UK / WEST END THEATER REVIEWS

Three years after its Bristol Old Vic debut, Sally Cookson's fervently theatrical reimagining of Charlotte Bront 's novel returns to the National Theatre as part of a UK tour with a new cast, but with its collective spirit intact....

Frankenstein, likes its eponymous anti-hero, is often brilliant but flounders on its ambition....

Riding high from their momentous success at the Edinburgh Festival, Baxter Theatre Company bring their award-winning show The Fall to the Royal Court....

Two Ingmar Bergman screenplays are reimagined for the stage in an experimental double bill, presented by Ivo van Hove's company Toneelgroep at the Barbican Centre. The production is a voyeuristic insight into the chaotic lives of theatre people, exposing the delicate line between art and reality, il...

Eugene O'Neill's classic play is beautifully staged in this evocative production at the Crucible Theatre....

Amid the horrors of the First World War, The Wipers Times is the unlikely, but true, story of when two officers found a printing press in the bombed out remains of Ypres (Wipers was the soldier's nickname for the town) and decided to produce a satirical paper to lift the spirits of the men. The pape...

Sex and death often go hand in hand. The french term 'La petite mort' literally means 'the sensation of orgasm as likened to death' (OED). And Le Grand Mort certainly goes big on this theme. Intimate and intense, Christopher Renshaw's production is packed with passion, but feels rather anticlimactic...

Chris Thompson's new play offers a witty and cutting take on the meaning of family, performed by an excellent cast....

On a geography trip to the Scottish Highlands around 1998, middle-schooler Ramona (Ruby Bentall) falls for Jim (Joe Bannister), a socially awkward simpleton with a passion-bordering-obsession for crustaceans. Their shared love for Enya's music combined with the teenage isolation that comes with weir...

Three years after Jeff Pope's acclaimed television miniseries Cilla was broadcast on ITV, he has now adapted her story for a new touring musical....

Read all about it! Following a wildly successful run at the Almeida in the summer, James Graham's first of three new plays for 2017 has transferred to London's West End for a limited run at the Duke of York's Theatre. It will soon have Labour of Love as a close neighbour on St Martin's Lane, and Qui...

What do you do when you're not good enough for Heaven, but not bad enough for Hell? How do you deal with being stuck in the waiting room of the afterlife, whilst the gender-fluid almighty spirit above decides your fate?...

Emily Stilson (Juliet Stevenson) is suspended in a void. She analyses this strange situation with wry perspicacity and occasional breathless panic. She's a prisoner, a specimen. She's fallen, trapped. She's flying....

Jazmin is different. In an area dominated by whiteness her mixed race complexion sticks out a mile off. Attempting to avoid the village's conventional route for teenagers, she applies to drama school in London. But why does she wish to leave a peaceful area for the busy and polluted capital?...

There's been a bit of a resurgence of the comedy horror musical format over the past few months. With The Toxic Avenger returning to London after a successful run at Southwark Playhouse (and in Edinburgh), Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein about to open at the Garrick Theatre and even the full-throttle...

We need more waffles in diplomacy. Or rather more personal connections to bridge those vast divides. So believed the Norwegian couple who orchestrated secret peace talks in 1993 between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization - a slice of stranger-than-fiction history grippingly dramatised ...

I once had the honour of interviewing the legendary Tommy Steele at the New Wimbledon Theatre. It was the venue where Half A Sixpence was first performed, and the show - which acted as a star vehicle for the talented young performer - became a classic piece of British musical theatre....

Seduction, sleaze and farce are just a few words to describe TOPLESS: The Path to Extinction. The mysterious night creatures GINGZILLA and Cazeleon hatched onto the East London night scene a few years ago, and are quickly rising as a favourite in the cabaret circuit both in the UK and internationall...

A family Christmas hurtles towards disaster with hilarious consequences in RULES FOR LIVING at Royal and Derngate in Northampton ahead of a national tour....

New Orleans comes to Marble Arch via this energetic revival of Clarke Peters' 1990 tribute to 'The King of the Jukebox', swing and blues bandleader Louis Jordan. Occupying a new pop-up, circus tent-style venue complete with stylish bar serving Southern cocktails it's a welcome blast of jazz-hot ...

Crafting The Caretaker (or indeed any Pinter) off the page takes a great deal of nuance and skill. Thankfully, in this new co-production from the Bristol Old Vic and Royal & Derngate Northampton, Christopher Haydon directs with the right amount of faithfulness to the text alongside flexibility for h...

Gary Naylor sees another opera up close from the award-winning OperaUpClose, this time lacking a little in the clarity that has characterised previous productions....

Jack Cardiff, OBE was a British cinematographer, director and photographer. His career lasted through many decades, spanning from the development of cinema, to silent film, and through to the experimentation of using Technicolor. His best-known work is his influential colour cinematography used by d...

The timeless story of Danny and Sandy, and the T-Birds and Pink Angels, comes to life again in this touring production which features the hit songs 'Summer Nights', 'You're The One That I Want' and 'Hopelessly Devoted To You'....

The final production in this year's Summer of Love season is a brand new piece from Tristan Bernays, telling the story of the famous warrior queen. It may not fit quite so obviously into the summer's theme, but it is a welcome piece of fresh new writing that really blows any last remaining cobwebs a...