Our UK / West End Critics
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Aliya Al-Hassan
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Amber-Rae Stobbs
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Caroline Cronin
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Cheryl Markosky
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Cindy Marcolina
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Debbie Gilpin
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Franco Milazzo
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Gary Naylor
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Kat Mokrynski
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Mica Blackwell
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Vikki Jane Vile
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Review: BBC PROMS: VIVALDI AND BACH, Royal Albert Hall
Once Proms season comes around, there aren’t many better places to be on a Sunday morning than at the Royal Albert Hall. It was a return to more traditional Proms fare this time, with a trip to the 17th and 18th centuries for a selection of mostly Vivaldi and Bach pieces - although the programme a...
Review: DON'T ROCK THE BOAT, The Mill At Sonning
Don’t Rock the Boat tries to be a wild ride down the Thames as the title suggests, but it only lightly bumps into its chaos. The cast make a valiant effort with the material and its set beautifully fits the Mill at Sonning, but its outdated nature makes me question who this play is for in 2025....
Review: BBC PROMS: THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK AND BEYOND WITH SAMARA JOY, Royal Albert Hall
The scheduling of certain Proms seems to be a controversial topic in some quarters, with certain factions expressing a desire for the first week of the season to be entirely classical - and then start dipping into different genres once the dust has settled. That’s not the way things are being done...
Review: ALICE IN WONDERLAND, Marylebone Theatre
Adapted by Penny Farrow based on the novel by Lewis Carroll, Broadway Haus and DEM Productions have conjured up a delightfully imaginative retelling of Alice in Wonderland at the Marylebone Theatre, under the inventive direction of Nate Bertone and the sharp, playful guidance of Associate Director E...
Review: THE SMEDS AND THE SMOOS, The Lyric Theatre
Performed at the Lyric Theatre, The Smeds and the Smoos is a delightful theatrical treat for families, delivering a charming adaptation of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s beloved book.
...
Review: SONGS OF THE BULBUL, Sadler’s Wells East
What did our critic think of SONGS OF THE BULBUL at Sadler’s Wells East?...
Review: MARY POPPINS, Birmingham Hippodrome
What did our critic think of MARY POPPINS at Birmingham Hippodrome?...
Review: ELVIS EVOLUTION, Immerse LDN
So, finally, Elvis Evolution has entered the building. ...
Review: BBC PROMS: FIRST NIGHT OF THE PROMS 2025, Royal Albert Hall
As classical performance continues to wrestle with relevance, accessibility and representation, the Proms are under pressure to lead this change. This opening night offered progress in places, but also showed how much further there is to go....
Review: SUNLAND, Riverside Studios
Evolution has always been seen as a 'necessity'. That for the human race to thrive and survive, we had to constantly be better, be more advanced, create new technology. For the most part, this is true, but as time goes on, the reality begins to set in. The Earth is dying. And humans caused it. SUNLA...
Review: FALSTAFF, Glyndebourne Festival
Adapted from Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, director Richard Jones’s glorious Falstaff makes a welcome return to Glyndebourne, losing none of its charm or deft comedy. It is playful, witty and a pure delight....
Review: SING STREET, Lyric Hammersmith Theatre
What did our critic think of SING STREET at Lyric Hammersmith Theatre?...
Review: THE ESTATE, National Theatre
In Shaan Sahota’s barnstorming National Theatre debut the personal and political are layered on top of each other until they collapse under their collective weight....
Review: FOUR PLAY, King's Head Theatre
Sitting in the grand tradition of the ‘partner swap’ drama, 2015’s Four Play spoke to the LGBTQ+ community post-marriage equality, grappling with the desire to fit in in heteronormative suburbia versus the freedom to explore sexuality in a way that feels authentic. Now, in a new production dir...
Review: POOR CLARE, Orange Tree Theatre
Poor Clare, written by Chiara Atik and directed by Blanche McIntyre, tells the story of how Clare (Arsema Thomas) is influenced by fellow Assisi resident Francis (Freddy Carter) to abandon her life of riches and become devoted to God, founding the Order of Poor Ladies as a discipline of the soon-to-...
Review: THAT BASTARD, PUCCINI!, Park Theatre
Meta comedy never settles on its tone nor its focus, and runs out of steam long before the end...
Review: THE ROYAL BALLET SCHOOL SUMMER PERFORMANCE, Royal Ballet And Opera
Iain Mackay has devised a successful programme which shows the strength and breadth of the school, its current student body and the legacy that underpins the institution as we know it.
...
Review: Michael Sheen stars in NYE, National Theatre
In what feels like something of a Blue Peter moment, here comes a play which the departing Rufus Norris made earlier last year. ...
Review: THE WHITE CHIP, Southwark Playhouse
The recent statistics surrounding alcohol consumption in the UK are frankly staggering. Across the four nations, around 80% of adults are regular drinkers, and a significant number of them drink way above the Chief Medical Officers’ low-risk guidelines. The country’s drinking culture is out of h...
Review: THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, Shakespeare's Globe
Revenge is a dish best served thrice in this staging of the Merry Wives of Windsor....
Review: HERSH DAGMARR: INDEFINITE LEAVE TO REMAIN, Crazy Coqs
With Indefinite Leave To Remain, the singular Hersh Dagmarr lifts and shifts the hits of The Pet Shop Boys into a cabaret setting. It is a curious creature of an evening: part musical theatre, part confessional, and lashings of his rambling yet magnetic dialogue. ...
Review: GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY, The Old Vic
It’s hard to shake the suspicion that this revival of Conor McPherson’s Girl From the North Country is hitching a ride on the gravy train of A Complete Unknown. Forged with songs from Bob Dylan’s back catalogue, it feels less like living, breathing musical theatre that burrows into the heart, ...
Review: NOUGHTS & CROSSES, Regent's Park Open Air Theatre
Malorie Blackman’s Noughts & Crosses has long been something of a YA classic. Rather than dreaming up a sci-fi future, however, this story presents instead an uncanny alternate present – one where discrimination and racial violence are worse than ever, but it's Black people who are the privilege...
Review: 'TILL THE STARS COME DOWN, Theatre Royal Haymarket
There are productions that herald huge amounts of fanfare and and others that creep up and surprise you. Beth Steel's wonderfully human play, 'Till the Stars Come Down, is the latter. A surprise hit at the National Theatre last year, this sharply comic and deeply touching family drama now makes it...
Review: GIANT STEPS, Soho Theatre
Giant Steps is an hour-long improvisational show with a bit of a twist - it’s not just the comedians who are improvising! Along with the four performers, there is also a live jazz band on stage, improvising along with the actors based on suggestions from the audience....
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