UK / WEST END THEATER REVIEWS

The Royal Albert Hall is about a month into its inaugural Festival of Science - a range of talks, screenings, concerts and comedy events that are taking enthusiasts of all ages on an exploration of space, both factual and fictional. This weekend was no exception, with special screenings of two of th...

Lady Anne Tree thought she had a brilliant idea to help convicts. After seeing what the prisoners went through every day firsthand as a visitor, she decided that she would teach them needlecraft, a way to occupy the mind and to set aside a small amount of money through the sale of the artworks. Base...

"What's the earliest memory you have of your father?" This is the question, among many, that sets off a process of enquiry into the state of the nation's masculinity and its concerns through the prism of fatherhood in the verbatim play Fatherland. Thrillingly staged, it muscles beyond its documen...

The Guardian described Winsome Pinnock as the 'godmother of black British playwrights'. She's the first black British woman to have a play produced by the National, and her success has inspired many generations to follow in her footsteps. Her George Devine Award winning play, Leave Taking receives a...

The Chalk Garden takes place in the summer of 1955 in the garden room of Mrs St Maugham's house in a seaside village in Sussex. It was written by Enid Bagnold (author of National Velvet) while she was living in Rottingdean....

There's a definite sense of excitement when you walk into the Underbelly Festival right now. The Southbank has transformed into a magical garden of circus, art and booze. The venue is full of life and it's the perfect home to the exuberant creation that is Circolombia....

Everything seems perfect in this cute little suburban town. The sun is shining, the birds sing and a couple arise from their peaceful slumber, greeting each other with love and affection. Nothing seems out of place; the ordinary morning routine is carried out as usual, as papers are read and breakfa...

It begins with deep breathing, in order to access words that hold unimaginable power. And Ian Rickson's exquisite production of Brian Friel's masterpiece maintains that space throughout: for words to breathe and simmer, to hang in the air, and for us to understand how vital language is not just as a...

Nina Raine's Consent first premiered last year at the National Theatre, before the #MeToo movement happened and the change that it has brought about in society. The topic of consent is extremely relevant today and the production's transfer to the West End is timely, offering those who may have seen ...

Third in line in Michelle Terry's first season as Artistic Director of Shakespeare's Globe is The Two Noble Kinsmen. Directed by Barrie Rutter, the Shakespeare-Fletcher collaboration becomes a lighthearted and wonderfully ironic piece of theatre....

George and Ira Gershwin have written some of the most memorable songs of the 20th century. Crazy for You contains some of their most beloved hits: 'I Got Rhythm', 'Embraceable You', 'Someone to Watch Over Me', and more....

The Royal Haymarket Theatre's new production of Tartuffe reimagines the classic Moliere comedy in the West End's first ever dual-language production. The play, adapted by Christopher Hampton, sets the satire in contemporary Los Angeles, with hints at Donald Trump replacing original references to Kin...

As the centenary of the armistice of the First World War approaches, there is no better time for Sebastian Faulks's Birdsong to be revived once again in its staged adaptation by Rachel Wagstaff....

The concert of A Little Princess at Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall was a lovely production with lots of great talent of a musical that still feels a bit messy. Rebecca Trehearn, Danny Mac, and Alexia Khadime all lent their amazing voices to the show and the young girls playing Sara, Becky, L...

King Lear given the Game of Thrones treatment on the small screen, losing a little of the claustrophobic madness en route....

A revival of a work by the revered French playwright, Paul Claudel, that probably doesn't say enough, but does so at enormous length....

The couple at the heart of the award winning writer Tim Cook's new play - Adam (Lee Knight) and Eve (Jeannie Dickinson) - inevitably calls to mind its biblical counterpart. They are a young, naive and aspiring couple who fell in love at first sight and who move to a countryside idyll in order to rea...

Following a sell-out production in 2014, Sondheim's dark comic masterpiece detailing fairytale distress arrives at the Cockpit for a limited run. Performed in the round, the audience are thrown right into the action, and observe an ensemble of 17 working together to create a modern-day adaptation, t...

Boundless Theatre's Confidence at Southwark Playhouse feels a bit lacking in, dare I say, confidence. The first UK revival of Judy Upton's 1998 play has plenty of 1990s nostalgia, but still feels shaky....

Life is a Dream is Rambert's first full-length work is over 40 years. It's perhaps best left to seasoned dance-lovers and those who like a challenge, because choreographer Kim Brandstrup certainly doesn't make it an easy task for his audience....

The Tempest follows the antics of a number of stranded voyagers on a remote island. This particular production is presented by The Lord Chamberlain's Men, an all-male outdoor theatre company founded in 2004, named after Shakespeare's original acting troupe....

C-H-E-K-H-O-V - that's the theme buzzing around the Yard Theatre right now. Recognised as one of the greatest writers of short fiction, the famous Russian playwright's world-renowned text is given a radical reimagining. A blend of movement, music, theatre and personal politics, RashDash bring their ...

Timothy Sheader and Liam Steel's production of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan returns to Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, three years after it first captivated audiences - young and old....

There is no greater anticipation in the ballet world than that for a new Swan Lake. The unenviable pressure of this task has fallen to one of the Royal Opera House's current Artists in Residence, Liam Scarlett. Scarlett's more recent works for the Royal Ballet include the Age of Anxiety and Frankens...

With A Little Bit of Lerner combined an outstanding group of performers with the BBC Concert Orchestra to present an exciting variety of many of Lerner's well-known and lesser-known songs at Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall. It celebrated the centenary of great American lyricist Alan Jay Lerne...