UK / WEST END THEATER REVIEWS

As much a comedy of menace as it is a comedy of manners....

James Hyland is Dicken's Fagin, decrepit and distraught, in his cell on the way to the gallows...

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is not an easy play to watch, rather a theatrical storm that must be endured with three contempt-filled acts making up a three and a half hour runtime....

Director Ricky Dukes refocuses the story on the younger characters, exploring their response to the personally catastrophic events in the play. Or so he says. It’s a show sprinkled with fun gimmicks and cool tricks, but it gives a skeletal, feeble, episodic result that completely removes Hamlet fr...

An extraordinary, powerful, moving multimedia work that gives voice to Rosemary Kennedy, denied it for over 60 years....

Backed by an extensive PR campaign that can probably be seen from outer space, George Takei’s Allegiance has finally landed in London. The media attention has been focused on the marquee name attached to this much-anticipated musical, but its political topic is the real talking point here....

A sign-language-speaking gorilla, white nationalists, and Robin Williams. What do they have in common? According to Alex Edelman's Just For Us, they're a lot more similar than one might think....

Somewhere in there is an interesting play waiting to escape and see the light of day....

After a long, hard run of Nutcracker, both London’s premier ballet companies are providing somewhat of a Tchiakovsky exhibition with English National Ballet offering Swan Lake and now the Royal Ballet giving one of their signature works, The Sleeping Beauty, an extended run until June....

After the occasionally muddy narrative in their tired Nutcracker, this is a Swan Lake with clear, emotional storytelling and magical choreography....

After a much-delayed press night when Patsy Ferran stepped in as Blanche DuBois with a few days' notice to replace Lydia Wilson, Rebecca Frecknall's new version of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire has finally opened at London's Almeida Theatre....

This is A Streetcar Named Desire for a new generation. It’s sexy and dangerously seductive, but doesn’t fail to have a firm and uncompromising stance on domestic violence. We’re repulsed by Stanley’s antics, then by Mitch’s. Frecknall’s Streetcar is unmistakably feminist and feminine. Sh...

This may only be 70 minutes, but Brendan Murphy fits an impressive volume of content into his performance. Fast talking, crass and engaging, Murphy emerges in a blast of energy as his version of Spike, a character from popular 1990s show Buffy the Vampire Slayer....

Any one of us could die at any time, with no warning and no reason behind it. This is the heartbreaking truth we grapple with in Tom Ratcliffe’s Wreckage, now running at the Turbine Theatre. ...

Lillian Hellman’s play is a time capsule of American non-interventionism under the guise of a comedy of manners that suddenly becomes a historical thriller....

Masculinity, vulnerability and meaning are neatly entwined in this world premier production of Sam Mcardle’s show, which brings to mind ‘When you durst feel it, then you were a man,’. We ask ourselves the question; should men finally have feelings?...

There’s a new queen in town - wait, make that SIX! The most successful musical in a post-Hamilton theatre world has just received a fresh cast change....

On the Ropes is a play about fighting - in more ways than one. In the first act, it’s about fighting in a very literal sense, tracking the boxing career of Vernon Vanriel. After the interval, however, Vanriel faces a new opponent: the Home Office’s new Windrush legislation. Combining a story tha...

David French’s semi-autobiographical award-winning Canadian classic receives its British premiere 38 years after its debut, but it appears it’s not a timeless play. Much has changed since then and, directed by Peter Kavanagh, Salt-Water Moon comes off as quite the tired shadow of a love story....

What have I just witnessed? That was my overriding thought as I wandered out of the Theatre Royal Brighton, dumbstruck, baffled, fascinated and charmed by this extraordinary production of The Rocky Horror Show. ...

Sold as a curious tale of enchantment, it’s a romantic comedy masquerading as a French pastiche that crosses eras and genres. Translated by Waleed Akhtar, it’s debuting at the theatre’s Downstairs stage with Tom Jackson Greaves at the helm. Unfortunately, this shaky production leaves much to b...

One of my favourite theatrical moments of the year at Theatre Royal Bath was Into the Woods: a trippy version of Stephen Sondheim's musical, thanks to Terry Gilliam's surreal Monty Python-esque imagination. This mind-bending show deserves space in the West End soon....

If 2020 was the year theatre ground to a halt and 2021 was when it nervously found its legs again (only to fall over occasionally), then 2022 was when it blasted back to some kind of normal with many pandemic-delayed shows finally seeing the inside of a venue....

Antic Disposition's A Christmas Carol is as traditional as a roast goose and Christmas pudding. Set in the soaring, wood-panelled splendour of Middle Temple Hall, it is also a most atmospheric theatrical treat....

After Covid dealt a stuttering start to the year, 2022 brought some standout shows and performances. Here are some of our critics' highlights from the past twelve months....