UK / WEST END THEATER REVIEWS

Would you undergo a procedure that would easily and painlessly grant you to live eternally? Writer Emma Hemingford theorises a future where the extension of life has become as normal as getting Botox. But, unlike plastic surgery, the practice raises ethical and social issues. The benefits span protr...

Part-nostalgia, part-reclaiming under-represented lives, this one-woman show, transferring from Edinburgh, is a delight...

I think Jez Butterworth must love fishing, as his 2012 play The River spends quite a lot of the time talking about the intricacies of the pastime. If one doesn't partake it can make the text a little monotonous at times…but of course there's more to take from the overall experience. ...

Tim Edge’s sophomore project is described as a nail-biting show that uncovers the dark truths of vicious competition and ferocious career moves. The production over-promises and under-delivers. It’s not only plagued by a debilitating case of women-written-by-a-man, it’s also predictable and fo...

Beyond its simple gimmick, White Rabbit Red Rabbit remains a refreshingly authentic piece of theatre in a time when even the most improvised works have an element of rehearsal....

Touring production will pull in fans of the book, but needs to find something more to say if it is to convert those new to the story. See what our critic thought of the production. ...

One person shows aren't easy things to do, and the Theatre Royal Drury Lane is a big space to fill, so Maria Caruso has all the cards stacked against her for her new solo performance Incarnation. ...

**** PORT CITY SIGNATURE at The Hope Theatre is a timeless, tense and tenacious tale of seaside noir with a strong cast and playful thrills ...

Bold Anglo-Japanese production fizzles out when it needs to take off like a rocket writes BWW's critic. ...

'The tempest in my mind doth from my senses take all feeling else, save what beats there. Filial ingratitude!' Queenie Mukherjee has always been the Bengali matriarch to end all Bengali matriarchs, except recently her children have started to notice the odd slip: a burnt pan here, a wrong date there...

The Irish are renowned for good story telling. From James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, Samuel Beckett and George Bernard Shaw, to simply a good yarn over a pint in a pub. In a long line of cracking good tales, you couldn't get much better than the new immersive revival of Marie Jones' tragicomedy Stones in H...

If Roots is the demure first part of the Almeida’s “Angry and Young” season, Look Back in Anger is the explosive finale. How could it not be when the human flamethrower Jimmy Porter is the burning star at the centre of its orbit?...

The Almeida’s ”Angry and Young” season is a stroke of curatorial brilliance. Arnold Wesker’s 1958 Roots and John Osborne’s 1956 Look back in Anger face off, a roaring lion in one corner, a growling tiger in the other....

'The quality of mercy is not strained; it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath.' Charlotte Jones’ new play delves into a curious pocket of showbiz history, with Michael Havers QC at the centre of it all. Fresh from a momentous victory, he is personally selected by The Rol...

Tom Cruise made a surprise appearance at a screening of his recent hit Top Gun: Maverick, screened at the Royal Albert Hall as part of their Films In Concert series and BroadwayWorld's critic was there.. ...

Euripides in W6? A distressingly close fit....

The Royal Ballet 24/25 season opened on September 28 with Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. When first created in 2011 the ballet was made up of two acts, by 2012 Wheeldon had reworked things into three and this is what we find in the 2024 revival. See what our critic thin...

In two unsettling and sensationally conceptualised acts, the play starkly reminds us of what we stand to lose when progress overshadows our most vital connections....

Annilese Miskimmon reimagines the tragic tale against the backdrop of a convent in 1960s Ireland in an unsettling production with some outstanding performers that combine with Puccini's haunting score in a compelling production....

Charles Mingus originally intended for his iconic 1963 jazz album The Black Saint and The Sinner Lady to be accompanied by dancers and, thanks to performance company Clod Ensemble and the Nu Civilisation Orchestra, it becomes the inspiration for a vibrant and inclusive show....

A single house in the Middle East is the focal point in this stage adaption of the Israeli-French filmmaker’s documentary trilogy from La Colline - Théâtre National. Borders, identities, geographies, cultures and people change, and yet its four walls remain the same....

John Lithgow impresses as Roald Dahl in an unconvincing drama that is unlikely to change many minds...

Sir Julian Twombley is in hot water when it’s discovered that his family has been living way beyond his House of Commons’ wages. This isn’t the latest front page of a Daily Mail-made political attack, it’s the premise of one of Arthur Wing Pinero’s later comedies. Though Victorian farce is...

Have you ever been sitting on a stool on a stage, being asked to load a confetti cannon with five containers, one of which containing push pins, that will be shot into the unguarded face of a drag queen? Not many will be able to say they have, but those who attend Ginger Johnson Blows Off! may have ...

Describing a Blue Man Group show after just leaving one to a person who has never seen them may feel like sticking jelly to a wall: messy, futile and you might be feeling a bit sticky. ...