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Aliya Al-Hassan
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Review: MISS I-DOLL, The Other Palace
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,...
Review: CINDERELLA, Birmingham Hippodrome
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...
Review: BACKSTROKE, Starring Tamsin Greig
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....
Review: BIRDBOY, Sadler's Wells
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...
Review: LYNN FACES, New Diorama Theatre
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...
Review: OTHERLAND, Almeida Theatre
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....
Review: MURDER ON THE MIDNIGHT EXPRESS, Six by Nico
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....
Review: LIGHT OF PASSAGE, Royal Ballet And Opera
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...
Review Roundup: Jamie Lloyd's MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING at Theatre Royal Drury Lane
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?...
Review: KENREX, Southwark Playhouse
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....
Review: MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, Theatre Royal Drury Lane
After a rather muted reception of The Tempest, fans of director Jamie Lloyd’s work can breathe a sigh of relief. It seems that he has discovered both fun and colour in this brilliant and bold version of Much Ado About Nothing starring Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell....
Review Roundup: Jonathan Bailey in RICHARD II - What did the Critics Think?
Richard II is played by Jonathan Bailey, whose past work includes Bridgerton, Fellow Travellers, Cassio in Nicholas Hytner’s National Theatre production of Othello and Edgar to Ian McKellen’s King Lear. He has also won an Olivier Award for his role of Jamie in Company and is Fiyero in the Wicked...
Review: EAST IS SOUTH, Hampstead Theatre
AI and ChatGPT are yesterday’s news but artificial general intelligence - and the very existential threat it presents - may very well be tomorrow’s....
Review: THE SHARK IS BROKEN, Richmond Theatre
The premise of The Shark is Broken is deceptively simple; three men in a boat, waiting and talking. We meet the cast of a new film in 1974 when Bruce the mechanical shark, necessary for the whole shoot, is indeed broken. Robert Shaw, Roy Scheider, and Richard Dreyfuss would go on to star in the icon...
Review: JORDAN BROOKES: FONTANELLE, Soho Theatre
As someone with a love for musicals and comedy who grew up with an odd fascination around the Titanic and its tragic end, you can only imagine the excitement I felt seeing the press release for Jordan Brookes: Fontanelle. A comedy looking at the commodification of the Titanic that also has some musi...
Review: WAITRESS: THE MUSICAL, National Theatre At Home
Sara Bareilles writes the songs and sings them in a production brought to the screen for the first time...
Review: STALLED, King's Head Theatre
Set in a corporate building’s executive ladies’ room in Seattle and with its tagline promising us a story of “holding on, letting go and everything in between”, Liesl Wilke’s new musical Stalled makes its world premiere at Kings Head Theatre....
Review: MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS, London Coliseum
And so to the final new production of English National Opera’s season; Mary, Queen of Scots, directed by Stewart Laing and conducted by Joana Carneiro. Scottish composer Thea Musgrave’s opera was last heard in London at Sadler’s Wells back in 1980, after premiering in Edinburgh in 1977, with ...
Review: 855-FOR-TRUTH, Hope Theatre
Super play that creates a fragile world between two people...
Review: VOLLMOND, Sadler's Wells
Desperation, desire and dance in a drowned world...
Review: COUNT DYKULA, Soho Theatre
Airlock Theatre has returned to Soho Theatre with their “third big queer musical extravaganza” - Count Dykula. Written and performed by Eleanor Colville, Rosanna Suppa and Robbie Taylor Hunt, the show tells the story of the titular Count Dykula (Suppa), a butch vampire who simply wants to live h...
Review: RICHARD II, Starring Jonathan Bailey
A nation in need, an unsuitable king, banishments, murders, attempted coups. Richard II has it all and so does Jonathan Bailey. He might be dancing through Hollywood and hanging out with the biggest celebs, but he proves that he’s still one of us with this triumphant return to the stage....
Review: THE PASSENGER, Finborough Theatre
Ensemble work tells an important story, but too quickly and too loudly for its full horror to sink in...
Review Roundup: Mike Bartlett's UNICORN Canters Into The West End
Unicorn is Mike Bartlett's explicit, funny and provocative new play, directed by James Macdonald, starring Nicola Walker, Stephen Mangan and Erin Doherty. What did the critics think?...
Review: UNICORN, Garrick Theatre
You would think that Nicola Walker and Stephen Mangan had had enough of acting roles surrounding marital discord. In Abi Morgan's hugely popular TV series The Split, the pair have been up and down on the rollercoaster of marriage for years. Now reunited on stage, alongside Erin Doherty, for Mike B...
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