53TWO

by Franco Milazzo - May 21, 2026

At this point in the history of humanity, a ballet translated from screen to stage or built around a real person is more likely to raise eyebrows than expectations. That’s not to say they have a uniform quality - Rambert’s Peaky Blinders: The Redemption Of Thomas Shelby blew the roof off Sadler�...

by Clementine Scott - May 20, 2026

Despite her relative unpopularity within her lifetime, Barbara Pym always excelled at plumbing the depths in the lives of desperately ordinary people. In her 1977 novel Quartet in Autumn, she is concerned with those who live their lives waiting for something to happen, and what happens when that som...

by Clementine Scott - May 19, 2026

Rosanna Vize’s set for the world premiere of Care is sterile, harshly lit and unromantic. Like Alexander Zeldin’s script, it is almost mundane in its naturalism, yet unflinching in how it approaches its subject: life in a care home, both for the elderly residents and for those who care for them....

by Aliya Al-Hassan - May 20, 2026

Author John Le Carré famously banned stage versions of his work, and he may well have felt quietly vindicated with his decision having seen David Eldridge's adaptation of his third book, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold. Jeremy Herrin directs a cinematic and darkly-tinged production that ends u...

by Franco Milazzo - May 18, 2026

Drummers are a particular breed. Keith Moon of The Who famously drove a limousine into a swimming pool during his 21st birthday party. Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham and Motley Crue’s Tommy Lee both engaged in hotel debauchery: Bonham rode motorcycles along corridors while Lee launched fireworks fro...

by Christiana Rose - May 19, 2026

A Glimmer Daze Gambit by Revel Puck Circus is a dazzling celebration of hope, community and the joy found in imperfection. Attending the final performance of its two week run, the atmosphere was already one of success with a sold out Big Top filled with anticipation and excitement. What followed was...

by Aliya Al-Hassan - May 19, 2026

It's nearly twenty years since Daniel Radcliffe first tried to throw off the Harry Potter shackles in the 2007 version of Peter Shaffer’s 1973 play Equus. Now director Lindsay Posner has revived Shaffer's deeply traumatic story about the fluctuating relationship between a psychiatrist, Dr Dysart, ...

by Gary Naylor - May 17, 2026

Putting a radical translation of the classic play into so iconic a venue doesn't quite work for all its chutzpah in conception and execution...

by Clementine Scott - May 15, 2026

It’s clear before the curtain rises – before you’ve even set foot in the theatre – that The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals is about more than the sum of its parts. Several audience members are in costume, and need to be reminded via the pre-show voiceover not to sing along, even if they know...

by Clementine Scott - May 14, 2026

In many ways, @sohoplace is the perfect venue for The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind: the intimate thrust staging is perfect for elaborate ensemble choreography and carousing the audience. This new musical, based on the memoir and film of the same name, is at its heart a story about community, and it wo...