UK / West End Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations

Review: MR BURTON, in cinemas
by Gary Naylor - April 18, 2025

Richard Burton acquires a new name, a new voice and a new authority under the guidance of a loving teacher...

Review: THE INSEPARABLES, Finborough Theatre
by Alexander Cohen - April 18, 2025

** 'One for the Simone de Beauvoir fans'...

Review: TENDING, Riverside Studios
by Cheryl Markosky - April 18, 2025

Writer El Blackwood's Tending, produced by Another Theatre, is a three-hander based on more than 700 verbatim interviews with NHS nurses over a two-year period. She boils everything down into three characters: a paediatric ICU nurse played by Blackwood, palliative care nurse (Anjelica Serra) and A&E...

Review Roundup: GHOSTS, starring Victoria Smurfit and Callum Scott Howells
by Aliya Al-Hassan - April 17, 2025

Gary Owen’s new play, a contemporary reimagining of Ibsen’s classic, is directed by Artistic Director Rachel O’Riordan, reuniting the team behind the critically acclaimed Iphigenia in Splott, Romeo and Julie and Killology....

Review: DAN WYE AM I SAM SMITH?, Soho Theatre
by Kat Mokrynski - April 18, 2025

Written and performed by Dan Wye and directed by Lee Griffith, Dan Wye Am I Sam Smith? is Wye’s debut hour, exploring how their life has been changed by being a doppelgänger of singer Sam Smith, which leads them to experience a life full of the negative aspects of being famous without being able to ...

Review: THE ABNORMAL FAMILIARITY OF US, Theatre503
by Gary Naylor - April 16, 2025

Libbi Moss's drama of a fractured family hits hard but could do with a larger canvas to explore well-crafted characters...

Review: GHOSTS, starring Victoria Smurfit and Callum Scott Howells
by Cindy Marcolina - April 17, 2025

Victoria Smurfit and Callum Scott Howells are the tragic mother-son duo in an exciting, tense, suspenseful adaptation. Owen shifts the script and makes this classic all about domestic abuse and the power of upper-class disdain. Rachel O’Riordan’s production is a masterclass in distilling tension an...

Review: THE DA VINCI CODE, Salisbury Playhouse
by Cheryl Markosky - April 16, 2025

As I'm probably one of only a handful who hasn't read the book or seen the film of The Da Vinci Code, I was looking forward to the play based on Dan Brown's bestselling novel of 2003 described as thriller, mystery and treasure hunt....

Review: HEISENBERG, Arcola Theatre
by Tsitsi Tsopotsa - April 15, 2025

Simon Stephens' 26th play, Heisenberg, currently showing at the Arcola Theatre, is a masterful exploration of quantum uncertainty principles translated into human relationships. The production offers a nuanced portrayal of connection between two seemingly incompatible individuals. ...

Review: ASSES.MASSES, Battersea Arts Centre
by Franco Milazzo - April 15, 2025

Would you spend over seven hours with a hundred other people in the same room playing and watching a video game where donkeys attempt to overthrow their employers? Presented as part of London Games Festival‘s side events programme, asses.masses is an unusual experience that could well hold the key t...

Review: DEAD MOM PLAY, Union Theatre
by Cindy Marcolina - April 16, 2025

A recently bereaved young man spars with his hyper-critical dead mother and Death himself in an attempt to accept his grief and move on. One too many vignettes à la Scooby Doo chase and not enough personal reckoning have this black comedy twist and turn but never truly fulfil its potential. ...

Review: MIDNIGHT COWBOY: A NEW MUSICAL, Southwark Playhouse
by Franco Milazzo - April 12, 2025

And so another stage-to-screen musical rolls into town. Based on the only adult-rated film to win an Oscar for Best Picture, Midnight Cowboy is about the friendship between male prostitute Joe Buck and con man Rico “Ratso” Rizzo in 1960s New York....

