News & Reviews

REVIEW: The House Of Mirrors And Hearts, Arcola Theatre ✭✭✭✭

The future of British musicals seems assured. It’s wonderful to see a musical that eschews a jukebox or movie mentality and goes instead for an original stor…

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

REVIEW: Orson's Shadow, Southwark Playhouse ✭✭✭✭✭

The play is staged in the round with a pleasing and teasing contrast between the artifice stage convention and informality. The gestures towards setting are …

Tim Hochstrasser

News & Reviews

REVIEW: The Four Fridas, Royal Artillery Barracks ✭✭✭

Memories still linger of the impressive Opening Ceremonies to the Olympic and Paralympic Games held in London in 2012, and The Four Fridas is best viewed as …

Tim Hochstrasser

News & Reviews

REVIEW: Sibling Revelry, Hippodrome Casino ✭✭✭

Sibling Revelry is nothing revolutionary or groundbreaking and nor does it claim to be. However, if you’re looking for some top class performances from some …

Danny Coleman-Cooke

News & Reviews

REVIEW: East Is East, Churchill Theatre (On Tour) ✭✭✭✭

East is East is set in the early 70s, was written in the 80s and released as a film in the mid 90s. And yet it’s remarkable how little it has dated. Since th…

Danny Coleman-Cooke

News & Reviews

Open Auditions Held For Motown The Musical

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

REVIEW: I Love You You're Perfect Now Change, Above The Arts ✭✭✭

Watching Julie Atherton, Simon Lipkin, Gina Best and Samuel Holmes work their magic, individually, in couples, and as a quartet, it was difficult not to wond…

REVIEW: The Gruffalo, Lyric Theatre ✭✭✭✭

Matilda this show is not – the original and the adaptation are thin fare in comparison with the disturbing and multi-layered creations of Dahl and his later …

Tim Hochstrasser

News & Reviews

REVIEW: As Is, Trafalgar Studios ✭✭✭✭

Viewed one way, Hoffman's play is not a play about AIDS and its repercussions; it is a play about ignorance, discrimination and fear. Viewed that way, it is …

REVIEW: Black Cat Cabaret - Nocturne, London Wonderground ✭✭✭

One of the most exciting features of the current fairground-cluster that is London Wonderground on the South Bank is the focus on late night cabaret. In the …

Tim Hochstrasser

News & Reviews

The Diver Comes To the Rag Factory

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

The Play That Goes Wrong - New Cast Announced

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

Love Me Tender Trailer Released

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

REVIEW: The Importance Of Being Earnest, Vaudeville Theatre ✭✭✭

Director AdrianNoble strikes gold in the quartet of lovers: Gwendolyn, Jack, Cicely and Algernon. Without any question, Emily Barber and Imogen Doel are utte…

REVIEW: The Dreamers, St James Theatre ✭✭

The Dreamers is a real mixed bag. Musically it is often very strong; the musical direction and band are both terrific. However, lyrically and dramatically it…

Danny Coleman-Cooke

News & Reviews

REVIEW: To Kill A Mockingbird, Barbican Theatre ✭✭✭✭✭

Timothy Sheader's utterly astonishing, profoundly beautiful, and intensely gripping production of To Kill A Mockngbird, is now playing at the Barbican Theatr…

REVIEW: Measure For Measure, Shakespeares Globe ✭✭✭

This is a feel-good production of a difficult play. The very best thing about it is Dominic Rowan’s exceptionally charismatic Duke. In the second half, parti…

CRITIC'S CHOICE: Top 10 New West End Plays 30 June 2015

REVIEW: Rent Boy The Musical, Above The Stag ✭✭✭

The star of the show, in truth, is Carole Todd's spirited, cheeky, and knowing choreography, which brings out the very best in the cast and masterfully estab…

CRITIC'S CHOICE: Top 10 New West End Musicals 30 June 2015

REVIEW: Amour, Royal Academy Of Music ✭✭✭✭

If tonight’s performance represents the future of British theatre then we are in very safe hands indeed. OK, so the story is about as substantial as the wall…

Danny Coleman-Cooke

News & Reviews

REVIEW: An Oak Tree, National Theatre ✭✭✭✭

Crouch delights in theatre which unsettles and pushes boundaries and An Oak Tree is no exception. In parts, it is brilliant and it is never less than compell…

Rocky Horror Show Tour Cast Announced

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

Charlie And The Chocolate Factory Celebrate Start of 3rd Year.

