London theatre reviews from the UK newspaper The Guardian & The Observer.
Here’s a selection of reviews of London shows from the theatre and arts critics at The Guardian newspaper.
The chief theatre critic at The Guardian is Arifa Akbar, with Chris Wiegand as theatre, comedy and dance editor.
Susannah Clapp writes reviews for the Observer, the Sunday edition of the Guardian.
Mark Lawson also writes reviews for the Guardian.
See below for a full run-down of star ratings and theatre opinions about West End shows in London from The Guardian and the Observer.
Further than the Furthest Thing at the Young Vic Theatre (2023)
★★★
"Slow-burn study of seclusion and secrecy" "Set on a volcanic island, this play goes through dormant spells but its themes…
Marjorie Prime at the Menier Chocolate Factory (2023)
★★★
"Gently uncanny sci-fi shows us how to love an AI" "Anne Reid shines in this delicately written drama about a…
Marjorie Prime at the Menier Chocolate Factory (2023)
★★★
"Nancy Carroll and Anne Reid surf memory and identity" "Something happens in Nancy Carroll’s face that I have not seen…
Guys & Dolls at the Bridge Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Nicholas Hytner’s gamble pays off" "This immersive production of the New York musical has a bold design, superb singing and…
Guys & Dolls at the Bridge Theatre (2023)
★★★★★
"The audience is swept along with the action in Nicholas Hytner’s thrillingly immersive new Guys and Dolls" "Not merely rocking…
A Doll's House at the Hudson Theatre, New York (2023)
★★★★
"Jessica Chastain captivates in minimalist revival" "The Oscar winner makes for an exceptional Nora in a visually muted yet emotionally…
After the Act at the New Diorama Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Thatcher’s section 28 stirs a fiery protest musical" "Ellice Stevens and Billy Barrett’s fizzing production traces the story of the…
The Great British Bake Off Musical at the Noel Coward Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Paul and Prue become song-and-dance naturals" "I was anticipating a Great British Rip Off, flat as a failed sponge. Inevitably,…
The Merchant of Venice 1936 at the Watford Palace (2023)
★★★★
"Shylock takes on Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts" "A striking, slick adaptation of Shakespeare’s problematic play sees Tracy-Ann Oberman play a Jewish…
Sleepova at the Bush Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"A captivating safe space for teenage dreams and fears" "Four girls joke, squabble and share their secrets in this exhilarating…
Sleepova at the Bush Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"A fab four get ready for bed" "Sleepova begins with the surprising suggestion that we can stroll out of the…
Shirley Valentine at the Duke of York's Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Sheridan Smith disarms and dazzles with heart and soul" "Willy Russell’s 1986 monologue about a neglected woman’s midlife liberation is…
Shirley Valentine at the Duke of York's Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Sheridan Smith makes Willy Russell’s midlife monologue her own" "It is nimble, generous and truly feminist in showing that the…
Oklahoma! at the Wyndham's Theatre (2023)
★★★★★
"Who can say no to this Rodgers and Hammerstein reinvention" "New York director Daniel Fish’s Tony-winning vehicle, which is now…
Song From Far Away at the HOME Manchester (2023)
★★★★
"Will Young acts with melodic grace in poignant monologue" "The star performs with a musician’s sense of rhythm in this…
The Winter's Tale at the Shakespeare's Globe (2023)
★★
"The Globe’s two-venue telling loses its way" "As this ambitious production switches between stages, and deaths pile up like dishes,…
The Walworth Farce at the Southwark Playhouse Elephant (2023)
★★★
"Tyranny and fantasy at the Elephant and Castle" "There is comical swagger and escalating threat but Nicky Allpress’s revival of…
Grenfell: System Failure at the The Playground Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Sobering unpicking of a tragedy" "Writer Richard Norton-Taylor and director Nicolas Kent’s almost anti-theatrical play uses residents’ testimonies and gives…
Grenfell: System Failure at the The Playground Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Richard Norton-Taylor and Nicolas Kent’s second Grenfell drama is a shocking dissection of negligence" "Staging actual trials and tribunals, using…
Women, Beware The Devil at the Almeida Theatre (2023)
★★
"Bizarre comedy horror is like Bridgerton on acid" "Directed by Rupert Goold, it comes with his characteristically clean, televisual glamour:…
Romeo and Julie at the National Theatre (2023)
★★★
