Mad Vlad. And much, much, more....

Glenn Moore: Please Sir, Glenn I Have Some Moore? does not begin in classic comedy show fashion, with the comedian introducing themselves in the third person before running on stage to applause. Instead, as soon as the lights dim, Moore simply begins telling a story, walking onto the stage without e...

Will lovers of Louisa May Alcott's semi-autobiographical novel Little Women, published more than 150 years ago, be content with Anne-Marie Casey's stage adaptation first performed in 2022 and now running at Salisbury Playhouse?...

At a time when people are arrested by the hundreds for peacefully protesting the ongoing genocide, Swag Age resonates across nations and languages. Written by Park Chan-Min and Min Jeong-Yeon with direction by Lee Kyung-soo, it’s a riotous, roaring, exciting new piece of musical theatre. It chal...

Master of illusion, Ben Hart has created a theatrical experience which blurs the line between trickery and the inexplicable. The Remarkable Ben Hart is a show which feels as much a meditation on imagination and perception as it is a showcase of pure magic....

South African soprano Golda Schultz is always a treat to hear; with honeyed tones, rich storytelling and nimble versatility, the programme at Saturday's prom was an excellent vehicle to show off her considerable skills....

This is a show that thrives because of the urgency of its subject matter and the excellence of the artists delivering it. For an industry that has yet to put the care of its actors at the heart of its practice, Novi’s piece doesn’t close the conversation - it sparks it. ...

The commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Dmitry Shostakovich’s death continues at this year’s Proms, as Chineke! took on his epic Symphony No. 10 in E minor, headlining this concert with this composition brought to life in the wake of Stalinist oppression. Also on the programme were two prem...

From the writer of Journey's End and The Dam Busters...

So much ink has been spilled on the perilous joy of being young, but this new slice-of-life drama set in a deprived London suburb puts it better than most: youth is about always being “on the precipice of choice”....

Deaf Republic is a marvel of a show. Using puppetry, live video, aerial, and a combination of spoken English, BSL, and captions, this is the kind of theatre that steps not only out of the box but into a whole new world....

'Who doesn't check twice behind the shower curtain now?' asks presenter Edith Bowman, kicking off a spinetingling evening of thriller film soundtracks from the excellent BBC Concert Orchestra, under the assured direction of American conductor Edwin Outwater at the BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall....

‘What do you look for in faith?’ This is the question proclaimed by Italian performer Elena Mazzon in The Popess, before she launches upon unsuspecting audience members in search of individual responses. In a city where nearly a third of the population identify as atheist or agnostic, the reacti...

Entering the Royal Albert Hall for St. Vincent’s performance at the BBC Proms feels like any other classical performance. The orchestra is in their usual place, warming up as audience members take their seats. However, this is anything but a normal showing at the Proms - quickly proven by the roar...

The Genesis has been astonishing audiences across the globe with its showcase of trust and spectacle. For just over an hour, the Copenhagen Collective take over the Peacock Theatre with 16 top-class acrobats, assembled from across the world. The Genesis is a show of equal opportunities and divers...

Winter 1591. It is a dangerous time for artists: the country is full of conspiracy and paranoia. In the backroom of a pub, writing sensations Kit Marlowe and Will Shakespeare are forced together in a creative union. Alone, with the table as their stage and battlefield, they sharpen their pens – an...

If you happen to be strolling around Piccadilly in the next couple of weeks, you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d stumbled upon an arcane cult ritual – or perhaps an unusually urban episode of The Traitors....

This timely revival of Philip Ridley's first play, The Pitchfork Disney, brought back to the London stage by Lidless Theatre, Zoe Weldon and King's Head Theatre Productions, marks a major moment in the partnership between Lidless and Ridley.  The Pitchfork Disney is no less relevant and revoluti...

“Does my flesh dazzle you?” a lascivious Christopher Marlowe asks a flustered William Shakespeare in what we can only describe as an exceptional example of theatrical slash fiction. For the uninitiated, “slash fiction” is a genre of fanfiction that focuses on the romantic relation between pr...

Experiencing art in a former car park is never going to get old - cold perhaps - so I was glad to return to Bold Tendencies to sample their 2025 season titled Déjà vu. ...

This intriguing and contrasting programme of folk songs and dances offers the woodwind, brass, and percussion sections of the orchestra to shine, and the virtuosity of the trombone soloist is a true treat. With work by Vaughan Williams, Tippett, Arnold and Grainger complemented by a concerto by Schu...

What do you get when you combine a desire to find a way to optimise happiness, an Australian comedian and a healthy dose of graphs? You get Tom Cashman: 2 Truths, 1 Lie & 17 Slight Exaggerations. Fresh from a run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Cashman brings his show to London’s Soho Theatre....

Super one-man show that does what its subject intended - makes its audience happy...