UK / WEST END THEATER REVIEWS

Joanna Bowman brings Shakespearean Italy to The Other Place at the RSC with her new production of his first play, The Two Gentlemen of Verona. At a pacy 90 minutes (without an interval) and set in the round, the play is reimagined for the present day with a talented cast of actor-musicians - an idea...

We are delighted to report that real fringe theatre is back. The invigorating, daring, challenging, form-subverting kind of venture that makes the stage its playground. We haven’t encountered anything like this since before Covid. There isn’t a lot of theatre with specifically scientific researc...

It's 20 years since Anoushka Shankar made her Proms debut, along with her father Ravi Shakar. Since then she has eclipsed even his enduring reputation as a world-renowned sitarist. Now a multi-Grammy-nominated artist, a sitar virtuoso and prolific composer, Shankar makes a triumphant return to the ...

Last seen in London over 35 years ago, Drew McOnie's inaugural season as Artistic Director of Regent's Park Open Air Theatre ends with him directing and choreographing a new production of Lerner & Loewe’s Scottish fantasy musical Brigadoon....

Unusual and unflinching, Dear Young Monster delves into the parallels between the creation of Frankenstein’s Monster as a ‘man-made man’ and the experience of a trans coming of age. Playfully incorporating horror and the gothic, it’s a queer hidden gem of this summer’s theatre offerings....

“Do, or do not. There is no try.” On this occasion, the National Youth Orchestra chose to ‘do’, as they took on some of the most iconic orchestral music of the 20th century. The teenage ensemble were very keen to perform Gustav Holst’s Planets, and so it was quite natural that a suite of m...

It’s not often that villains are the stars of children’s shows, but Freckle Productions’ adaptation of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s The Baddies gleefully flips the script. At Cadogan Hall, this wickedly silly romp delivers a charming, high-energy musical, which keeps its youngest aud...

There’s a make-or-break moment towards the end of The Publicist, where Julia Pilkington’s titular PR professional stands trapped on a phone call between two rails of clothing, a TV producer and former friend berating her on one side, her client trying to severe their professional relationship on...

From the moment the curtain raises and smoke billows away to reveal a barely lit stage, it’s clear that Rambert’s The Redemption of Thomas Shelby isn’t interested in gently inviting you in and asking how you take your tea. If anything, this is a rough kidnap of the senses, dumping you into a W...

If grief is the price we pay for love, then Every Brilliant Thing is the receipt lovingly crumpled and stuffed into a back pocket....

There's something inherently magical about outdoor theatre, especially when the theatre is in such beautiful surroundings as Kilworth House's. Watching Rydell High's disco ball throw tiny swirling lights across the theatre's tented roof as the cast hand-jive beneath it and night falls outside, it's ...

Bringing Ivan Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra back to the BBC Proms, last night’s concert offered a programme of Beethoven’s 'Symphony No. 7 in A major' alongside Bartok’s dark one-act opera Duke Bluebeard’s Castle.  ...

Two joints, both alike in dignity: Monty’s Tacos and Caps Bar. The high street isn’t big enough for the rival families. Shakespeare’s tale of young love and civil bloodshed comes alive in a gripping community-oriented rendition at Stratford East. Adapted by Kwame Owusu and co-directed by Emily...

Emmy and Tony Award-winner Sean Hayes (Will & Grace) brings his acclaimed, Tony Award-winning performance to the Barbican this Summer in Good Night, Oscar – direct from a critically acclaimed Broadway season. What did the critics think?...

Long forgotten talkshow guest has plenty to say about culture today...

This is a great opportunity to hear the breadth of Beethoven’s work performed in a novel way, and the drama does have its flashes of brilliance. In order to preserve these fleeting moments of conviction, though, Beethoven: I Shall Hear in Heaven needs to move away from tired biographical tropes an...

It may be one of the most beloved musical movies of all time but are we going to be hopelessly devoted to Secret Cinema’s second stab at Grease? Is this what the one that their devoted fanbase really want (ooh ooh ooh)? ...

Saving Mozart has created an enticing musical and visual universe, and the culture of 18th century court musicians is promising territory for musical theatre. However, the show needs to decide if it’s Amadeus: The Musical or a feminist retelling of a well known story, rather than landing awkwardly...

Lintu’s command of Mahler’s Das Klagende Lied is total, revealing both the drama and delicacy of the master's early work....

Horrible Histories: Barmy Britain – The Best Bits! presents the grizzly tales of British history with gusto. Celebrating 20 years of Horrible Histories Live on Stage and 14 years of entertaining London audiences, Birmingham Stage Company’s latest incarnation proves that even after two decades, h...

There are no firm tabloid-headline conclusions to be found in Clive about how technology’s ruining our lives, or how younger generations don’t know how to speak to people, and the play is all the better, and more timeless, for it....

Set in Edinburgh, Make It Happen sees legendary actor Brian Cox return to the Scottish stage for the first time in a decade as Adam Smith, the ghost of fiscal past....

There’s a new Queen in town, and her name is Keala Settle, with five pop princesses all called Diana, keen on stealing her limelight. The Diana Mixtape, currently lighting up HERE at Outernet, is a glitter-soaked, pop-powered celebration of the People’s Princess, unlike anything London has see...

Whether you are a fan of the franchise or not, the next actor to play James Bond is always headline news. Jordan Waller's frothy comedy A Role To Die For makes its London transfer from Cirencester's Barn Theatre, following a frantic search for the next Bond....

It was a night of concerti for this Prom, with Polish composers Grażyna Bacewicz and Witold Lutosławski on the programme alongside Sergei Rachmaninov; three 20th century classics to be performed, in the form of Concerto for String Orchestra, Concerto for Orchestra, and the already alluded to Piano...