"A sweet spin on Shakespeare" "Gary Owen’s tale of star-crossed, working-class lovers in modern Cardiff offers existential questions and awkward…
Romeo and Julie at the National Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Star-crossed Cardiff teenagers snare hearts and minds" "It is unusual to sit in the stalls hanging on a plot twist.…
Bootycandy at the Gate Theatre (2023)
★★★★
" Thrilling, uproarious comedy explores Black queerness from every angle" "Inventive direction and a spectacular cast make the London transfer…
Trouble in Butetown at the Donmar Warehouse (2023)
★★★
"Humanity and heroism in wartime Cardiff" "While Diana Nneka Atuona’s deft script could do with a final polish, its heart,…
Trouble in Butetown at the Donmar Warehouse (2023)
★★★
"Diana Nneka Atuona brings wartime Cardiff to life" "Diana Nneka Atuona draws on the place’s well-known qualities to make Trouble…
The Rhinegold at the London Coliseum (2023)
★★★★
"Witty and insightful, Jones’s production delivers an emphatic win for ENO" "The Rhine shimmers, the gold dazzles and the gods…
Idiots Assemble: Spitting Image Saves the World at the Birmingham Rep (2023)
★★★
"Spitting Image is a spectacle. The puppetry is a pleasure to watch. But it’s light on laughs." "The stage show…
Medea at the @sohoplace (2023)
★★★★
"Sophie Okonedo is magnificent as ancient Greece’s preeminent rebel woman" "Medea is as much victim as villain in Dominic Cooke’s…
Medea at the @sohoplace (2023)
★★★★
"Sophie Okonedo breathes fire as Medea" "The success of the play depends on general plausibility being swamped by the strength…
Sylvia at the The Old Vic Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Storming show sets suffragettes to soul, funk and hip-hop" "Historical characters bust contemporary dance moves while the troubled relationship between…
Sylvia at the The Old Vic Theatre (2023)
★★★
"Dance, not speech, powers Kate Prince’s suffragette musical" "Sylvia unrolls its story of a mighty movement with exhilaration, in uncompromising…
Standing at the Sky's Edge at the National Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Richard Hawley pulls on the heartstrings in his Sheffield opus" "This new musical traces the intersecting lives of three families…
Standing at the Sky's Edge at the National Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Richard Hawley’s paean to Sheffield finds a home from home" "... the lives of these imagined residents – a steelworker…
Winner's Curse at the Park Theatre (2023)
★★
"Clive Anderson’s warmth can’t revive this dodo" "This interactive play by a former diplomat about working in negotiation feels like…
Phaedra at the National Theatre (2023)
★★
"Simon Stone’s reimagining flitters from tragedy to comedy" "Janet McTeer plays a politician who falls for her dead lover’s son,…
Phaedra at the National Theatre (2023)
★★★★★
"Janet McTeer is mighty in Simon Stone’s electric remaking of myth" "Simon Stone’s Phaedra is unlike anything I’ve experienced before.…
The Lehman Trilogy at the Gillian Lynne Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Sam Mendes’ banking saga returns with dividends" "Hadley Fraser, Nigel Lindsay and Michael Balogun are astonishing as the 18th-century bankers…
The Lehman Trilogy at the Gillian Lynne Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Illusion captivates in a revival of Sam Mendes’s banking saga" "If anything, The Lehman Trilogy has become weightier, more threatening…
Linck & Mülhahn at the Hampstead Theatre (2023)
★★★
"Queer costume drama echoes through the ages" "Ruby Thomas’s play, based on a true story about a married couple in…
Linck & Mülhahn at the Hampstead Theatre (2023)
★★★
"The 21st century erupts into a tale of 18th century gender subversion" "The RSC needs to prove it is essential,…
The Tempest at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Alex Kingston is a magnificent Prospero" "Climate catastrophe and power struggles dominate Elizabeth Freestone’s RSC interpretation of Shakespeare’s play" "Gender-stubbornness…
The Tempest at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre (2023)
★★★
"Alex Kingston’s fine Prospero weathers an RSC concept storm" "The climate crisis is one in a blizzard of ideas that…
Carmen at the London Coliseum (2023)
★★★★
"Vivid revival finds ENO on fighting form" "With Bizet’s opera’s menace and casual cruelty to the fore, cracking performances from…
2:22 A Ghost Story at the Lyric Theatre (2023)
★★★
"Cheryl’s West End debut is a thunderous fright night" "The singer is convincing in the role (first played by Lily…
Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2023)
★★★
"Aidan Turner and Jenna Coleman star in sharp drama" "Josie Rourke’s West End revival of Sam Steiner’s fringe hit really…
Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2023)
