News & Reviews

REVIEW: The Winter's Tale, Garrick Theatre ✭✭✭✭✭✭

Dench's verse speaking is unrivalled. She picks each word and gives it full, accurate weight, landing the sense, purpose and exact emotion of every glitterin…

REVIEW: United We Stand, CLF Art Café ✭✭✭✭

United We Stand is a powerful refutation of this view and a reassertion of the continuing value of political theatre. Its channelling of moral passion, a pow…

Tim Hochstrasser

News & Reviews

Glenn Close at the English National Opera

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

Goodnight Mister Tom UK Tour 2016

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

Don't Miss These Great Christmas Shows

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

REVIEW: Elf, Dominion Theatre ✭✭✭

Elf is set to be a Christmas hit with adults and children alike. Whilst it lacks the magic of a family classic like Matilda, Elf will put even the biggest Sc…

Danny Coleman-Cooke

News & Reviews

Jamie Lloyd to direct Uzo Aduba, Zawe Ashton and Laura Carmichael in The Maids

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

Tom - Tom Jones Musical UK Tour 2016

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

Elf! - New Show Trailer Released

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

REVIEW: Xanadu, Southwark Playhouse ✭✭✭✭

Xanadu is a perfect show for an intimate venue like the Playhouse; a cultish and cheesy production that won over the audience through its energy and sense of…

Danny Coleman-Cooke

News & Reviews

REVIEW: The Father, Wyndhams Theatre ✭✭✭✭✭

In the early stages of the play, this approach is both confronting and disarming. I found myself consulting the programme to check who was who before catchin…

REVIEW: The Phantom Raspberry Blower, St James Theatre ✭✭✭

The Phantom Raspberry Blower will make you laugh and groan in equal measure. Whilst objectively the premise isn’t strong enough to sustain a two-hour product…

Danny Coleman-Cooke

News & Reviews

CRITICS CHOICE: Top 10 Plays November 2015

REVIEW: RoosevElvis, Royal Court ✭✭✭✭

Despite its visual confusion at the outset, this is an extremely watchable piece of theatre. It is a must see this Autumn.

REVIEW: Piaf, Bridewell Theatre ✭✭✭✭

Given its inherent flaws, the play cannot hope to succeed without a powerhouse performance from its star and here Laasko has struck gold. Leigh is outstandin…

REVIEW: Cats, London Palladium ✭✭✭

The audience on press night - with as many face-painted adults as children – loved it all. If you are looking for a reliable night out at the theatre with th…

Tim Hochstrasser

News & Reviews

CRITICS CHOICE: The Top 10 New Musicals in London - November 2015

REVIEW: The Moderate Soprano, Hampstead Theatre ✭✭

What pleasure the play offers comes in the characters Hare has carved from fragments of history. Roger Allam, almost unrecognisable as John Christie, does a …

CRITICS CHOICE: Top 10 Long Running Shows in London - November 2015

Funny Girl Announces Transfer To Savoy Theatre

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

REVIEW: The Hairy Ape, Old Vic Theatre ✭✭✭✭✭

O’Neill’s play has lost none of its power or resonance. It still feels as shocking and new today as no doubt it did in 1922. Jones’ revelatory and evocative …

REVIEW : Thérèse Raquin, Studio 54 ✭✭✭✭

Cabnet's clear and perceptive direction is sound for the most part, and there is an emphasis on visual aspects of the production which make it something spec…

HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD TICKETS - TICKET UPDATE

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

Bend It Like Beckham - Save Over 75% On Great Seats

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

REVIEW: Sylvia, Cort Theatre ✭✭

There are many ways to read the play, but the most obvious is probably correct. Sylvia is a metaphor for a trophy girlfriend; she is someone Greg can use to …

REVIEW: Romeo And Juliet, Brockley Jack Theatre ✭✭✭✭

Despite some rough edges this was a continually thoughtful and engaging production that is targeted very deftly at those coming to the play for the first tim…

Tim Hochstrasser

News & Reviews

REVIEW: The Seagull, Chichester Festival Theatre ✭✭✭✭

Hare's adaptation, the best of the three in the Season, is crisp, charming and comical, thereby magnifying the effect of the more tragic aspects. It's a mark…

REVIEW: Encounter, Above The Stag ✭✭✭✭✭

Evocations of famous films can tip over into parody or unintended comedy very easily but thanks to the skill of the writing and the carefully graded, fully i…

