UK / WEST END THEATER REVIEWS

Ballet narratives have always used their artistic license rather liberally, and stories don't come much sillier than that of La Bayadere - or Swan Lake with ghosts as I prefer to think of it. Neither do casts come more starry than the powerhouse line-up of Marianela Nunez (Nikiya), Vadim Muntagirov...

Proud Haddock remembers the centenary of the Armistice at Jermyn Street Theatre with the dynamic and heartbreaking tale of Canadian war hero Billy Bishop. Written by John MacLachlan Gray with Eric Peterson, Billy Bishop Goes to War sees an older Bishop (Oliver Beamish) overseeing his younger self (C...

In 2010, Lisa Hammond and Rachael Spence created a show called No Idea based entirely on what the general public said they should make a piece of theatre about. The result was an uncomfortable and comic take on how often disabled people are written out of the main narrative, becoming relegated to t...

If there was ever a film to screen with a live orchestra and choir, it would be Peter Shaffer's multi-award-winning Amadeus. London's Royal Albert Hall continues its successful series of blockbusting films broadcast on an enormous high definition screen, this time accompanied by the Philharmonia Cho...

A 16-strong ensemble storms the Royal Court stage in debbie tucker green's latest play, which shows snapshots of black British and African American experiences in our contemporary day. Directed by the playwright herself, it's a hard-hitting offering that has no problems in laying out the brutal trut...

Finborough Theatre end their series dedicated to the Great War by bringing back Irwin Shaw's Bury The Dead. Directed by Rafaella Marcus and the first London production in 80 year, the piece works as a monumental metaphor to stand up for the truth....

Jukebox musicals are tricky things to get right. Especially if the artist concerned hasn't had a particularly eventful career. Thankfully, The Four Seasons at the centre of Jersey Boys have a veritable collection of criminal records, mafia connections and a whole heap of unrefined talent....

Director Tim Baker concludes his national tour of Stephen Macdonald's Not About Heroes at Wilton's Music Hall. The play, which details the strong friendship between Wilfred Owen and Siegfriend Sassoon, has been acclaimed worldwide since its debut in 1982....

Joanna Murray-Smith's play Honour has enjoyed a run on Broadway and was first staged at the National Theatre in 2003 before it was revived again in 2006 at the Wyndham's Theatre. The latest production is staged at the Park Theatre's larger 200 capacity venue....

This is a play about the highs and lows of teen development, exploring what it means to be a girl today. And despite being set in America, the themes are universal to all. As one of the characters points out, football - or in this case, soccer - is a sport that's played everywhere and therefore it n...

Excitement has enveloped the internationally acclaimed stage production, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, since its London opening in July 2016. The show is now playing on Broadway and will soon have productions opening in Melbourne, San Francisco and Hamburg - the latter marking its first non-En...

High Society has a chequered past as a stage show; even Richard Eyre failed at adapting Cole Porter's 1956 film. However, the last outing in 2015 at The Old Vic sparkled under Maria Friedman's direction and now the amateur theatre company BROS takes on the challenge at Richmond theatre....

The Animals and Children Took To The Streets twists together retro imagery and animation with cabaret and mime for some elegantly sinister storytelling....

This new Sheffield Theatres / Out of Joint production offers a dynamic, inventive and thought-provoking look at young women soldiers serving on the front line....

Dealing With Clair was first staged thirty years ago at the Orange Tree Theatre. It now returns in a disturbingly well observed revival, still striking a very darkly comic and contemporary story that explores greed, morality and unsettling behaviour in the world of house buying....

Adam Kay is a writer, comedian and former junior doctor. His candid and honest account of his time working for the NHS, This Is Going To Hurt was published in April this year. It is a Sunday Times bestseller and has won many other accolades as well as being described by many as required reading...

Londoners may have seen a resurgence in immersive theatrical experiences recently, but Talk Is Free Theatre brings the concept to a whole new level with The Curious Voyage. The intercontinental three-day journey starts in Barrie, Canada and lands in London, where the audience is taken on a quest to ...

The music is magical, with all its coloratura, patter, and character from the principals, male chorus, and orchestra magnificently managed by Tomaš Hanus, but there's still some magic amiss in this staging from Welsh National Opera....

This year sees the 40th anniversary of John Williams' first concert with the London Symphony Orchestra, which was performed at the Royal Albert Hall in February 1978. Friday's concert would have heralded Williams' return to perform in London for the first time in over 20 years, though this was sadly...

Opening this year's National Youth Theatre REP Season is the return of Evan Placey's Consensual, originally written for the company back in 2015 when it premiered at the Ambassadors Theatre. It's been given a major facelift as Pia Furtado's production, featuring a brand new cast, moves to the Soho T...

Hot off award-winning film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and reunited with Matthew Dunster, who directed his hit Hangmen, Martin McDonagh brings his latest to the Bridge - quite a coup for Nick Hytner. Yet this provocative take on Hans Christian Andersen, and on the nature of storytelli...

Tragedy raw in tooth and claw in this revival of the ENO's 2008 production of Lucia di Lammermoor....

Hampstead Theatre hosts the European premiere of Lauren Gunderson's award-winning I and You. The production, directed by artistic director Edward Hall sees the stage debut of Game of Thrones star Masie Williams and the professional debut of Zach Wyatt, who graduated from Guildhall this past June....

Northern Ballet's take on the Three Musketeers is beautiful to watch, with a fantastic score and some delightful fight scenes....

Watching any of the Harry Potter movies is a magical experience, loved by children and adults of all ages. But watching the film while the music is played by a live orchestra in the majestic setting of the Royal Albert Hall is an event like no other....