★★★
"Aidan Turner and Jenna Coleman keep it brief in Sam Steiner’s social media allegory" "The questions tick round as they…
Sound of the Underground at the Royal Court Theatre (2023)
★★★★★
"Magnificent explosion of mesmerising drag" "A plot to kill RuPaul for dragging drag into the mainstream, followed by song and…
Sound of the Underground at the Royal Court Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Travis Alabanza and friends joyously return drag to its radical roots" "Anyone who thinks theatre costumes are incidental decorations should…
The Unfriend at the Criterion Theatre (2023)
★★★
"Steven Moffat and co flirt with farce" "Humorous, with a few chiller touches" "Frances Barber, both luscious and frightening, has…
Cirque du Soleil: KURIOS at the Royal Albert Hall (2023)
★★★★
"A gasp-inducing steampunk celebration of virtuosity" "Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s choreography connects amazing talents from yo-yoers to contortionists in a slick…
George Takei's Allegiance at the Charing Cross Theatre (2023)
★★
"Shocking history given musical uplift" "The Star Trek actor appears in an epic story of Japanese Americans interned after Pearl…
A Streetcar Named Desire at the Almeida Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Paul Mescal brings a fierce and dangerous energy" "One of the year’s most hyped shows delivers with powerful performances from…
A Streetcar Named Desire at the Almeida Theatre (2023)
★★★★★
"Paul Mescal, Patsy Ferran and Anjana Vasan captivate in Rebecca Frecknall’s headlong take on Tennessee Williams" "This Streetcar is transporting.…
On The Ropes at the Park Theatre (2023)
★★★
"The story of Windrush boxer Vernon Vanriel hits home in song" "It is an important story and it exerts a…
Watch on the Rhine at the Donmar Warehouse (2023)
★★★★
"Lillian Hellman’s call to arms is a must-see" "Patricia Hodge stars in Hellman’s play about a liberal American family confronted…
Watch on the Rhine at the Donmar Warehouse (2023)
★★★★
"Lillian Hellman’s 1941 call to arms resonates anew" "Ellen McDougall’s handsome, convinced production speaks to today’s fear of the rise…
The Fir Tree at the Shakespeare's Globe (2022)
★★★★
"A must-see festive family fairy tale" "Hannah Khalil’s lo-fi retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s 1844 story cleverly weaves in humour,…
Derren Brown: SHOWMAN at the Apollo Theatre (2022)
★★★★★
"A performance that will blow your mind" "There’s a coup in the closing moments so mindblowing, so laser-guided, to undermine…
One Woman Show at the Ambassadors Theatre (2022)
★★★★★
"Joke-packed Fleabag parody is perfectly pitched" "Liz Kingsman’s slick, self-conscious ‘troubled woman’ show nests its complex jokes within jokes to…
One Woman Show at the Ambassadors Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Liz Kingsman’s zinging take on Fleabag goes beyond parody" "Here’s a good start to the new year. A show that…
Hey Duggee at the Royal Festival Hall (2022)
"Isn’t it time for a breakdancing canine caper?" "The hero of the children’s animated TV series is on top form…
As You Like It at the @sohoplace (2022)
★★★★
"Josie Rourke leads us into the liberating delight of Arden" "Martha Plimpton and the whole ensemble shine in Shakespeare’s nuanced…
As You Like It at the @sohoplace (2022)
★★★
"The many voices of Josie Rourke’s fresh As You Like It are led by Rose Ayling-Ellis, signing the part of…
Jack and the Beanstalk at the London Palladium (2022)
★★★★
"No expense spared for giant all-star entertainment" "Dawn French, Julian Clary and Alexandra Burke join an animatronic giant with a…
Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre (2022)
★★
"Humbug hoedown" "Parton’s music is as warming as ever but a snowfall of schmaltz and minimal menace make this Dickens…
Sons of the Prophet at the Hampstead Theatre (2022)
★★
"Overstuffed drama by The Humans’ Stephen Karam" "There’s some promising material in this tale of a struggling Lebanese American family…
Paradise Now! at the Bush Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Sharp satire of girlboss extremes" "Smartly directed and superbly acted, Margaret Perry’s funny and moving play follows a group of…
Merrily We Roll Along at the New York Theatre Workshop (2022)
★★★★
"Sondheim flop finds new lease of life" "The infamous 1981 disaster has returned off-Broadway with help from Jonathan Groff and…
A Christmas Carol at the Rose Theatre Kingston (2022)
★★★★
"Glorious musical version of Dickens’s festive treat" "Charles Dickens takes to the stage and Ebenezer Scrooge is a woman with…
Mother Goose at the Duke of York's Theatre (2022)
★★
"Zany Ian McKellen rules over a fluffy affair" "If you only come for Ian McKellen, you won’t be disappointed. He…
