UK / WEST END THEATER REVIEWS

The trend for stage adaptations of already popular material shows no sign of relenting, as a musical version of everyone’s favourite autumn comfort watching comes to the West End. It transfers following a successful run at the Cheltenham Everyman last summer, and stars Haydn Gwynne and John Owen-J...

The Grammy Award-winning soundtrack was the film’s vehicle and remains indisputably good. The stage musical sensibly chooses to pivot the focus to the music, but the result is more like a concert of the Houston’s hits, with a paper-thin and often laughable stalker story thrown in....

When Coppelius asks Swanhilda “do you derive more pleasure from running your finger along your lover’s skin or across the glass surface of your phone?”, Coppélia holds a brutal mirror up to modern society in a way no ballet has for quite some time....

Diverting comedy that never strays too far from some well-trodden paths...

Brazen experimentalism leans into performance art and blurs the lines of form and style with a non-narrative approach. They challenge the status quo chest first, challenging the very concept of a play to introduce ideas like naked existentialism, romantic disillusionment, unilateral desire, gender e...

A bold and accessible Merchant that commits to exposing the antisemitism that suffuses the play...

A perplexing romanticisation of poverty and class divide with a stunning central performance by Jacob Wayne-O’Neill....

Unfortunately for writer Amalia Kontesi, this isn’t a great political play nor an exciting romantic drama....

This new production proves that Mike Leigh's classic black comedy is still as sharp and devastating as ever...

Featuring its ex-Principal Dancer Alessandra Ferri, the Royal Ballet revives its epic Woolf Works....

Such a lot of fun!...

Directed by VAULT Festival’s Head of Programming Bec Martin in her directorial debut, the play is dark in humour but not in atmosphere. The direct address establishes an immediate personal rapport and, by the end of it, you’ll wish you had a Katie Arnstein in your life....

Bebe Sanders’ latest play is a naturally flowing monologue that ambles comedy, satire, brutal honesty, and allegory. She is effortlessly funny in a relatable tale about burnout and millennial despair....

There’s been much excitement about the West End transfer of Daniel Fish’s production of Oklahoma! Following a successful run on Broadway it was inevitable that the West End would be its next stop....

Willy Russell's Shirley Valentine is nearly forty years old and, despite being firmly set in the 1980's, its issues of loneliness, bravery and the need for personal fulfilment still resonate deeply....

Metaphysical meandering comes at an opportunity cost...

Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler has been a vehicle for many actresses to show off their dramatic chops. But when you have Diana Rigg, Ingrid Bergman and Ruth Wilson previously inhabit the titular role, it’s easy to see why. Often dubbed “the female Hamlet,” Ibsen’s titular story breathes new l...

Stepping into the VOID (a literal shipping container) for Love In is like entering another world. Once the metal door opens and you are greeted by your host, the Lover (Amanda Grace), in a gorgeous sunflower dress, you forget the outside world of Waterloo with its loud bars and graffiti....

Verse and music enhances a production that straddles millennia...

Beresford-Knox introduces a cunning monarch with a steely gaze and flawless posture. Portrayed by Frankie Hyde-Peace in a magnificent performance, Mary owns a regal poise. She rarely explodes, but when she does, it’s with composure and intention. Joined by Kelvin Giles as the Archbishop, she boast...

Family memory is weaponised in this grime lined new production of Enda Walsh's 2006 black comedy...

Taking us from age 25 to death, this is a feat of theatre that captures the full human experience, presenting the highs and lows with remarkable honesty and warmth. You’ll feel joy, grief, sorrow, nostalgia, and every other emotion in Haley McGee’s magical solo show....

Following up Value Engineering, Richard Norton-Taylor and Nicolas Kent once more let the evidence speak for itself in a piece of verbatim theatre that still manages to shock us...

People get very uncomfortable around death. It’s become this taboo of sorts when it’s just how life works. Leoni Amandin takes an original approach to the matter in an empathetic, surprisingly educational, funny celebration of mortality....

Created alongside Susannah Bramwell and Nina Fidderman (respectively credited as creative producer and associate artist), Right Of Way is emotionally intelligent and poignant. It straddles the line between poetry and theatre in an exquisite exploration of the “landscape of grief”. Bowden’s per...