UK / WEST END THEATER REVIEWS

Legendary stage and screen actor Brian Cox stars as Johann Sebastian Bach in Oliver Cotton’s new play, The Score, originally presented at the Theatre Royal Bath....

A work that uses the darkest of dark sets to shed light on the possibilities inherent in creative work, right here, right now...

Michael Abbensetts was the first Black writer to have a series commissioned by the BBC: the groundbreaking Empire Road, which had an almost entirely Black cast and crew. The Guyanese writer's work has been largely forgotten, so it seems appropriate that the National Theatre, with its important Blac...

Marnie never chose to be a mum. She loves her 4-year-old and would die for him, but he’s not what she expected him to be. When she’s filmed calling him a see-you-next-Tuesday on a plane back from Dubai, the video immediately goes viral. With her lowest moment immortalised for everybody in the wo...

Ibsen's classic tale of the issues surrounding a mother's responsibilities comes to South London...

Direct from a sell-out run at Edinburgh Fringe Festival, The Last Laugh is a brand-new laugh-a-minute play which re-imagines the lives of three of Britain's all-time greatest comedy heroes – Tommy Cooper, Eric Morecambe and Bob Monkhouse....

Homage to much-loved comedians and their deceptively dangerous art...

“Sieged land besieges you” Gazan mother Mariam confides in us in A Knock On the Roof. Her strained humanity is splayed front and centre of Khawla Ibraheem’s psychologically wrenching one woman show....

An animated revival of Adele Thomas’s 2023 production, Il Trovatore strays from realism and instead focuses on a symbolic reading of this dark and gritty opera. With macabre medieval costumes, eery effects and a brilliant cast, it’s an unnerving experience....

Transferring from a successful run in Bath a few years ago, Oliver Cotton wants to marry politics and art to work his way up to the encounter between an ageing Johann Sebastian Bach and Frederick II of Prussia. The marketing makes it out to be an explosive meeting between church and state, between a...

There’s nothing better than theatre that truly surprises you. While Cruel Intentions didn’t teach me anything new about the world around us, it certainly advocates for the place of Jukebox musicals within the theatre landscape. If nothing else, book a ticket to see some top-class performers belt...

In something of a quiet revolution, Phantom Peak has clambered its way to join the best atop the immersive theatre pile - an impression that its latest season fails to dismiss....

How many ways can you re-tell Jane Austen? Isobel McArthur continues to prove it is more than possible to stage a show bursting with silliness, satire and the sharpest wit without losing the essence of Austen's beloved work....

What do Shakespeare and James Cameron have in common? Before Rupert Goold took hold of the Bard’s tragic masterpiece, the answer would have been ‘nothing’. The soon-to-be artistic director of the Old Vic returns to the Royal Shakespeare Company after 14 years to offer a blockbuster Hamlet. Els...

If ever a show was deserving of an exclamation mark, it is the crash-bang-bang-bang-wallop Trash!...

Entertainment is rotten business. Never mind all the allegations against big (normally male) names that regularly appear on our screens, superstardom is a road paved with dubious morals and forced subduedness. From Demi Lovato to Miley Cyrus, from One Direction to Boyzone, regardless of your gender,...

Sir David Bintley’s 2010 production of Cinderella has been long overdue an outing, and based on Wednesday’s opening night at Birmingham Hippodrome it is worth the wait. Thanks to Birmingham Royal Ballet’s fundraising efforts, the work now returns refreshed with restored costumes and a dazzling...

Cycles of fractured motherhood spin and splinter across generations in Anna Mackmin’s new play. But even with polyphonic performances from veteran thesps Tamsin Grieg and Celia Imre, both at the top of their game, this bittersweet melodrama doesn’t hit as hard as it could....

February 2025 is the inaugural month of Sadler’s Wells East, London’s newest dance house with a 550-seat theatre, six dance studios, and a public performance space all under one roof. Dance has found a new home in East Bank, Stratford/London’s latest cultural and educational district, and Iri...

In an era where nostalgia often serves as a mere backdrop, Lynn Faces delivers a sharper perspective, wielding both comedy and commentary with remarkable precision. Running since 2023, this production masterfully interweaves punk aesthetics with feminist discourse, creating a theatrical experience t...

With a dream-like blend of tender poetry and pulsating humanity Chris Bush has established herself as one of the UK’s most erudite and important writers....

Word on the street is that there’s a new murder mystery adventure in town so, after putting on my metaphorical deerstalker and hoicking the collar of my coat up, I took a walk down to the mean streets of, er, Canary Wharf....

Crystal Pite’s deeply moving work has themes of safe passage, displacement, community and mortality. Light of Passage, taken as a whole work with the three sections together, builds into a cohesive whole on the theme of who we are, where we are going, and what we feel. Although there are moments...

Tom Hiddleston is Benedick and Hayley Atwell is Beatrice. Two of their generation’s finest actors collaborate with director Jamie Lloyd again in this savagely funny and beautifully tender battle of wits. Much Ado About Nothing is now open at Theatre Royal Drury Lane. What did the critics think?...

In a vigorous virtuoso performance that demands to be seen, Jack Holden brings to exhilarating life a true-life crime story from half a century ago....