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

Harry Potter And The Cursed Child To Open Summer 2016

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

REVIEW: Asking Rembrandt, Old Red Lion Theatre ✭✭✭✭✭

There is not much room for manoeuvre upstairs at the Old Red Lion, but the creative team, led by director Jonathan Kemp, have put together a flexible and wel…

Tim Hochstrasser

News & Reviews

REVIEW: The Motherf**ker With The Hat, Lyttleton Theatre ✭✭✭

It's not that this is a bad play; it's more that it is not really a play at all. It's a series of separate scenes, mostly two-handers, which chiefly concern …

REVIEW: Joking Apart, Theatre Royal Windsor ✭✭✭✭

As with so many theatres of a certain age, the bar at the Theatre Royal is proudly lined with photos of bygone productions from the golden age of repertory t…

Tim Hochstrasser

News & Reviews

REVIEW: Bend It Like Beckham, Phoenix Theatre ✭✭✭✭

Act Two is practically perfect. It starts with a fabulous number for the girls, Glorious, and it never looks back. It's full of great music from Goodall and …

REVIEW: The Seagull, Regent's Park Open Air Theatre ✭✭✭✭

Betts' adaptation (re-imagining is perhaps more accurate) certainly tries to evoke the same effect Chekhov must have had on his original audiences. There is …

REVIEW: Alpha Beta, Finborough Theatre ✭✭

It’s exactly as bleak as it sounds; the entire play is one long, petty, extended, circular argument, stretched over nine miserable years. There’s very little…

Danny Coleman-Cooke

News & Reviews

Sinatra - Cast and Creative Team Announced

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time New Cast

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

The Mentalists - Rehearsal Images Released

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

REVIEW: I Went To A Fabulous Party, Kings Head ✭✭

The King’s Head has a notable tradition in supporting contemporary drama on gay themes, but sadly as things stand this new 65-minute play by And Davies does …

Tim Hochstrasser

News & Reviews

The Who's Tommy - Cast Announced

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

REVIEW: The Jew Of Malta, Swan Theatre ✭✭✭✭

This is a play where the inhabitants of a Nunnery are slain by poisoned porridge; where the daughter of a Jew becomes a Christian Nun, twice; where, having p…

REVIEW: Second Soprano, King's Head ✭✭✭✭✭

In this theatre season where commemoration and remembrance of the outbreak of the First World War are much to the fore, many of the most successful dramatic …

Tim Hochstrasser

News & Reviews

REVIEW: The Italian Girl in Algiers, Brunel Tunnel ✭✭✭✭✭

Please do chase down this wonderful, life-affirming production at one of the several intriguing venues that lie ahead on its current tour – you will not regr…

Tim Hochstrasser

News & Reviews

REVIEW: The Picture Of Dorian Gray, St James Studio ✭✭✭✭✭

Sadly this fine adaptation has a very brief run – I do hope another theatre can be persuaded to allow us to experience this play with this cast once more - a…

Tim Hochstrasser

News & Reviews

REVIEW: 1984, Playhouse Theatre ✭✭✭✭

This adaptation of 1984 is a modern masterpiece. Get your tickets now, before they take you to Room 101.

REVIEW: The Merchant Of Venice, Royal Shakespeare Theatre ✭✭✭✭✭

Findlay's production of The Merchant Of Venice, like all great productions of Shakespeare, is brimming with ideas, spoken with assurance and intelligence, an…

I Sing Comes To Drayton Arms

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

REVIEW: I And The Village, Theatre 503, ✭✭✭✭

I and the Village may be the best piece of new writing you’ll see at a pub theatre this year.

Shakespeare With A Jazzy Heart

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

Alice Comes To Opera Holland Park

Tim Hochstrasser

News & Reviews

REVIEW: Chef, Soho Theatre ✭✭✭

If the Chef was a type of food it would be a selection of pre-dinner canapés – small but perfectly formed. However, ultimately you are left wanting a little …

Danny Coleman-Cooke

News & Reviews

The 39 Steps to Close on September 5

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

Jewish Composers Score Their Own Revue.

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews