UK / WEST END THEATER REVIEWS

The Union Theatre's Essential Classics season kicks off with Phil Willmott's updating of a classic with much to say about England in 2020....

On paper, Le Corsaire emphatically should not work. Based very loosely on the poem Le Corsair, written by Lord Byron, the plot is flimsy and the score is a mash-up of work by ten different composers. However, this revival of Anna-Marie Holmes' 2013 production for English National Ballet actually wor...

Mischief Theatre continue their epic takeover of the West End, with their brand new show all about magic going terribly wrong. This time the company have collaborated with superstar magicians Penn & Teller; two people who are at the top of their game, and normally headline their own show in Las Vega...

Who doesn't love a bit of circus? It's the medium that really pushes the limits of the human body, generating moments that wow audiences and inspire so much drama. They're adrenaline-fuelled, magical creations that make you think 'wow, how did they do that?' That's pretty much the feeling in this pr...

Hampstead Theatre opens the new year with a heartwarming but generally forgettable play on their smaller stage. The Tyler Sisters follows three girls as they grow up and find their place in the world from 1990 to 2030. What the audience gets to see of this time frame in the life of women who might n...

In true balletomane style, my first thought when I knew I would be in London over the Christmas and New Year period was that I would finally be able to catch Birmingham Royal Ballet's (BRB) Nutcracker which runs for just seven performances....

Shakespeare's Globe has opened its doors during the winter season for the first time to host Sandi Toksvig's Christmas at the (Snow) Globe which she created with her sister Jenifer....

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For those on stage, an opening night can be the stuff of nightmares. In Curtains a?" the acclaimed duo John Kander and Fred Ebb's 2006 musical a?" the nightmare turns real when a lead actor gets murdered right after curtain call. So begins a comedic, entertaining whodunit that is chock-full of show...

Richard Eyre's production gets yet another run out 25 years on, but it's so beautiful and brilliantly sung, no further justification is required....

'Messiah' is probably Handel's best-known piece; written in 1741, the oratorio was originally composed for Easter time, but you don't have to travel far to find a performance of it at this time of year. Handel at Christmas at the Royal Albert Hall is always a special, festive event. The composition ...

It's Christmas Eve and Andy (Elliot Levey) is waiting for his daughter Maya (Ellen Robertson) to come back to him. She left home three years prior after they had - according to her father - a silly argument and she hasn't spoken to him since, nor has she replied to his texts. But someone has seen he...

It's fitting that Matthew Bourne's The Red Shoes returns to London to finish up another year of reviewing dance. By far Bourne's most accomplished, creative and complete work, it's a theatrical joy from start to finish that is performed with confidence by a cast who have now had time to perfect it s...

Following a critically acclaimed run at the Old Vic, with a subsequent West End transfer, Conor McPherson's Girl From The North Country has been remounted with an almost completely new cast. It had a short run at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto, and is now back in London for a limited engagem...

This is by far the most outrageous pantomime I have ever seen. It's also the most unpolished pantomime I have ever seen. But that doesn't seem to matter; because in its messiness comes a lot of charm. The improvised madness is a huge strength, and throughout the entire performance, the audience are ...

Two towering Christmas trees dominate the stage of the Royal Albert Hall. Pillars of festive spirit, they were an ample backdrop for the London Community Gospel Choir's (LCGC) Christmas concert, which was a magical evening of love and worship....

Fascinating Aïda's new show offers irreverent looks to growing old, politics, the environment, dogging, and everything in between. Having gone a?oefungala?? with 'Dogging' and the infamously naughty 'Try Not To Be a C**t, It's Christmas', the group are now playing a limited four-week season at th...

A family start their day like any other. A daughter, a younger brother who's still in school, a mum who takes care of everyone and everything, and a dad who often works night-shifts. They don't know that, as they go about their life as normal, their lives are going to be changed forever when police ...

Following on from their phenomenal debut HOTTER, dynamic duo Mary Higgins and Ell Potter this time return with a show all about men. That's both cis and trans-identifying men, aged all the way from eight to 102. The pair interviewed close to 50 of them, asking the question of what makes them hard. I...

It's the most wonderful time of the year...unless you've just been dumped by your partner of ten years. That's exactly what's happened to Libby. After a decade with boyfriend Rob Everest a long-term relationship status is all Libby knows. Spiralling into depression and knocking back Pinot Grigio at...

The Park Theatre are doing Christmas a little differently on their smaller stage this year, presenting an adult play that's seasonal only in its wintery setting. Martha, Josie and the Chinese Elvis is an avalanche - and not in a good way....

The Crucible takes us to New York's bustling backstreets in this joyous revival....

Few English reigns have been quite as theatrical as that of Elizabeth I; from her fine gowns and jewellery to the youthful (or so she thought) wigs and makeup, she preserved her position as monarch by creating the characters of Gloriana and the Virgin Queen. This theatricality feeds into Ella Hickso...

Cinderella delivers a true family pantomime that mixes spectacular sets and costumes with plenty of laughs in a show that doesn't push back any boundaries, but delivers what its audience wants at Christmas....

Kingston's Rose Theatre always goes all-out for their Christmas production. After last year's huge success with Hansel And Gretel, writer and director Ciaran McConville turns his hand to another Hans Christian Andersen tale with The Snow Queen....