UK / WEST END THEATER REVIEWS

When we enter the theatrical world, we must suspend disbelief. That's why many of us go: in the hope that for a couple of hours we'll forget all of our real-life trials and simply immerse ourselves in a story for entertainment's sake....

At the end of World War Two, Annie (Ruth Gemmell) and Isabella (Emma Paetz) are being interviewed in Poland by the Allied forces. The two women tell two sides of the same story: the former - a Commander's wife whose biggest dream when she was younger was to become a dancer but is forced into marriag...

Alistair Beaton has solid form as a political satirist as writer on Spitting Image and author of The Trial of Tony Blair. In Fracked! he turns his hand to the political hot potato of drilling for shale gas in the sedate countryside village of Fenstock. It is a story pitting the malign forces of corp...

Cosmic Trigger The Play is an exhilarating event that entertains and educates, full of fun but never losing the serious dimension of Robert Anton Wilson's work....

Dennis Potter's 1976 work finds new life with Matthew Parker. Written as a television play but never broadcasted due to its disturbing plot, it was finally produced at the Sheffield Crucible in 1977. Now, 40 years later, its revival is unsettling and relevant as then....

Even the toughest heart of stone will turn into a paper heart with Liam O'Rafferty's new musical. After winning over audiences in 2016 during Edinburgh Fringe Festival with its 75-minute version, the show has now grown in a two-act, fully developed, heartwarming, and uplifting piece of theatre direc...

Voices From Chernobyl reminds us of a largely forgotten disaster and the terrible human cost, a price still being paid today....

James Thierree's latest offering is an another polarising work from theatrical experimentalists Compagnie du Hanneton. Having previously presented work in London in 2007 and 2014, Thierree and co. are making their much anticipated return to Sadler's Wells to captivate and shock a fresh audience; it ...

Butterworth's writing offers an exquisite balance of humour and drama, revelry and mourning, surprise and expectation. It is a masterclass in every aspect of production and performance. It seems as though the Royal Court has once again made history with this incredible, deft creation....

Andy Bewley directs Joe Mackenzie's mostly disappointing but highly energetic adaptation of Shakespeare's tragic tale. Set in a universe where football is almost considered a religion, Romeo and Juliet are young men whose forbidden love threatens the foundation of their two families....

Based on the life and career of cosmetics magnate Helena Rubinstein, John Misto's new play stars Miriam Margolyes and continues a varied season at the Park Theatre. It's a successor of sorts of Ryan Craig's Filthy Business that recently ended its run at Hampstead Theatre, telling the story of a fema...

It was recently announced that Federico Fellini's film masterpiece La Strada has been restored and is set to receive a nationwide reissue, but it's also being given a new life on the stage in this touring production, which captures both the charm and grittiness of the original....

Set in a Nazi-dominated Germany in 1941, Stephen Unwin's debut play is an affecting examination of humanity, hypocrisy, and morality....

In a captivating UK premiere, Sandra is preparing to take her seat on the first day of the Truth and Reconcilliation Commission for Northern Ireland at Stormont, when her estranged sister Teeni bursts in on a wave of racist and expletive-ridden anger. Everything Between Us is David Ireland's award-w...

Billed as a new musical adaptation of Lewis Carroll's beloved books, Wonderland sees Alice as a deflated and disappointed 40 year old, living in a grimy tower block with her teenage daughter Ellie. Upon the unexplained appearance of a white rabbit, they descend, via the tower block lift, into Wonder...

Martin Crimp's 1993 play feels sharply contemporary in this slick revival from Lyndsey Turner, with its layered deconstruction of the way that we treat both art and life as commodities - and how we mistreat one another - opening up industry satire into a far-reaching portrait of social malaise....

Home Truths nine plays paint a picture of chaotic and cruel housing policies that have shafted the poor for decades with little sign of any change coming - and it's also funny, warm and clever!...

If City of Glass was a modern art installation, it would undoubtably be worth five stars. It is one of the most visually impressive productions I have ever seen on a London stage....

Divine Chaos Of Starry Things is so concerned about the politics of revolution, colonialism and feminism that the stuff of drama is lost....

The inaugural production in the refurbished Bush Theatre's new studio space is the latest play from Barney Norris. Directed by Alice Hamilton, it's a searching exploration of loneliness and reunion set against a sympathetically drawn south-of-England backdrop....

The stage adaptation of a second book from the Peter James detective thriller series DS Grace serves as a reminder that not all popular novels transfer seamlessly to the stage....

If there was controversy surrounding the use of light and sound at the Globe Theatre, the opening production of Emma Rice's second and final season as Artistic Director can only fuel the multi-hued fire. Romeo and Juliet directed by ENO's Daniel Kramer is an irreverent feast of colour and music but...

During its celebrations for Canada's 150th birthday, Finborough Theatre sees the premiere of Late Company. Jordan Tennahill's play is a poignant reflection tackling bullying, sexuality, and teenage suicide from the point of view of the ones who survive the victim....

'Everybody wants passion,' says Ivo van Hove in the programme interview for his latest show, but in both tone and aesthetic, his take on this doomed romance is less red-hot fire of ardour, more the cold, grey ash left in the wake of a consuming flame. It's intermittently beautiful and thoughtful, bu...

The Braille Legacy tells the story of Louis Braille's fight for his system that allowed blind people to read by touch - music good, but book and lyrics lack excitement....