UK / West End Theater Reviews Page 2

Review: MACHINAL, The Old Vic
by Gary Naylor - April 19, 2024

Given the emotional investment required on stage and in the stalls, one feels somewhat shortchanged by a production that invites sympathy for a character with few redeeming features...

Review: SOPHIE'S SURPRISE 29TH, Underbelly Boulevard
by Franco Milazzo - April 18, 2024

As any fan of this art form will tell you, the first rule of cabaret shows is: never sit in the front row. The second rule is: never tell cabaret virgins the first rule....

Review: FIVE NEW SHORT PLAYS, Jack Studio Theatre
by Gary Naylor - April 18, 2024

A mixed bag of productions united by wonderful acting and committed writing...

Review: KISS MARRY KILL, Stone Nest
by Cindy Marcolina - April 19, 2024

Dante or Die are back with another site-specific venture. Burrowed underneath the cold dome of Stone Nest, Kiss Marry Kill feels right at home within the harsh and unholy environment of the venue. Set in a prison against the backdrop of violence, it reframes homophobia and imagines the first same-se...

Review: LONDON TIDE, National Theatre
by Alexander Cohen - April 18, 2024

Aesthetically malnourished, London Tide lacks the lustrous life blood that so warmly floods through the veins of Dickens’s literary world....

Review: THE GLASS MENAGERIE, Rose Theatre
by Aliya Al-Hassan - April 19, 2024

As delicate and fragile as one of the glass creatures that are collected, Tennesse Williams' beguiling story of memory, The Glass Menagerie combines themes of hope, rejection, disappointment and profound sadness....

Review: DANCE ON ENSEMBLE, Sadler's Wells
by Matthew Paluch - April 18, 2024

“When are we old? How can experience and embodied knowledge be brought into creative play? And what is the role of dance in questioning the idealisation of youth in our culture?” ...

Review: DIVERSITY: SUPERNOVA, De Montfort Hall, Leicester
by Laura Lott - April 17, 2024

It's hard to imagine what more an audience could possibly want from a dance show than what Diversity provide in their current tour Supernova. There are stunning, tightly choreographed dance routines, impressive production values, up-to-the-minute technology, music loud enough to reverberate through ...

Review: MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, Watermill Theatre
by Mica Blackwell - April 17, 2024

Much Ado About Nothing is a quintessential Shakespeare farce: mistaken identities, intertwining romances, betrayals and deception all wrapped up with a neat little bow by the end. The same can be said for the screwball comedies that dominated 1930’s and 40’s cinema, so it’s no surprise why Tom Wentw...

Review: USHERS, The Other Palace
by Aliya Al-Hassan - April 18, 2024

Last seen in London nearly a decade ago, Ushers, the show putting the front of house staff upon the stage is back. A musical with its tongue set firmly in its cheek, this is a fun and frothy production with some very strong and vibrant performances....

Review: CHEEKY LITTLE BROWN, Stratford East
by Cindy Marcolina - April 18, 2024

C.S. Lewis said that friendship is, like philosophy and art, unnecessary. “It has no survival value”, yet, “it is one of those things which give value to survival.” Lady loves Gemma. They’ve been best friends forever, but haven’t seen each other in six months. On Gemma’s birthday, Lady shows up at t...

Review: COOL RIDER, London Palladium
by Caroline Cronin - April 16, 2024

Producers Christopher D Clegg and James Drury have had a remarkable journey with Cool Rider, the much-lauded Grease 2 stage adaption. From a supposed ‘one night only show’ back in 2014 at the Lyric Theatre, to record-breaking ticket sales, a flurry of last-minute additional dates, then a return run ...

Review: GISELLE: REMIX, Pleasance Theatre
by Franco Milazzo - April 15, 2024

Created by cabaret artist Jack Sears and Royal Ballet soloist Hannah Grennell, Giselle:Remix fuses dance and lip sync....