The Nutcracker at the Royal Opera House (2022)
★★★★
"The Royal Ballet’s winter warmer" "This sumptuously designed production is a treat if you don’t dwell on the dramatic flaws…
Mandela at the The Young Vic (2022)
★★
"A Madiba musical with fridge-magnet philosophy" "A strong cast cannot conceal the thinness of this superficial account of South Africa’s…
Mandela at the The Young Vic (2022)
★★
"A new Mandela musical can’t do the great man justice" "I have seldom seen a show that began with such…
Disney's Newsies at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre (2022)
★★★
"‘Tis the season for Disney musical about industrial relations" "This show about young New York paper-sellers has stirring anthems and…
Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty at the Sadler's Wells (2022)
★★★★
"Crammed with the choreographer’s trademark wit and OTT theatrics, this is an irresistible spin on the story" "You just have…
Kerry Jackson at the National Theatre (2022)
★
"Fay Ripley’s lively striver is riddled with working-class cliches" "April De Angelis’s comedy about a leave-voting entrepreneur in a gentrified…
Hex at the National Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Musical Sleeping Beauty casts a darkly dazzling spell" "No theatrical effect is spared in this emotional show, which returns to…
Hex at the National Theatre (2022)
★★
"A bad fairy casts a spell on Rufus Norris’s Sleeping Beauty musical" "For much of the time, watching Hex is…
Orlando at the Garrick Theatre (2022)
★★★★★
"Emma Corrin is glorious in a giddy, heartfelt show" "In Neil Bartlett’s adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s wild-goose chase through time,…
Orlando at the Garrick Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Corrin shape-shifts to perfection in Neil Bartlett’s zestful take on Virginia Woolf’s novel" "Watching Emma Corrin on stage is like…
Mother Goose at the Hackney Empire (2022)
★★★★
"A feather in Hackney Empire’s cap" "Clive Rowe gives a masterly performance as he shapes the high jinks while wearing…
Othello at the National Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Clint Dyer makes this tragedy feel utterly new" "This Othello plays out as a traditional thriller that occasionally veers into…
It's A Wonderful Life at the London Coliseum (2022)
★★★★
"Operatic adaptation is on the side of the angels" "Jake Heggie’s take on the heartwarming Christmas classic has a glittering,…
Best of Enemies at the Noel Coward Theatre (2022)
★★★★
" Stylish staging of a landmark TV clash" "The 1968 debate between Gore Vidal and William F Buckley Jr is…
Jack and the Beanstalk at the Lyric Hammersmith (2022)
★★★★
"Sumptuously OTT panto has a big heart" "A streetwise Jack sells his cow for a tin of baked beans in…
Henry V at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse (2022)
★★★★
"A troubled king reaches for foreign quarrels" "In this coruscating production from Headlong and Shakespeare’s Globe, Henry’s grasp for power…
Henry V at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse (2022)
★★★★
"Oliver Johnstone mesmerises as Henry V" "In an extraordinary stripped-back version, for which the playwright Cordelia Lynn was the dramaturg…
A Sherlock Carol at the Marylebone Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"The detective takes on Dickens in a fresh festive mashup" "There’s only one sleuth in Victorian London who can get…
Elf The Musical at the Dominion Theatre (2022)
★★
"Buddy’s back with some syrupy showtunes" "Choreographed candy cane twirling and funny moments from the Will Ferrell film don’t save…
Sarah at the The Coronet Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Pungent story of self-destruction" "Jonathan Slinger is the antihero – and all the other characters – in an adaptation of…
Vardy v Rooney: The Wagatha Christie Trial at the Wyndham's Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Courtroom panto" "Laura Dos Santos and Lucy May Barker are excellent as the frenemies in a queasy verbatim drama" "This…
Vardy v Rooney: The Wagatha Christie Trial at the Wyndham's Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Vardy and Rooney go head to head" "Vardy v Rooney: The Wagatha Christie Trial is a game of two halves.…
Matilda The Musical (2022)
★★★★
"All-singing, hall-dancing adaptation is by the book brilliance" "Story of superpowered schoolgirl gets a fresh, DayGlo take featuring lurid star…
The Sex Party at the Menier Chocolate Factory (2022)
★★
"Spiky comedy fails to satisfy" "There’s tension in Terry Johnson’s tale of four couples meeting for sex and nibbles but…
The Sex Party at the Menier Chocolate Factory (2022)
★
"Terry Johnson leaves little to the imagination" "Pity the talented cast enmired in The Sex Party." "Terry Johnson’s new play,…
