UK / WEST END THEATER REVIEWS

There’s nothing like a good comic horror to keep you warm in the wintertime, but you will find no such thing at Southwark Playhouse. The Grim is a badly paced, maladroit absurdist situational thriller that tries too hard to ease its nonexistent suspense with shallow laughter. Mid-60s, London has b...

The eighth edition of Letters Live once again proved that in an age dominated by instantaneous digital communication, nothing quite matches the resonant power of a well-preserved, handwritten letter. Staged as a dazzling, spontaneous event, the latest instalment brought together a truly eclectic mix...

Here is something no other theatre critic will tell you: music halls are possibly the greatest secret treats in London. Given the choice between, on the one hand, getting a second mortgage so I can sit in a West End theatre with the kind of legroom that Ryanair would consider beyond the pale or, on ...

The Storm Whale arrives at Little Angel Theatre Studios with a gentle sense of wonder which feels perfectly attuned to Benji Davies’ much loved book. This co production with York Theatre Royal, The Marlowe Theatre and Engine House captures the tenderness of the story, while expanding the world wit...

Paddington the Musical arrives at the Savoy Theatre with a heart full of hope and a suitcase packed with marmalade flavoured charm, delivering a joyous celebration of inclusion, diversity and equality in every beat....

After a run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August, Jazz Emu: The Pleasure Is All Yours arrives at Soho Theatre in London. The show heralds the return of “musical meteor” Jazz Emu (AKA Archie Henderson), who has returned after a world tour with one single goal - to satisfy every single audie...

For their Christmas show this year, The Mill at Sonning is putting on My Fair Lady, the 1956 Broadway musical written by Alan Jay Lerner (Lyrics and Book) and Frederick Loewe (Music). For those unfamiliar with the venue, it is an intimate, 217-seat theatre in the semi-round that operates as a dinner...

Touring production wears its heart on its sleeve...

There are some stories that never grow old, and The Sound of Music is definitely one of them. Sixty years after the movie premiered, and sixty-six since the stage show first hit Broadway, this tale of love, family, the healing power of music, and resistance against persecution in 1930s Austria is as...

Considering Ballet Black has been around for 24 years, it seems unbelievable that the current double bill Shadows is also a Sadler's Wells debut. Unfortunately it isn't their strongest work to date, choreographically speaking....

Yes, it’s less than a month until Christmas so time to get stuck into a yuletide favourite – albeit with an immersive theatre/cabaret twist....

Arvind Ethan David’s new spin on The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy has finally beamed itself aboard Riverside Studios, trailing a marketing comet tail long enough to blot out a falling whale....

Tosca in Italian with English surtitles, from £20 in January, is next on this stage...

This is a tale exhilaratingly told, and if it fails it fails for being too inventive, rather than not inventive enough....

What do grief, crime films and doughnuts have in common? Upon first glance very little; however, in Finella Waddilove’s Doughnut Drive they are thrown together in the most unlikely way to create an undeniably hilarious, if dark, comedy. ...

Lovers Actually takes the mick out of everyone's love-hate Christmas film, Love Actually, in a show written by Neil Hurst and Jodie Prenger. Following on the heels of last year's Homo Alone, this show seasons the festive fun with a side of sauce. The musical aspect is fully embraced with lively ...

For many, Christmas cannot begin until The Old Vic is staging Jack Thorne's A Christmas Carol. This year's iteration shows yet again why it is a festive must-see. Brimming with emotion, but never tipping into mawkishness, it will make you laugh, cry and gasp with child-like wonder, no matter what yo...

This David Copperfield is far more than a cheap facsimile of its source material. There is room here for all the observational humour of Dickens’ writing, but also for all the pains and lessons of growing up....

After the show that won him the Edinburgh Comedy Awards Best Newcomer last year, comedian Joe Kent-Walters is back as the Working Men’s Club owner, Frankie Monroe, entertaining audiences with jokes, songs and plenty of interaction. But, there’s a twist - in last year’s show, Frankie was dragge...

The National Theatre offers a truly enchanting festive treat with Ballet Shoes which returns to the Olivier under the confident and imaginative direction of Katy Rudd. Kendall Feaver’s new version of Noel Streatfeild’s beloved novel feels both timeless and refreshingly alive, delivered with inte...

Murder She Didn't Write returns to the Duchess Theatre with another round of improvised mischief. This long running show continues to charm audiences on its tour across the UK, with its origins being an Edinburgh Fringe favourite....

David Kwong loves words the way chefs love food: obsessively, indulgently and with a eagerness to serve ever more and more of their treasured discoveries. In The Enigmatist, his puzzle-box of a show, that affection becomes both the engine and the anchor....

Few Shakespeare plays have received the ‘updated for the current political moment’ treatment more than Julius Caesar. In Petty Men, though, our Roman dictator-for-life is not a Trumpian autocrat, but a BAFTA-winning actor....

Little Angel Theatre once again excel as a leader in early years storytelling with its gentle and beautifully crafted production of Me..., adapted from the much loved book by Emma Dodd and directed by Samantha Lane. Aimed at children aged two to five, the 35 minute show offers an inviting first expe...

Hal Cruttenden is at truly at the top of his game, in his skilled and polished new show Hal Cruttenden: Can Dish It Out But Can’t Take It. The comedy is focused on schadenfreude, in terms of rawness and pain, by being brutally honest about the effects of heartbreak. ...