UK / WEST END THEATER REVIEWS

The Mental Health Foundation reports that there were 8.2 million cases of anxiety in the UK in 2013. All of us may feel stressed at some point in our lives, but it can be an unwanted and overwhelming strain on many people's day-to-day activities....

A curiously intrusive structure gets in the way of the extraordinary, one-off comic genius that was Spike Milligan in an affectionate tribute from Chris Larner and Jeremy Stockwell....

How far would you go to get the thing you so desperately want in life? That's the main question asked in Jordi Galceran's intense and twisted tale of four big-city hotshots who fight hard to win big. Translated by Anne Garcia-Romero and Mark St. Germain, the adaptors set the story in New York City, ...

For those not around in 1971, it's easy to be ignorant of the huge impact that Carole King's seminal album, Tapestry, had at the time. Beautiful The Carole King Musical opens with King's concert at Carnegie Hall to celebrate the amazing success of that album. It then quickly flashes back to a 16 yea...

Despite an incredible back catalogue to choose from, and a nine year production history, the show never really captivates it's audience in the way it should....

Great to see a comedy set amongst the dodgy types who frequent a 70s Brighton brilliantly conjured by set and costumes, but an overly episodic structure and predictable conclusion lets down what could be a super show....

As one of the final so called mega-musicals of the 1980s, Miss Saigon could be forgiven if it felt a little dated by 2018. Thankfully, there's not one bit of tiredness about this re-booted version, originally seen in London in 2014 for its 25th Anniversary....

Katy Brand makes her playwriting debut at Trafalgar Studios with 3Women, a supposedly progressive play which unfortunately falls into the pit of problematic feminism. Written with the right spirit and presenting a very tongue-in-cheek script with plenty of funny one-liners and biting characters, the...

Michelle Terry's first season as Artistic Director of the Globe will be carefully scrutinised. Emma Rice's contentious exit raised important questions about the venue's purpose, its balancing of tradition and innovation, new and returning audiences, and about how we engage with Shakespeare in the 21...

In 2007, Across the Universe brought the songs of The Beatles to a new generation in the form of a jukebox musical film that incorporated 34 of the band's songs, from the very famous to the more obscure numbers in their back catalogue. Rather than being a band biography, it brought a new story to th...

What craic! The Humours of Bandon is a delightful peek into the world of Irish Dancing Championships. Written and performed by Margaret McAuliffe and directed by Stefanie Preissner, this one-woman show tells the story of schoolgirl Annie over the course of a few years as she juggles schoolwork and n...

Though a challenge for the concentration, Maly Drama Theatre delivers a definitive Vanya against which all others can be judged....

Ramps on the Moon and Nottingham Playhouse present a powerful, creative and timely take on Timberlake Wertenbaker's play....

It's easy to imagine that a play that explores the meaning of art could become bogged down in artistic pretention. However, Josh Logan's Red escapes this as the physicality of the art itself gives it action to bolster its theoretical talk. Alfred Molina reprises his role as the artist Mark Rothko an...

Weimar Cabaret delivered with talent, humour and fear to burn!...

Iolanthe is arguably one of Gilbert and Sullivan's finest works. This frivolous and frothy opera was successfully revived by the ENO earlier this year, but now returns as something a little different. After surprising audiences with an original run at the Union Theatre and then a successful transfer...

Will Close and Rose Robinson explore monsters, myths, and Scotland in their exhilarating Great British Mysteries?. Directed by Joseph Hancock and following a sold-out run in Edinburgh back in 2017, the show is presented as a live-action mockumentary. Video projections aid the performers, who are rig...

Set up by Shaun McCourt and Leigh Lothian, West End Live Lounge continues to go from strength to strength. Returning to The Other Palace, it seems 'The Only Way Is Up' for the charity concert series after a sell-out night of Number 1's (even though George Jackson's song didn't make an appearance!)...

Yomi Sode is a writer and performer, born in Nigeria but who's lived in Britain most of his life. He strives to balance the cultures of his two "homes", and his one-man show aims to explore the tension of being authentic to your roots in another culture....

The clue for what this play entails lies within the title. You're probably going to get wet, but don't worry there are plastic sheets available to protect any valuable items in your possession. And if you're in the front row, then you'll be absolutely soaked. But that is where I'd encourage everyone...

The programme notes that accompany celebrated choreographer Hofesh Shechter's latest production, Show, are just as sparse as the title is nondescript. The most that can gleaned about what the performance might constitute is contained in three small words: comedy, desire and murder....

The journey of an asylum seeker is a harrowing one, especially if it's your family and old identity you are fleeing....

Vasily Gossman's novel Life and Fate lands on the Theatre Royal Haymarket's stage in all its glory. Presented by St Petersburg's Maly Drama Theatre in Russian with English surtitles, the production has an earthy and raw vibe. Lev Dodin pens and directs the adaptation, which was born directly in rehe...

American playwright Rajiv Joseph's latest certainly doesn't lack for ambition, spanning 90 years, three countries, and mixing history and fiction in its form to make a point about, well, mixing history and fiction. Storytelling through to the pertinent “fake news” abounds, but this near-three-ho...

Part of the inaugural season at the Bridge Theatre, Laurie Sansom directs Nightfall. An exquisite exploration into grief, anxiety and change, Barney Norris' new play is an introspective character study and one which plays as such....