UK / WEST END THEATER REVIEWS

Everyday we're told to do better. Whether it is about our size, skin texture or lifestyle, society provides constant reminders that we're not good enough, and actively encourages us to try something new. Maybe it's a new pill acting as a supplement, or that drink that's become the latest trend becau...

Kelly loves Neill. The pair of them eat chips, walk along the seafront and share kisses - just like every other couple. But what makes this pair different is the stares they get from everyone else; the glares received come from a place of confusion and malice....

Boo Killebrew recounts the catastrophic impact of Hurricane Katrina on her hometown in the autobiographical The Play About My Dad. Seen in Europe for the first time at Jermyn Street Theatre, the piece is a play within a play complete with flashbacks and time travel. Albeit self-indulgent at times, K...

Balancing Ashton's charming choreography with bright characterisation and breezy ballon, Birmingham Royal Ballet are absolutely beaming in this most charming of ballets....

The National Theatre are currently looking for 300 youth theatre companies and schools/colleges to apply to take part in next year's 2019 Connections Festival. The deadline is on 9th July....

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the first test tube baby, and Jemma Kennedy's new play at the Hampstead Theatre, Genesis Inc., centres around a group of people seeking the much sought after (and costly) help of one of the leading experts in fertility....

My Beautiful Circus brings a traditional entertainment to the village green but delivers it with 21st century savvy and morals....

'Siri, when do I become an adult?' Alicia asks. She is, we are told, a 'hot mess'; a typical twentysomething, a classic millennial, caught somewhere between her days as a student and 'real life'....

As You Like It - wit, wisdom and flaws - done in the squares of London on beautiful summer evenings, What's not to like?...

In this latest production of The Winter's Tale at Shakespeare's Globe, director Blanche McIntyre takes on the tricky task of guiding the audience from tragedy and despair to comedy and finally a classic fairy tale ending....

On a night of absolute destruction paranoia runs rife. The capital is in chaos and the public sit in their home watching the terror unfold. Helicopters circle overhead, police sirens wail and the news channels talks about a city under siege. There are 45 dead and counting....

Five years since premiering at The Public Theater and with five Tony's under its belt, Fun Home comes to London and instantly finds a home with audiences. Based on the graphic memoirs by Alison Bechdel, Fun Home is an examination of sexuality, the self and cycles, brought to life by a dynamic set a...

Whilst the 1930s may be almost a century behind us, the suspense that this aged text brings rivals that of any psychological thriller on the silver screen these days....

Iris Theatre's The Tempest at St Paul's Church is an outdoor promenade production of one of Shakespeare's great comedies, though it is fairly traditional in every other way. The audience follows the actors around four different locations during the course of the show: three outdoor and one within St...

Britten's celebrated opera re-imagined for a summer evening pregnant with ill-resolved threat....

There isn't much I can say apart from this is a truly wonderful night. As soon as you enter the space there is a buzzing anticipation coming from the audience. Filled with devoted fans and eager first-timers, the vibe in the room is one of sheer excitement as we eagerly await the arrival of two of t...

Cole Porter's 1948 love letter to showbiCole Porter's 1948 love letter to showbiz is brilliantly served by Opera North's big, bold and bawdy production - both soaringly romantic and packed with meta winks. A touring staple, Jo Davies' detailed take (the revival helmed by Ed Goggin) beds down very c...

The 80s West End hit is revived by the actor-musicians of the graduating class of Guildford School of Acting in a production that never quite settles on a tone that fits 2018 audiences' sensibilities....

Artistic Director of Sphinx Theatre Sue Parrish curates a new collection of short plays written by women and revolving around female characters. Commissioned as part of the Women Centre Stage Festival the plays presented in Women Centre Stage: Eight Short Plays By and About Women are designed to dis...

In a world filled with destruction and misery, can love still prevail? When the whole of society has ostracised you for a spur-of-the-moment decision, how do you find your new place to exist? And if the odds are stacked against you, do you fight or just give up?...

Musical fans love a good 'songs from the shows' cabaret and House of Broadway present a polished evening packed with heart and humour as they share songs old and new from the musical theatre canon....

Emma Kingston is a very busy woman at the moment: just last week she returned from the Hong Kong stint of the Evita world tour where she currently stars as the First Lady of Argentina, Eva Peron....

In this time of endless Brexit questions, the NHS in crisis and the world generally seeming to be going to hell in a handcart, a lighthearted and exuberant show like Legally Blonde is sometimes the perfect antidote. Based on the 2001 film, the award-winning show follows the cutesy and seemingly vacu...

From a Victorian toilet to haunted venues, Amber Massie-Blomfield takes her readers on a journey around the country visiting picturesque theatres in her descriptive and curiously entertaining Twenty Theatres to See Before You Die. A love letter to the arts, the book is the result of two years of tra...

After a staggering 60 years in the business, theatre producer Paul Elliott recently announced that he will be retiring from his company, Paul Elliott Ltd. However, he's leaving in style, releasing his memoir, Keeping My Balls in the Air, to celebrate his time in the industry....