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Aliya Al-Hassan
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Amber-Rae Stobbs
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Caroline Cronin
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Cheryl Markosky
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Cindy Marcolina
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Debbie Gilpin
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Franco Milazzo
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Gary Naylor
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Kat Mokrynski
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Mica Blackwell
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Michael Higgs
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Vikki Jane Vile
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Review: MRS PRESIDENT, Charing Cross Theatre
In Mrs President, an overuse of technical gimmicks reveals the lack of a cohesive, structured script. Mrs President is ultimately a frustrating and disjointed experience, with little insight into the woman it wishes to rehabilitate. In creating the famous photographs of Mary Lincoln, almost exactl...
Review: MY LIFE WITH KENNETH WILLIAMS, Circle and Star Theatre
Kenneth Williams brought back to life, tics and torments intact....
Review: CABLE STREET, Marylebone Theatre
October 1936, Oswald Mosley and the British Union of Fascists march on East London. When they reach Cable Street, a stone’s throw from Whitechapel, they find that its people have gathered in a united front against fascism. British, Irish, Jewish, and communists are blocking the road, ready to figh...
Review: JO - THE LITTLE WOMEN MUSICAL IN CONCERT, Theatre Royal Drury Lane
Is there a story more universally connected to the experience of girlhood than Little Women? Louisa May Alcott’s 1868 coming-of-age novel is a beloved read across the world, with its descriptions of sisterly devotion, struggle, love, and loss. The March sisters - Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy - have wove...
Review: ASYLUM KING, Collective Theatre
It was probably a dark, rainy night when Francesca Marlowe came across the mysterious case of the dead asylum seeker. Plumes of vape smoke flowing from her nostrils, she turns the facts over in her head. The man had not been in the country long, or at least not long enough to accumulate deadly enemi...
Review: HMS Pinafore, London Coliseum
A revival of Cal McCrystal’s 2021 production, HMS Pinafore at the London Coliseum charms with wit, a stunning cast, and gorgeous Victorian designs....
Review: EMBRACE, The Hope Theatre
For a first-time production to have this level of professionalism and creative mastery within the text, Glitter Bloke Productions ought to be very proud. The moments of humour blend perfectly with those of the sombre ones. But most importantly, the cast are having fun. You can see by watching them ...
Review: GUESS HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU?, Royal Court Theatre
What would you do if the results of your 20-week pregnancy scan were not what you were expecting? Would you continue with the pregnancy and adapt to the serious additional needs your baby is likely to have, or could you take the decision to have a termination? That is the choice facing Rosie Sheehy ...
Review: BEAUTIFUL LITTLE FOOL, Southwark Playhouse Borough
There is something that remains so alluring about the chaotic and ultimately tragic lives of F Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. The booze, the breakdowns, not to mention the immense talent. Michael Greif's new musical, Beautiful Little Fool, tells their tempestuous story from the perspective of their ad...
Review: A GRAIN OF SAND, Arcola Theatre
Since the 7th of October 2023 nearly 20000 children have been killed in Gaza. This number doesn’t include the kids who are still buried under the debris, or maimed by the bombs, or missing. Israel’s strikes on the innocent are ongoing, even after the so-called ceasefire came into action last yea...
Review: PIERRE NOVELLIE: YOU SIT THERE, I’LL STAND HERE, Soho Theatre
What do World War II, dishwashers and beef have in common? They all play an important role in Pierre Novellie’s newest hour of comedy, Pierre Novellie: You Sit There, I’ll Stand Here. The show has a short and sweet description that tells it exactly like it is - “It's time for Pierre to do stan...
Review: ROTUS: RECEPTIONIST OF THE UNITED STATES, Park Theatre
MAGA womanhood is a curious paradox, observed with interest across the pond after a third of women under 30 voted for Trump in 2024. How can so many women not only tolerate but actively promote policies that seek to harm them, and how can the general public recognise their grift for what it is?...
Review: I DO, Malmaison Hotel
Theatre has to work extra hard in January to get people away from cosy duvets and into venues. Thankfully, Dante or Die’s I Do (created by Daphna Attias and Terry O’Donovan) has a doozie of a premise....
Review: SAFE HAVEN, Arcola Theatre
The story of how an international military effort was cobbled together at the last minute to save Kurdish lives in the afternath of The Gulf War...
Review: WOOLF WORKS, Royal Ballet And Opera
Sir Wayne McGregor is a titan of the dance world - and a divisive one. For some he's the next Messiah, for others, the Emperor's new clothes. Normally I'm veering towards the latter, but his 2015 triptych Woolf Works is perhaps his most successful work to date.
...
Review: WHAT'S WRONG WITH BENNY HILL?, White Bear Theatre
The sad end and glorious high points of the still much-loved cheeky chappie are explored in a worthy two-hander...
Review: AKRAM KHAN'S GISELLE, London Coliseum
It’s only four days since the sugar rush of Aaron S. Watkin’s Nutcracker wrapped up a run of forty performances. Frothy and colourful, it is in stark contrast to Akram Khan’s Giselle...
Review: GERRY & SEWELL, Aldwych Theatre
Who gets to decide where, or what, ‘home’ is? For many, it’s a place: the town or city you were born in; the destination you’ve always felt drawn to, regardless of the reason; or maybe it’s a building, somewhere you feel your safest. It’s to no one's surprise that when you ask a Geord...
Review: THE OLIVE BOY, Southwark Playhouse
Life doesn’t stop when 15-year-old Ollie’s mum dies suddenly. Ollie Maddigan’s autobiographical one-man play returns to London after a shower of praise around the country. The Olive Boy tells the story of a young boy attempting to navigate grief and an estranged father against a tsunami of ado...
Review: ALREADY PERFECT, King's Head Theatre
Haven’t we all wanted to have a chat with our inner child at some point? And what if the inner child is not quite as faultless and innocent as we may think?...
Review: OUR AMERICAN QUEEN, Bridewell Theatre
The stage is immediately set for a confrontation. We the audience are looking down the length of a Victorian dining table, lit from beneath, poised perfectly for domestic rows to erupt before the meal is even served....
Review: CIRQUE DU SOLEIL: OVO, Royal Albert Hall
Let’s get the essentials out of the way. Ovo — Portuguese for “egg” — catapults you into a bug-infested universe where creepy-crawlies are given the Cirque du Soleil treatment as they jump, flip, dance and contort around a giant inflatable egg. The oval centrepiece is about 28 feet wide an...
Review Roundup: Billy Crudup and Denise Gough in HIGH NOON
Set in the American West of the 1800s, High Noon rides on themes as relevant now as they were then. Courage vs. Cowardice. Justice vs. Peace. Duty vs. Desire. And at its heart, is the bond between Will Kane and Amy Fowler – a love tested by impossible choices as the clock ticks down to the return ...
Review: HIGH NOON starring Billy Crudup, Harold Pinter Theatre
Denise Gough and Rosa Salazar also excel in unexpectedly deeply moving stage version of the much-loved movie...
Review: LA TRAVIATA, Royal Ballet And Opera
Opera as a whole may be too reliant on museum pieces, on endless identikit revivals designed to secure bums on seats. But in the case of Richard Eyre’s 1994 La traviata, the old adage might be true: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it....
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