UK / WEST END THEATER REVIEWS

It's a case of rather ironic programming that the press night for Mike Lew's Teenage Dick at the Donmar Warehouse was on the 12 December, the day of the General Election in the UK. An adaptation of Shakespeare's Richard III, Lew's new play is a meditation on the nature of power transposed to an Amer...

The latest Sheffield Theatres panto hits all the traditional panto beats....

The Ocean at the End of the Lane offers a spectacular theatrical experience, but may leave some viewers cold with its whimsy and unwillingness to explore human relationships in depth....

The annual pantomime at Richmond is always an entertaining affair. After last year's Peter Pan, we now turn to a glittering and very enjoyable version of Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs. Comedian, writer and presenter Jo Brand is the star turn as the wicked Queen Lucretia. Brand takes a little wh...

Sasha Regan revisits her 2015 production of the 1996 musical to deliver a splendid show for Christmas, with a relevance and harder edge that was missing a little four long years ago....

Following the success of Summer and Smoke at both the Almeida and the Duke of York's theatre, director Rebecca Frecknall returns to the former venue with John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi. Taking Webster's grotesque tale of betrayal, this production sets the lives of its female characters on bruta...

When on song, panto can be monumentally brilliant. An unpretentious form of theatre that can delight old and young alike. It's a shame then that this latest effort from panto behemoth Qdos is so tone deaf it makes your toes curl....

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Shelagh Delaney's A Taste of Honey has returned to the West End for the first time in 60 years following a successful 2014 run at the National Theatre's Lyttelton Theatre and a UK tour....

For many, it simply cannot be Christmas without Nutcracker. The enduring story of Clara and her beloved Nutcracker is one to soften the hardest of hearts. The pair defeat the evil Mouse King and his army and journey to the Kingdom Of The Sweets to meet the Sugar Plum Fairy for a magical adventure. ...

When confronted with the name Chekhov, hot Russian summers and country houses are probably what immediately spring to mind. It's all change for Inua Ellams' new adaptation at the National Theatre, as events are transported to Nigeria on the brink of civil war; the play is set between 1967 and 1970, ...

Two years on, Otello is revived in all its austere majesty, albeit a majesty that can be demanding to watch across a three hours running time....

Manfred Thierry Mugler and Wayne McGregor are such renowned names in their respective fields, a collaboration between them need only be eponymously titled. But for the thrill of the glamour and high-fashion of McGregor + Mugler, this short duet for Edward Watson or the Royal Ballet and Olga Smirnova...

Chances are that even if you aren't a fan of pop music, you could sing along to more than one of ABBA's hits, and you've almost certainly busted a move or two to Dancing Queen. Now fans and the semi-curious alike can visit London's O2 to see an exhibition exploring the band's history......

Billed as the only all-female panto in the world, The Fairytale Revolution: Wendy's Awfully Big Adventure is the latest pantomime offering from Battersea's Theatre503. With a cast of only four, this is an energetic and charming production that attempts to subvert many pantomime stereotypes. Wendy...

When you enter a theatre to a soundtrack of Stormzy and open the programme to see a Beatboxer listed on the credits, you know that this is probably not a traditional staging of a nineteenth century play. Much anticipation has been building for Martin Crimp's new adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac. Dir...

The Old Joint Stock Theatre in Birmingham continues to push the boundaries of originality with their programme. Their Christmas offering is no different with live musical radio play, Miracle On 34th Street, currently bringing festive cheer to the fringe venue....

Ella is from Yorkshire. Haseeb is from London. They are totally in love. But no matter how hard they try to make things work, they can't seem to fight off a growing elephant in the room. Zia Ahmed's play is a lyrical journey of connection through inner conflict. Poetic in form, the story provides a ...

The 90's was an incredible decade for music, film and fashion. It was also a time when society in general was less accepting. For anyone who didn't fit the brief of what was once considered 'normal', life was far more challenging than it is now. In 2019 there is still much work to be done, though it...

Jermyn Street Theatre's Christmas shows are always a surprise. After last year's murderous black comedy Burke and Hare, now they're shifting the spotlight on a collection of fascinating vignettes that are, essentially, the definition of one of the internet's favourite words: sonder, which is a?oethe...

Welcome to Lovelyville. President Nick Dallas has just been re-elected, and all seems right with the world - until the disruptive force of Mr and Mrs Ubu make their appearance, that is. Completely at odds with the tone of the town from the moment they open their mouths, they are unable to sit back a...

If you're in need of a brief sojourn away from London this Christmas period, then I've little hesitation in recommending the Mill at Sonning's Singin' in the Rain. With a fine cast, you'll be hard pressed to find a more impressive show in London than this production....

Ravens: Spassky vs Fischer takes us to Iceland in 1974 for the World Chess Championship, a clash between two very different men and two very different systems but with much that is not so different to the politics of today....

Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol places Ebenezer Scrooge centre-stage, shoving all its female characters to the side in an attempt to paint a deeply unfair and harrowing picture of London's Victorian society. The protagonist has been an immovable presence in theatres around Christmas time from th...

Continuing a series of personal projects away from the mainstay of the Bolshoi repertoire, Svetlana Zakharova returns to the London Coliseum once more with Modanse, a chic double bill of UK premieres with high calibre support from a range of Bolshoi Principals and Soloists. Chic it may be, with opul...