UK / WEST END THEATER REVIEWS

Fully Committed was the production that put the derelict chocolate factory back on the map back in 2004. Now as the award winning theatre celebrates 10 years, Becky Mode's New York comedy is back to delight crowds once again....

The autobiographical My Perfect Mind has returned to the Young Vic before embarking on a UK and International tour. Directed by Kathryn Hunter (well-known as the first British actress to play King Lear at the Young Vic) and starring Paul Hunter and veteran actor Edward Petherbridge, it takes the aud...

Cameron Macintosh and Chichester Festival Theatre's production of Barnum debuted at the Curve Theatre, Leicester last night before embarking on a National Tour. The show was seen by nearly 70,000 people during its run in Chichester last year and was critically acclaimed by many throughout its time t...

It feels like all around me, friends are getting married and having babies - in fact I can hardly refresh my Instagram feed without a photo of a smiling/crying/laughing baby appearing on the homepage somewhere....

Gary Naylor sees a magnificently realised black comedy from debutant playwright Chris Urch, one that heralds a major new writer for the English stage....

The London Wonderground transports a piece of the Edinburgh Festival fringe to London's South bank. Miss Behave's Game Show is a raucous take on the late night cabaret genre...

Aatif Nawaz's new show finds humour in the lives led by British Muslims, with their cultural roots in the subcontinent, in multicultural Britain and online. And shows that we all have plenty more in common than may first appear....

A new verbatim play by the writer behind London Road, about the 2011 London riots in Hackney and their aftermath....

John Partridge first came to my attention in the wonderful Drowsy Chaperone back in 2007 although he had had a great two decades previous to this working in musical theatre. Since then his career has rocketed and he is now most commonly and fondly known as Christian Clarke from Eastenders. John has ...

Gary Naylor sees a funny, sad, heartwarming performance that captures the life of Shirley McNamara, the Queen of the Mersey, a character that loomed large in the life of her daughter, Julie, and one now facing the inevitable final chapter of a life very well lived....

Gary Naylor sees a triumphant return to the Queen Elizabeth Hall for The Tiger Lillies, the cult trio led by Martyn Jacques, whose songs about the world that lurks just out of our sight in the dark dangerous shadows, have built a global following....

THE LAST SESSION first opened in 1997 at the 47th Street Theatre. Sitting in one of those audiences was Rob Harris, who was so moved by the show that he made a vow to produce it himself one day. His dream become a reality in 2012, when he produced THE LAST SESSION in London. Now, fans of the musical...

UK editor-in-chief Carrie Dunn enjoys a production of one of her favourite musicals, revived at the Chichester Festival Theatre....

Even as ritual humiliation goes, this is particularly cruel: a group of US marines, in San Francisco for one last night in 1963 before they head to war, initiate a game whereby each must lure the least attractive girl they can find to a party, with money in the pot for whoever brings the 'ugliest' d...

Gary Naylor sees a spectacularly entertaining show in which the laughs and the learning keeps coming and coming and coming - though Cher fans may wish to take a raincheck....

Gary Naylor enjoys an adaptation of a classic that stretches both the running time and the whimsy , but delivers on the spectacle and the humour. Do wrap up warm though!...

Carrie Dunn sees an hour-long encapsulation of the variety of ways in which love makes us foolish...all through the discarded songs of Stephen Sondheim....

Gary Naylor sees a warm and witty slice of London life from a young production company that have all the tools to really go places over the next few years....

The Tudors are always fashionable. From Hilary Mantel's books (and RSC adaptation) to the Philippa Gregory TV series, apparently audiences can't get enough of Henry VIII and his tempestuous family. The monarch at the heart of Shakespeare in Love, of course, is Elizabeth....

There's nothing not to like about The Tiger Who Came To Tea. It's a neat, tried-and-tested adaptation of Judith Kerr's classic children's book. There are cheery, catchy songs, a dollop of audience participation, and it all wraps up in under an hour. Perfect, surely?...

This adaptation keeps all the humour of P G Wodehouse's original books, and creates much of its own. The array of batty characters is brought to life superbly by a new cast in this three-hander farce....

It had been three years in the making when Kristin Chenoweth took the stage at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday for her one night only concert. She was welcomed by thunderous applause, was visibly moved and happy to be there. Over the next 2 hours she took us on a journey through different musical ...

Gary Naylor sees an ambitious new play that gives plenty of laughs, and a few tears too, but never really escapes from the limitations placed on its four characters, who just aren't quite believable enough....

Since becoming Artistic Director of the Old Vic, Kevin Spacey has proven time and time again that he has the knowledge and understanding to constantly provide London theatre-goers with fantastic productions. Yael Farber's adaptation of Arthur Miller's The Crucible is no exception. Though three and a...

Gary Naylor sees a beautiful, horrible, fascinating adaptation of Shakespeare's epic poem, a story of chastity and its destruction and of its consequences in shame and revenge....