Tim Hochstrasser

News & Reviews

REVIEW: Razzle Dazzle, Michael Riedel ✭✭✭✭✭

Michael Riedel is to be congratulated on this great history of Broadway. It’s a riveting read for any fan of musical theatre on the Great White Way. It bring…

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

REVIEW: Hey Old Friends, Theatre Royal Drury Lane ✭✭✭✭

There was a charming mix of reverence and irreverence as well, making the audience feel specially entertained and complicit with the in-jokes. The warm up pr…

REVIEW: Platonov, Chichester Festival Theatre ✭✭✭✭✭

Another sumptuous production of a superb Hare adaptation of an unwieldy and slightly schizophrenic early Chekhov work, made just that much more glorious by a…

REVIEW: Titus Andronicus, New Wimbledon Theatre ✭✭✭✭

Titus Andronicus is not one of Shakespeare’s finest plays, but Arrow and Traps’ Theatre Company do a splendid job with their adrenaline fuelled, and often ni…

Matthew Lunn

News & Reviews

REVIEW: Clarion, Arcola Theatre ✭✭

Mark Jagasia not only fails to carry that stick, but it’s too heavy for him to pick up in the first place. “Clarion,” now playing at the Arcola, is the broad…

REVIEW: Ivanov, Chichester Festival Theatre ✭✭✭✭✭

Honesty, as David Hare points out, is the dominating theme of Ivanov. It is also the dominating principle adopted by Jonathan Kent as the guiding light for h…

REVIEW: Kathy Kirby Icon, White Bear Theatre ✭✭

Biopics are not easy to get right, however despite two sterling efforts at The White Bear, neither of them really hit the mark. Whilst it will no doubt be of…

Danny Coleman-Cooke

News & Reviews

REVIEW: The Humans, Roundabout at Laura Pels Theatre ✭✭✭

There are two ways in which Karam's work steps up to the mark: the dialogue is believable and genuine, splendidly touching in places; the narrative is uncomp…

Theatre Talk - 2015 Fall Season Preview

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

Behind The Scenes - Cast Recording Of Elf The Musical

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

Private Lives 2016 UK Tour Tickets

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

REVIEW: The Tempest, Eel Brook Theatre ✭✭✭✭

Director Brandon Force and movement director Liam Steward-George deserve great credit for creating such a dynamic and detailed production with continual visu…

Tim Hochstrasser

News & Reviews

Gareth Gates Plays Willard In Footloose Tour 2016

REVIEW: Dames At Sea, Helen Hayes Theatre ✭✭✭✭

Dames at Sea, the work of George Haimsohn and Robin Miller (Book and Lyrics) and Jim Wise (Score), is well known as the off-Broadway hit from 1968 which laun…

REVIEW: The Black Book, Sargent Theatre ✭✭✭✭

This is a dynamic, challenging and gripping piece of dramatic theatre. It's confronting in a number of ways, especially if you have known someone who took th…

REVIEW: The Full Monty, Churchill Theatre (On Tour) ✭✭✭✭

The Full Monty is a masterclass of British writing and its energy and sensitivity transfers smoothly to the stage. It’s raucous and crude but also a lot of f…

Danny Coleman-Cooke

News & Reviews

REVIEW: First Daughter Suite, Anspacher Theatre, The Public ✭✭✭✭✭

It would be unsurprising if First Daughter Suite constituted a significant hat-trick for the Public, following, as it does, in the footsteps of Fun Home (whi…

REVIEW: The Wars Of The Roses: Richard III, Rose Theatre ✭✭✭

Maybe we were all weary at the end of a full day of theatre; maybe, and with ample justification, the cast were flagging after appearances in different roles…

Tim Hochstrasser

News & Reviews

REVIEW: Sunny Afternoon, Harold Pinter Theatre ✭✭✭✭

The Kinks frontman Ray Davies joined many famous faces at the Harold Pinter Theatre to celebrate the first birthday of his co-creation. Based on this showing…

Danny Coleman-Cooke

News & Reviews

REVIEW: The Wars Of The Roses: Edward IV, Rose Theatre ✭✭✭✭

Suffice to say that Barton and Hall attempt to clarify the bewildering blizzard of switched allegiances, broken promises and inconclusive battles that form t…

Tim Hochstrasser

News & Reviews

REVIEW: Plaques and Tangles, Jerwood Theatre Upstairs ✭✭✭

As Young Megan, whom we first meet when she is recovering from the one-night-stand night before, is brought to complex, life-embracing realisation in a start…