UK / WEST END THEATER REVIEWS

Following on from their celebration of all things Queen in October, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra last night returned to the Royal Albert Hall for a night of modern musical magic. Conducted by Richard Balcombe, the orchestra performed an incredible range of songs from modern-day shows - ranging f...

After staging three other plays by Martin McDonagh, Tower Theatre are now tackling the playwright's phenomenal first play, and start of the first of two trilogies, The Beauty Queen of Leenane. After premiering in Galway in 1996 it went on to have multiple transfers in London, a stint on Broadway, an...

When Jerker first premiere in Los Angeles in 1986 and excerpts from it were performed on the radio, it lead to a revolution in broadcasting censorship laws due to the alleged obscenities portrayed....

A big Harry Potterish serpent, a Salad Daysy enchanted glockenspiel, a Scooby-Dooish birdman, a pre-Ford Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and enough underground conspiracies to keep the most fervent follower of QAnon frothing at the mouth - what's not to like?...

Where would theatre be without literary adaptations? From The Woman in Black to Matilda The Musical, some of the best shows originate from books. At first glance, Sarah Waters' fourth novel, the 2006 hit The Night Watch, is ripe for adaptation for the stage. A tale of love and desire set during and ...

Following a sold-out run at the Young Vic, Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman has transferred to the West End and, with blistering direction from Marianne Elliott and Miranda Cromwell, it remains one of the standout shows of the year....

Ugly sets out to be an exploration of beauty standards and the perception of women's attractiveness. Written by Perdita Stott and directed by Danae Cambrook, a series of vignettes delve into how five women struggle to accept their image and who they are. Eve Atkinson, Shereener Browne, Samantha Bing...

Charting the blossoming political analyst Jamie and Brown University dropout-turned-bartender Stephanie after meeting in the office of their psychiatrist, Chemistry is a worthy entrant into the growing pantheon of plays about mental health....

The Tabard Theatre has been rebranded as Chiswick Playhouse. If their opening production is anything to go by, it promises a highly exciting new chapter for this long standing West London venue....

Frank McGuinness's play is never less than engaging, Angela Murray tremendous as the woman left alone after her daughter is shot, but it's an unrelenting and demanding watch...

Every year, thousands of playwrights respond to Papatango Theatre Company's call for their New Writing Prize. 2019 saw 1406 entries from across the UK and Republic of Ireland, from which only one was going to be chosen for a full production and a further commission from the company. The winner of th...

It's a particular treat when a triple bill allows programme space to showcase not one but two exciting companies. We should thank Birmingham Royal Ballet for the highly democratic move of inviting Ballet Black to share the Sadler's Wells stage with them in this latest Autumnal offering. ...

Germ Free Adolescent centres on Ashley, a teenage girl with OCD. Developing an obsession with STIs, Ashley collects sexual health leaflets and offers an advice clinic at school. As she reels off numerous statistics, her peers assume she's highly experienced with sex, but in fact it's the polar oppos...

a?oeWhile we may come from different places and speak in different tongues, our hearts beat as one.a?? With this, the fourth instalment of the Harry Potter franchise, events start to take a darker turn; Death Eaters are going about their business more openly, and someone seems to be working behind-t...

A new family face the most testing of circumstances when their beautiful new baby girl is diagnosed with a potentially life-changing condition. Out Of The Dark, Suzy Gill's absorbing debut play, explores how a couple deal with the joys and the traumas of life where their child did not form in the wa...

Andrew Lloyd Webber's rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar remains one of the most epic scores in musical theatre. Since 1970, the production has enjoyed success across the globe, most recently with Regent's Park's hit revival - which transferred to the Barbican earlier this year....

Deep in the stomach of Soho, the Boulevard Theatre is the newest addition in the panorama of London's studio theatres. The exceptionally versatile and sleek venue has just opened its doors with the UK premiere of Dave Malloy's Ghost Quartet. The show is a celebration of ancestral storytelling: chara...

It's not been a long time since Clare Barron took both New York and London by storm with her 2018 play Dance Nation, whose portrayal of a group of teenage competitive dancers had gloriously ruptured into feminist fireworks. Her next work to appear on a London stage is not a new play, but an earlier ...

Is this a great time to tell stories, shedding light in dark times? Or is it an impossible task? That's the loose premise of Annie Baker's wilfully elusive new piece, featuring the brainstorming session from hell a?' or possibly about hell, or in hell. Immaculately directed by Baker herself and desi...

I Do! I Do! even with this updated book, is an old-fashioned two-hander musical that never fails to please, without ever challenging the traditional approach to the union between a man and a woman....

Adapted from the 2010 book written by celebrated author, actor, presenter and talent show judge David Walliams, Billionaire Boy brings to life familiar morality tales for a young audience....

The National Youth Theatre revamp Mary Shelley's masterpiece and update it for a modern audience in what should be a cutting-edge production at Southwark Playhouse. Carl Miller's rewriting of the first ever science fiction novel looks more like a translation for the 21st century rather than a faithf...

Toast: The Story of a Boy's Hunger is a best-selling memoir novel from the renowned Observer food columnist, Nigel Slater. It was adapted into a film in 2010 and has now been reworked for the stage, premiering at The Lowry in Manchester in 2018. The show is currently running at the Theatre Royal in ...

Edred, The Vampyre is a lot of fun with its fair quotient of chills thrown in and a fine example of how to stage horror, a tricky genre for theatres....

After spending most of the year in its hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon, the Royal Shakespeare Company's newest As You Like It kicks off their London Season at the Barbican Centre. Directed by Kimberley Sykes, the production is a delicate and inventive voyage into a Forest of Arden that feels truer t...