UK / WEST END THEATER REVIEWS

“This is perhaps a story for all the misfits, all those who have ever felt ‘other’.” Jade Anouka’s debut play tells the story of love, heartbreak, mental health challenges, and fresh starts - it’s (mostly) a monologue, backed by music from Grace Savage, and has previously been produced b...

Ahir Shah: Ends is a fascinating show, but it ends up feeling like more of an aggressive talk than a comedy performance. The comedic moments are brilliant and really let Shah’s sense of humour shine, but I would have liked more of them throughout the show instead of just towards the beginning....

It's no wonder that the Orange Tree Theatre is such a fan of Zoe Cooper. She received critical acclaim with both the beautifully touching Jess And Joe Forever in 2016 and the wonderfully perceptive Out Of Water in 2019 at the venue. There are many similaries here, with Cooper's deft handling of s...

The Holocaust is not an easy subject to tackle. Balancing storytelling without over-indulging in  trauma whilst being respectful is a delicate affair. For every Schindler’s List there are swathes of plays, books, and films that drown themselves in schmaltz. The Most Precious of Goods can be added...

Aaron Kilercioglu's play may, or may not, be an allegory for Turkey's changing state in a changing world...

'Ricky Sim: Coming Out to Dead People (An Asian Queer Story) is a beautifully heartbreaking show that does a wonderful job of toeing the line between grief and humour, giving Sim the chance to make the audience laugh and cry within an hour.'...

Ultimately, John Tothill: The Last Living Libertine is a fascinating, rambly take on not only Catholocism but a range of topics that will have you in stitches. Tothill somehow manages to prove his hypothesis that Catholicism is the same as Acid Techno with a brilliant ending that has the audience me...

Loretta Monaco's play introduces interesting ideas, but lacks the characterisation and dialogue required to build convincing and engaging characters...

Ambergris pits the Jonah and Ahab stories together in what is another moodboard show, one that throws ideas together to see what sticks....

Some can agree that the film took itself seriously to the point of unintentional hilarity, so director Jonathan O'Boyle and co-writers Roger Kumble, Lindsey Rosin and Jordan Ross do the next best thing in adapting it by shifting the tone into campy dark comedy....

Can Bears Ski? explores the experiences of both hearing and Deaf characters and promotes familiarising relevant language such as ‘hearing’, ‘Deaf’, ‘British Sign Language’, ‘fingerspelling’, ‘lipreading’, ‘hearing aid’ – as well as modelling appropriate language and promoti...

Based on very personal experience, S. Asher Gelman’s play off-Broadway hit now comes to London’s Southwark Playhouse. Although polyamory is an initial theme, the play quickly becomes a study of quite a classic love triangle, where a casual physical fling develops into serious emotional involveme...

Dina Ibrahim's play is important and heartfelt, but never establishes a tight grip on the audience's emotions...

25 years on, Strut & Fret revive and update their backstage comedy to winning effect...

Keith Allen and Mica Paris lead a tremendous cast in a musical that deserves a bigger stage...

Directed by Anastasia Bunce, it’s knotty in parts and it partially loses its visual identity halfway through. The eloquent, physical interludes (by movement director Tessa Guerrero) that acted as scene changes and added an extra inch of inventiveness suddenly stop happening in favour of duller in-...

Kenneth MacMillan's Manon is a haunting exploration of desire and sexuality, contrasting pompous extravagance with the poverty of the masses....

All in all, Cowbois isn’t a bad play. It’s a fun and gimmicky queer-affirming semi-comedy that makes for a good night out if you’re willing to close an eye here and there. It’s weird and long, but it means well....

Breath and breathing and important motifs in Kin, Gecko Theatre Company’s new devised show about migration trauma. Performers inhale in unison as moments of respite and exhale in panting desperation. Sharing the humanity of their experience grants them, and us, hope that they are not alone....

“Make a noise if you’ve ever watched porn before!” From the start, you can tell that Martin Urbano: Apology Comeback Tour is going to be a weird one. Indeed, the concept of the show itself is a bit strange - Urbano is playing the role of a cancelled comedian, but he is also playing himself, re...

It’s the classic “opposites attract” story - Max considers himself to be “calm and collected,” while Ivan declares himself to be “warm and clingy,” quite literally the opposite. But, somehow, the two have been “fated to be together” and have been performing as a comedy duo since 20...

Fresh from no fewer than 40 performances of Wayne Eagling’s Nutcracker (a production which now seems to thankfully be going into retirement) English National Ballet, are back less than a week later to round off their Coliseum season, this time it’s Mary Skeaping’s Giselle which they last perfo...

The Royal Opera House’s new production of Elektra could do with an extra pinch of Saltburn-esque depravity....

'You awake to find yourself in a dark room . . .'...

What did our critic think of KIM'S CONVENIENCE at Park TheatreIn July 2018, a little series titled Kim’s Convenience was released internationally on Netflix. ...