Review: MAY CONTAIN FOOD MAY CONTAIN YOU, Woolwich Works
by Kat Mokrynski - April 18, 2024

May Contain Food May Contain You, devised and performed by Sonya Cullingford and Simon Palmer, is Protein’s “scaled-down rural touring version” of May Contain Food, which was originally devised and performed by Cullingford, Carl Harrison, Matthew Winston and Rachele Rapisardi....

Review: THE COMEUPPANCE, Almeida Theatre
by Debbie Gilpin - April 14, 2024

Welcome to a high school reunion with a difference: this one has an uninvited (but secret) guest. In Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ latest play, a group of friends collectively known as “MERGE” have gathered for a pre-reunion meet-up; Ursula, Emilio, Caitlin, Kristina and Paco haven’t all been in the same ...

Review: ARTIFICIALLY YOURS, Riverside Studios
by Gary Naylor - April 12, 2024

Leslie Ash leads a very funny play by first time writer Aaron Thakar, lit up by a charming and hilarious turn by another debutante, Jake Mavis...

Review: AN ACTOR CONVALESCING IN DEVON, Hampstead Theatre
by Franco Milazzo - April 12, 2024

Sometimes reality and drama overlap so much that it can be hard to tell where one finishes and another starts. ...

Book Review: THE ACTOR AND THE SPACE, Declan Donnellan
by Cindy Marcolina - April 13, 2024

His first publication went viral (once again, in a way) when Mr Jeremy Strong of Succession fame featured it in his GQ interview about his essentials, saying he swears by it. Declan Donnellan succeeds at describing the indescribable, putting the ephemeral art of acting on paper in another gem of a b...

Review Roundup: What Did the Critics Think of Ian McKellen in PLAYER KINGS?
by Aliya Al-Hassan - April 12, 2024

Bringing together Shakespeare's two great history plays, Player Kings is now open at the Noël Coward Theatre. Ian McKellen plays Falstaff in a new version of Shakespeare’s Henry IV, adapted by the award-winning writer and director Robert Icke. A divided country, leadership crumbling, corruption in t...

Review: PLAYER KINGS, Noël Coward Theatre
by Alexander Cohen - April 12, 2024

Ian McKellen is a mesmerizingly athletic Falstaff in Robert Icke's iconoclastic fusion of Henry IV parts 1 and 2...

Review: THE POWER (OF) THE FRAGILE - MOHAMED TOUKABRI, Sadler's Wells
by Matthew Paluch - April 12, 2024

The Elixir Festival returns to Sadler’s Wells with the same, integral mission: “rethinking perceptions around dance and age.”...

Review: MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, Wilton's Music Hall
by Franco Milazzo - April 11, 2024

​​​​​​​Serving as a kind of Barber of Seville of theatre, Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of the most accessible of Shakespeare’s plays. Its blend of mystic romance, daffy dramatists and fairy-powered shenanigans is not short on rambunctious comedy turns but, in the hands of Flabbergast Theatre, that...

Review: INTERNATIONAL DRAFT WORKS, Royal Opera House
by Matthew Paluch - April 11, 2024

The evening includes ten works and the premise is an important, and pressing one: where is ballet (as we know it) going…? ...

Review: PLAYING LATINX, Soho Theatre
by Kat Mokrynski - April 15, 2024

'Walking into the Soho Theatre Upstairs, you are given a nametag before taking your seat. Interestingly enough, Playing Latinx has the same start as Derren Brown’s Unbelievable on the West End, with a chair on stage and a sign stating, “The show will start once someone sits on this chair.”'...

Review: LIAM WITHNAIL: CHRONIC BOOM, Soho Theatre
by Kat Mokrynski - April 15, 2024

Liam Withnail: Chronic Boom begins with a video, in which Withnail is recording a podcast episode with a fellow comedian. Before they can get into a conversation, however, Withnail receives a call from the hospital, telling him that he needs to go in overnight. This meant dropping everything and goi...