UK / WEST END THEATER REVIEWS

In a welcome break from the usual steady stream of pantomimes and children's productions, the New Alexandra Theatre takes a trip back to the Roaring Twenties this Christmas with Chicago. However, similar to many pantos, this production features a star-studded cast, including Hayley Tamaddon, John Pa...

Ibsen's Hedda has been called the female Hamlet and not just because it's a role that every serious actress wants to play. The blank at the heart of her presents a daunting challenge. Why is she so unhappy? Why is she, frankly, such a bitch? The text leaves much unanswered, and every director, every...

The Royal Albert Hall is rapidly becoming synonymous with London's Christmas festivities, even being voted the 'Most Prestigious Christmas Venue' at the Prestigious Star Awards 2016. It continued its seasonal programme last night with a concert from Guy Barker's Big Band, with the help of a number o...

Gary Naylor sees a loyal, committed adaptation of CS Lewis's once celebrated novel that fails to ignite fully as drama, but works well as polemic....

When taking a work as well-known as Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen to the stage, the challenge is how to adapt and present the material in such a way that feels new and exciting....

For UK audiences, Dreamgirls will be more familiar from the critically acclaimed 2006 film, but incredibly, the iconic musical started life on Broadway all the way back in 1981. The UK debut of the stage show has been a long time coming, but is resolutely worth the wait....

Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is one of the most well-known and best-loved stories of the season. Over the years, a number of radio adaptations of it have been broadcast; always faithful to the story and always professional....

James Seabright must be a very busy man at the moment. With numerous productions currently playing across London, including the excellent Transpotting and F**king Men at The Vaults, he now brings Olivier Award-nominated show Potted Panto to the Garrick Theatre for a suitably festive run....

After the success of last year's A Christmas Carol, Kingston's Rose Theatre have again turned to talented Ciaran McConville for their festive show. 2016 sees a festive adaptation of Kenneth Grahame's much-loved children's tale of love and friendship, The Wind In The Willows....

Opening the programme to discover your evening's viewing is set is a psychiatric clinic doesn't especially fill one with hope for an entertaining evening, however Boris Eifman and his chic St Petersburg company delivers an amusing, stylish and original performance in this multilayered story based on...

Wild Honey is Michael Frayn's very funny version of the early Chekhov play alternatively known as The Play without a Name or Platonov....

One of the big theatre stories of 2016 is women reclaiming Shakespeare, from Gillian Bevan's Cymbeline and Michelle Terry's Henry V to Glenda Jackson's Lear and Phyllida Lloyd's landmark all-female trilogy starring Harriet Walter....

For those seeking festive revelry, but with an equally seasonal undertow of quiet melancholy, She Loves Me is the blissful solution. Joe Masteroff, Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick's 1963 musical adaptation of Miklos Laszlo's play Parfumerie, which also inspired the Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan vehicle You've G...

This show is the perfect antidote to the celebrity stuffed pantos offered up by more commercial outfits. The show demonstrates that Christmas shows don't have to be formulaic or even familiar. They can be wonderfully inventive pieces of storytelling every bit as worthy as the rest of the years progr...

After a 2016 programme that included Blue/Orange and Yerma, the first offering in the Young Vic's new season is a revival of George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart's Once in a Lifetime, which also marks comedian Harry Enfield's stage debut....

Anthony Rapp graces the intimately beautiful stage of the St. James Theatre's studio for a series of live concerts. Last seen on the American tour of If/Then (music by Tom Kitt, book and lyrics by Bryan Yorkley, and nominated for two Tony Awards), Rapp takes his rapt audiences on a journey made of s...

The famous story of the Prince of Denmark follows Hamlet on his murderous quest to avenge the death of his father. The enduring appeal of Shakespeare's tragedy is the writer's skill in retaining mystery about the eponymous protagonist. He is an enigma and audiences' perceptions of him always var...

J.M. Barrie's classic story about the boy who never grows up is always a popular production at Christmas, with its magical plot, engaging characters and depiction of the melancholic journey through adolescence, certain to ensure a warm and magical sentiment in readiness for the festive season....

Gary Naylor sees a show that delivers traditional Christmas laughs and spectacle from the modern master of the form, writer Eric Potts....

Gary Naylor sees a new play about an old problem turning up in new forms - loneliness. This time in the 21st century....

Jest End has returned to London's Waterloo East Theatre one year on from its most recent run at the venue. Lovingly pointing the finger at the West End's latest shows, best-loved stars and recent hot topics, Jest End is London's answer to off-Broadway sensation Forbidden Broadway....

Gary Naylor sees an innovative and thought-provoking play from South America that has plenty to say about fathers, and about theatre too....

What better stocking filler could there be than the newest release from SimG Records? In September this year, Robert J Sherman's new musical comedy Bumblescratch received a charity concert at the Adelphi Theatre in London, starring West End performers Darren Day, Jessica Martin, Michael Xavier and I...

Originally commissioned by the National Theatre two years ago, Bryony Lavery's adaptation of Treasure Island swings into the Birmingham Rep for a lengthy Christmas run. This classic tale of adventure, buried treasure and dastardly pirates follows Jim Hawkins on a voyage to find the lost treasure of ...

Two Bit Classics, Joannah Tincey and Nick Underwood have brought their successful touring two-actor production of Pride & Prejudice to London. Through a mixture of dialogue and third-person narrative, Tincey and Underwood inhabit all the characters of Jane Austen's beloved novel, which means quic...