Review: WILL OWEN: LIKE, NOBODY’S WATCHING, Soho Theatre
by Kat Mokrynski - April 15, 2025

Will Owen believes that he was born for the silver screen and tonight, he’s going to prove it to a live studio audience. Written and performed by Owen and directed by Daniel Emery and Molly Stacey, Will Owen: Like, Nobody’s Watching has Owen reflecting on his life through his love of television show...

Review: THE FORSYTHE PROGRAMME, Sadler's Wells
by Vikki Jane Vile - April 11, 2025

Back in 2018, English National Ballet premiered Playlist (Track 1, 2) as part of their Voices of America programme. It was William Forsythe’s first new work for a British company in 20 years....

Review: SHANGHAI DOLLS, Kiln Theatre
by Franco Milazzo - April 11, 2025

Looking at the rise and fall of two powerful Chinese women through the vague lens of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll House probably sounded good on paper. It’s a shame then that Shanghai Dolls fails to deliver on almost every front....

Review: A BRIEF CASE OF CRAZY, Riverside Studios
by Cheryl Markosky - April 11, 2025

Just three people and a briefcase. No fancy-pants CGI, no video wizardry, no Marvel-like special effects. Just three people and a briefcase is all it takes for Skedaddle Theatre (definitely a company to watch), in association with Shoddy Theatre, to transport you on a riotous and gratifying journey....

Review: SKATEPARK, Sadler's Wells East
by Gary Naylor - April 11, 2025

Hypnotic show transports even Boomers like me to happier times...

Review: PLAYFIGHT, Soho Theatre
by Alexander Cohen - April 11, 2025

How will the Fringe hit land in London?...

Review: SPEED, Bush Theatre
by Aliya Al-Hassan - April 11, 2025

With so much potential material to explore, it is incredible that until now, a play has not been written about speed awareness courses. Following the success of the Olivier-nominated Blue Mist, writer Mohamed-Zain Dada and director Milli Bhatia come to the Bush Theatre with their darkly amusing new ...

Review: TUTANKHAMUN: THE IMMERSIVE EXHIBITION, Immerse LDN
by Kat Mokrynski - April 14, 2025

As someone who was fascinated by Ancient Egypt as a child and who wrote her dissertation on immersive experiences, Tutankhamun: The Immersive Exhibition seemed like the perfect place for me. The exhibition, which opened 28 March at Immerse LDN at Excel, promising “extraordinary journey through Ancie...

Review: STEVEN FRAYNE: UP CLOSE AND MAGICAL, Underbelly Boulevard
by Franco Milazzo - April 10, 2025

The magician formerly known as Dynamo and now more formally as Steven Frayne steps away from his ex-persona to embrace a new start....

Review: INTERNATIONAL DRAFT WORKS 2025, Royal Ballet And Opera
by Matthew Paluch - April 10, 2025

Choreography isn't easy, so choreographic platforms like International Draft Works (2025) are of the utmost importance. The movement lab returns to the Royal Ballet and Opera's Linbury Theatre for another insight into where present day choreography, of ballet companies, is going. ...

Review: MANHUNT, Royal Court
by Gary Naylor - April 09, 2025

Raoul Moat is as unknowable at the end of his spree as he was at the beginning in this squandered opportunity to examine a hot button topic...

Book Review: DRAMA GAMES FOR CLOWNING AND PHYSICAL COMEDY, Nick Hern Books
by Kat Mokrynski - April 14, 2025

Drama Games for Clowning and Physical Comedy, written by Joe Dieffenbacher, is one of a series, Drama Games, which, as one might guess from the title, has a range of different games for one to try in workshops, classes and/or rehearsals rooms, with topics like Shakespeare, young children and even “T...

Review: CONTAINER, New Diorama Theatre
by Franco Milazzo - April 07, 2025

Unlike the object it is named after, Container studiously avoids fripperies like classical forms and categorisation. With nods to immigration, social media, California fires and the ongoing deluge of news from every angle, this is a work that merrily crosses thematic boundaries like a jaywalker afte...