UK / WEST END THEATER REVIEWS

Clearday has gone from a small Singaporean start-up to an international cosmetic brand. When resentment and revenge come into play, an old draft of an advert promoting their cutting-edge skin whitening product is posted online resulting into a media disaster....

Happy Jack is an early play by John Godber full of working class warmth tempered with a hard edge of social criticism....

Drag Star Bianca Del Rio and Steps singer Faye Tozer officially joined the cast of Everybody's Talking About Jamie this week at a special Gala night. Amongst the attendees was the original 'Jamie' who inspired the story, Jamie Campbell, and Faye's fellow bandmates, Ian 'H' Watkins and Lee Latchford-...

Ute Lemper: Rendezvous with Marlene sees a living legend portraying a now lost legend - up close and personal and a privilege to see....

Theatr Clwyd's latest co-production with the Menier Chocolate Factory takes on Tennessee Williams' Orpheus Descending. Last seen in London at the Donmar Warehouse in 2000 starring Helen Mirren and directed by Nicholas Hytner, it's now presented by Tamara Harvey in slightly bizarre form....

Following a highly succesful run at the 2018 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, My Left Right Foot: The Musical makes a stop in the Theatre Royal as part of the Brighton Festival and at the end of the National Theatre of Scotland production's own tour to Japan and various UK venues....

Heathers: The Musical has recently enjoyed a limited West End run, following an extremely successful production debuting at The Other Palace in London. The show is based on the 1988 film of the same name and although it is overwhelmingly a comedy piece, dark issues are tackled including bullying, su...

Reginald D Hunter's latest show was originally titled Reginald D Hunter: Facing The Beast and Niggas when it premiered at his 20th appearance at the Edinburgh Festival last summer. Never one to shy away from controversy, the tour name has quietly dropped the 'n' word, the PR perhaps thinking that it...

For all its bravado and comedy, Roy Williams' The Firm is a potent piece about masculinity. Set in an attractive south London pub, four friends have gathered to celebrate the release of their friend Shaun, who has spent the past 12 years in prison. But as the evening continues, an unexpected guest ...

Back in 2014, audiences stared rapt into their televisions as Courtney Act (aka Shane Jenek) debuted her flare and gorgeousness as one of the participants in RuPaul's Drag Race. They were already well known in their native Australia as they'd been the first queer contestant on reality tv but the com...

Jonathan Maitland delivers a satirical take on Brexit in general and Boris Johnson in particular, that lacks the insight and the jokes required to do justice to its source material's rich potential....

Iseult Golden and David Horan's story speaks of family struggle, adolescent development and the complexities of the education system. Looking also at class division and culture, it asks questions about the duty of care of a child when two parents are separated....

Now in its 10th year, English National Ballet's Emerging Dancer competition returned to Sadler's Wells on 7 May 7 with six finalists, all members of ENB's corps de ballet, competing for the title....

The Provoked Wife combines tremendous comedy with a hard-edged look at human nature and the institutions that underpin society - as relevant today as when it was written over 300 years ago....

Seventy years on from its Broadway opening, Marianne Elliott and Miranda Cromwell present Arthur Miller's masterpiece afresh in an inspired, shattering revival. One key change - making the 1940s Loman family African-American - gives the play a whole new texture, while retaining its searing condemnat...

Children are just revolting aren't they? They're snivelling maggots that need discipline, discipline and more discipline. Agatha Trunchbull's teaching mantra may not fill most with hope but in the context of Matilda the Musical it brings sheer delight. This is a musical that will have maggots of all...

Over the past five years, INK have developed and produced over 150 new short plays by writers who have strong bonds with East Anglia. After showcasing them in their annual festival in Suffolk, they've taken their newest selection to London for the first time since their inception....

Adnan (Robert Hannouch) has just arrived in the UK from Syria. He escaped his home country and made his way across border after border penniless but with a burning desire for survival....

Amour is a delightful fable that bathes you in the warmth of Legrand;s music and Sams' lyrics, brilliantly realised by a hardworking cast under the sure direction of Hannah Chissick. Musical Theatre at its most transporting....

It's an immediate testament to the enduring appeal of Breakin' Convention, Sadler's Wells annual festival of hip hop theatre, now in its 16th year, to see the queues of people snaking round the block of the imposing building. They are dressed much more casually than the usual demographic that attend...

In her comprehensive and insightful book Contemporary Women Stage Directors, Paulette Marty attempts to answer a pivotal question: 'How does gender influence the work of women directors?'...

Miss Julie returns to London wearing the outstanding threads previously seen in Tom Littler's production at Jermyn Street Theatre in 2017. The new run plays in rep with Creditors, the other August Strindberg-Howard Brenton endeavour presented by the company and acts as an echo chamber for the themat...

As politicians and pundits dissect the local election results, Duncan Macmillan serves up a blistering new adaptation of an 1886 work that feels eerily like a 2019 commentary. Move over, James Graham - it turns out Ibsen has supplied the political play for today....

'It's your pub' says Winston, about the Three Kings Barber shop in London. The African barbers at the shop don't drink, so the barber shop has become the hub of the community. It's the place to watch the football, recount stories and tell jokes....

This is Edward Hall's last production as Artistic Director. After almost 10 years he is stepping down to make way for pastures new. Before he joined the Hampstead was under threat of closure, as it scraped close to bankruptcy. Nowadays, it has established itself as one of the leading new writing ven...