UK / WEST END THEATER REVIEWS

Based on the 1948 film of the same name, starring Moira Shearer, Matthew Bourne's production of The Red Shoes tells the story of ballerina Victoria Page and her tragic struggle between love and duty. Both the film and Matthew Bourne's production are inspired by Han Christian Andersen's fairytale of ...

This one-off cinema presentation is a great way to see Newsies The Broadway Musical and get a feel for what it's like to be in a big New York audience....

Following a stint at London's Park Theatre and a UK tour, the revival production of Mart Crowley's The Boys in the Band has a brief run on the West End; it takes over from Dead Funny in the Vaudeville prior to Stepping Out. Revolutionary when it first premiered on Broadway in 1968, it still has the ...

This is pure titular titillation - a strategy that backfires with this dated, laboured and distinctly unsexy piece. 'Serious' writer Olivia (Emilia Fox) at one point bemoans the fact that her failed first novel was falsely marketed as a chick-lit romp, and here too there's a mismatch between erotic ...

Run The Beast Down creates a world collapsing psychologically and socially as the foxes, real and metaphorical, close in on Charlie....

It's a common complaint that as you get older, you start to become invisible to others. This is compounded further if you are an actress over a certain age. The recent performances of actresses such as Glenda Jackson as the titular role in King Lear have highlighted even more that there is dearth of...

Drake's Dream enjoyed a limited run at London's Shaftesbury Theatre in the late 1970's following its earlier opening at the Connaught Theatre in Worthing. It is a biographical musical based on Sir Francis Drake's iconic sail around the world during the 16th century and in 1977, was commemorating his...

Contemporary and hard-hitting, Alex MacKeith's debut, School Play, doesn't quite add up to the sum of its parts....

Out goes the American Dream, and in its place is the Arabian Dream - but is everything as perfect as it seems? Carmen Nasr's Dubailand, currently playing in rep with Run The Beast at Finborough Theatre, attempts to look behind the glossy brochures at the human stories behind the city of Dubai....

Winner of six Tony Awards, including best musical, Thoroughly Modern Millie is the delightful smash hit comedy set in New York in 1922, and based on the award-winning film....

Impressively designed in a wonderful space, Theatre Lab Company's Salome isn't quite compelling enough as entertainment nor thought-provoking enough as polemic....

With an established tradition for producing plays set in memorable venues, Antic Disposition returns with its production of Henry V, performed in eight cathedrals around the country....

'I give you truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion,' declares Tom Wingfield, the narrator of Tennessee Williams's exquisite memory play. Director John Tiffany has proved gloriously adept at handling both sides of the equation in the magical trick-filled yet emotionally authentic Harry Potter and...

Philip Ridley's widely acclaimed 1991 play has been revived by Jamie Lloyd, and is back in its native East End for a limited run in conjunction with its partner production Killer. In a change from Lloyd's usual big, brash West End style, The Pitchfork Disney is being played in the basement of Shored...

The return of Jonathan Miller's brilliant Mafioso take on Verdi's Rigoletto is incredibly welcome after the awkward and confusing version that last appeared at the ENO in 2014. The original production directed by Miller premiered back in 1982, but still feels as sharp and slick as ever....

Gary Naylor sees a new adaptation of an old favourite that hits the mark with broad appeal, plenty of laughs and fine songs....

Set in a trendy warehouse flat in Peckham, What's In A Name follows the ups and downs of a friendly dinner party. Ill-timed jokes, secrets long hidden and a clash of ideologies take place amidst the backdrop of a familiar setting of cheap rose and the cries of children interrupting adult conversatio...

Once again, the tiny Jermyn Street Theatre is home to a scarily relevant production. In a political climate inhabited by immeasurable dangers for women (but then again, when has it not been like that?), Cautionary Tales for Daughters is mandatory viewing for everyone....

John Webster is not what you could ever describe as a subtle writer. His bloody themes of lust, revenge and tragedy are overt and unflinching. The White Devil is based on an extraordinary true-life story in the Venetian court, where Duke Bracciano decides to seduce Vittoria with the help of her brot...

Gary Naylor sees a play that examines the failures of the social experiment of Skelmersdale, a 60s council mega estate stuck between Liverpool and Wigan...

Gary Naylor sees an award-winning show get a deserved transfer to the West End where it bubbles with laughs and some hard edged observations of how we live today....

Maury Yeston, Peter Stone & Thomas Meehan's latest show to hit the stage, continuing Thom Southerland's season at Charing Cross, is a musical adaptation of the old Italian play La Morte In Vacanza. With echoes of The Phantom of the Opera in story and music, it stands out in the current crop of new m...

Gary Naylor sees an extraordinary hour of storytelling that releases the human spirit from its physical incarceration....

Gary Naylor sees a comedy that lacks the pace and focus it needs to realise its potential....

Gary Naylor sees a wonderfully funny farce blessed with strong performances and a script that packs a punch along with the punchlines....