UK / WEST END THEATER REVIEWS

The Old Vic's The Divide is a gripping tale of repression and forbidden love in a dystopian society. This new play from Alan Ayckbourn is told in diary entries from sister and brother, Soween and Elihu. Annabel Bolton, an Associate Director at the Old Vic, brings this beautiful piece first seen at t...

'I am 26 years old, I live in London, and I work in the arts. This is not fantastic.' says Therese Ramstedt as her character finds out that she's pregnant. From that moment on, she embarks on an emotional rollercoaster that challenges the inherent stigma and absurd shame of abortion....

Desperately struggling to hold their family together, sisters Becky and Anna fight for survival. Stuck in a rut, they befriend a wandering stranger who aimlessly navigates the land. Together, the three strike up an unlikely friendship in their bid to remain alive. Time moves slowly in this part of t...

In a production that relies more on extras' physicality and odd choreography than it does on singing and musicianship - opera's intrinsic components - Barrie Kosky experiments with too many genres and fails to grasp one....

For many people, their first introduction to The Jungle Book is the Disney film of the same name. This new adaptation from Olivier award winner Jessica Swale deserves the effort of disassociation, as it rewards in numerous ways. Swale has adapted Rudyard Kipling's beloved story of the boy Mowgli be...

Though a long journey indeed, Richard Eyre's is a vital revival, giving vigour to Eugene O'Neill's mighty, semi-autobiographical work and making all the more poignant this tormented but fast-talking family's gradual dwindling into a despairing silence....

A retitled production of John Dryden's 1675 play Aureng-zebe, The Captive Queen continues the Globe's winter season and acts as a swansong for Northern Broadsides' Barrie Rutter. The artistic director takes the role of the Emperor and also directs for the company for the final time. A rarely perform...

Families are tricky things. They have the capacity to love and frustrate us like no one else. It is little wonder they provide such a rich vein for dramatists. In Andrew Bovell's Things I Know To Be True we're with the Price family who have four grown up children, all at different stages of flying t...

A little dated for sure, but with enough Ayckbourn (and even a touch of Fawlty Towers) to appeal to 21st century audiences, this is a pleasing, if unchallenging, evening's entertainment....

Combining the centuries-old skills and traditions of the touring circus troupe, this is a variety act like no other. Contained within is an assortment of acrobatics, contortion, knife throwing, motorbikes, fire juggling, and so much more, from performers originating from as far afield as Kenya, Cuba...

Holly Morgan and Tom Moores tear the house down with their new comedy show, a mix of stand-up and cabaret. Madonna or Whore is a raucous and unashamedly in-your-face feminist piece of theatre....

After a hugely successful 2017 Edinburgh Fringe run and UK tour, Paines Plough's Roundabout plays arrive at the Orange Tree Theatre. Featuring a tense psychological thriller, a fiery tale of friendship, and a story of growing up too fast, this three-show programme has it all. Paines Plough hardly ev...

Yasmin's family are going through a crisis. The bailiffs are coming knocking, and there isn't enough time to make the money needed to pay them off. Four young women struggle to find their own solution and when Yasmin becomes distracted by a stranger she meets, her sisters question where her loyaltie...

In a new UK tour currently playing at Bristol Old Vic, award-winning theatre company simple8 have joined forces with Northampton's Royal & Derngate to present Simon Dormandy's adaptation of E.M. Forster's novel A Passage to India....

Inequality is a hot topic for dramatists, but Sarah Burgess's deliciously dark comedy comes at it from a surprising perspective: allowing those high-finance gorgons to have their say. Of course, part of the strategy is giving them enough rope to hang themselves with, but this cynical satire argues t...

Just breathe. It's something I'm sure many of us have either told ourselves, or people that we love. But how easy is breathing when you feel like there is not enough oxygen? How do you find a time to relax when your stomach is constantly in pain and your head is always pounding?...

Chloe (Steffi Walker) and Joanna (Helen White) are watching Being John Malkovich when the former realises she isn't in love with her wife anymore. As Chloe tries to turn her life around after her marriage, her ex starts believing she is controlling her mind. Written by Lizzie Milton and directed by ...

Andrew Lloyd Webber is quite possibly the most recognised and mainstream composer in the musical theatre industry. Love him or hate him, he has penned the music for some of the world's most famous musicals and continues to write today. In celebration of his 70th birthday this year, he is releasing a...

Julius Caesar has arrived at the Bridge Theatre, nestled beside London's City Hall and Tower Bridge. Featuring a large section of the audience in promenade in the 'pit', this kinetic, frenetic production with a universally strong cast feels up-to-date and accessible for a broad audience....

In 1960s Los Angeles, traffic police officer Effie-Lou (Katrina Foster) is looking for her PI friend Jo after she went missing. As Effie-Lou investigates Jo's disappearance, she falls into a world of murder and sex trafficking, coming to terms with her past as a prostitute....

Eugenius is funny, bursting with great songs and great performances and, if a little overly familiar in terms of plot and characters, forgivably so....

Terry Johnson tells us of his lifelong friendship with Ken Campbell, an eccentric giant of English Theatre, in a funny, poignant and beautifully performed production....

Collective Rage at the Southwark Playhouse is a provocative and surprising play about the female experience. This 'Play in 5 Betties' follows five women, all named Betty, as they express their sexuality and search for their purpose. This UK premiere boasts a talented cast that distracts from the pla...

When Bea receives a text from her mum saying that they need to talk as soon as she gets home, she goes into a panic. She specifies that it's not just a scary text to receive no matter who sends it, she is afraid because her mother might have figured out that she's working as a stripper....

Nicole Henriksen takes Vault Festival by a quiet storm, tackling mental health, feminism, and stereotypes at once with A Robot In Human Skin. Presenting herself already on stage, wielding a ukulele in her bra, pants, and worn-out socks, and wearing a tin-foil tv screen as a helmet, she is honest and...