Blackout Songs at the Hampstead Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Drunk and disorderly exploration of love and addiction" "Joe White’s romantic tragedy is a brave and original depiction of the…
From Here To Eternity at the Charing Cross Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Guns n’ poses in a well-drilled musical" "Tim Rice’s lyrics are the most striking aspect of a crisp production which…
A Christmas Carol at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Adrian Edmondson stars in a biting tale for our times" "David Edgar’s sharp script feels close to home in this…
Not One of These People at the Royal Court Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Sometimes lines and image seemed congruent, sometimes they were wildly unexpected, but, then, what sentence wouldn’t be unexpected from the…
Fisherman's Friends: The Musical at the Theatre Royal Bath (2022)
★★★
"Familiar tale given full voice in fresh voyage" "Director James Grieve retains just enough of the rough-hewn power of the…
Super High Resolution at the Soho Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Compelling exploration of a crumbling NHS" "Directed by Blanche McIntyre, Nathan Ellis’s drama serves as a reminder of what cuts…
Super High Resolution at the Soho Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Jasmine Blackborow comes shooting out of the traps as a glowing talent in Super High Resolution" "Nathan Ellis’s new play…
Mary at the Hampstead Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Douglas Henshall’s courtier defends a Queen in quick-fire debate" "Rona Munro’s engaging debate drama has some thrilling exchanges as three…
Elephant at the Bush Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Magnetic monologue on mixed-race identity in Britain" "In her melodic debut play, Anoushka Lucas asks difficult questions about her own…
Tammy Faye – A New Musical at the Almeida Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Elton John’s hymn to biblical kitsch" "Songs belt out deliriously in this romp through rise and fall of the Bakker…
Tammy Faye – A New Musical at the Almeida Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Katie Brayben nails the title role as Tammy Faye in a musical otherwise lacking edge" "He [James Graham] has faltered…
King Hamlin at the Park Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Trapped teens face up to lives at knife-point" "Excellent performances enhance this story of three young boys hurtling towards gang…
A Single Man at the Park Theatre (2022)
★★
"Isherwood’s melancholy mourner falls apart in 60s California" "This adaptation of Christopher Isherwood’s novel about a gay man grieving for…
@sohoplace at the @sohoplace (2022)
"At the first purpose-built theatre in the West End for 50 years, preconceptions melt. At first, Soho Place looks too…
Marvellous at the @sohoplace (2022)
★★★★
"The action is warmly circled – the upper tiers glow like copper – and embraced by its audience. I’ve rarely…
Light of Passage at the Royal Opera House (2022)
★★★★
"Mesmerising moves from Crystal Pite" "With shimmering music and a signature use of massed bodies, Pite transforms her acclaimed Flight…
Local Hero at the Chichester Festival Theatre (2022)
★★
"Musical misses the magic of Bill Forsyth’s classic" "In spite of a nifty set and new songs, this story of…
Local Hero at the Chichester Festival Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Local Hero is appealing, but not dynamic enough for the best display of Evans’s talents" "It is Mark Knopfler’s music…
My Neighbour Totoro at the Barbican Theatre (2022)
★★★★★
"Dazzling staging of the Studio Ghibli classic" "The Royal Shakespeare Company’s production has astonishing puppetry, magical music and huge emotional…
My Neighbour Totoro at the Barbican Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"A beloved Studio Ghibli anime is brought to magical life in Phelim McDermott’s new RSC production" "A battery of talent…
Funny Girl at the August Wilson Theatre, New York (2022)
"Dazzling Lea Michele delivers in Funny Girl" "After months of rumors and gossip, the controversial star takes the reins from…
Good at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"David Tennant is magnificent in chilling drama" "Revived with a superb cast, CP Taylor’s play about a professor embracing nazism…
Good at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2022)
★★★
"David Tennant is transfixing" "Now revived with terrific David Tennant – the more acute because the more restrained – as…
The Doctor at the Duke of York's Theatre (2022)
★★★★★
"A repeat prescription for acute intellectual stimulation" "Robert Icke’s combative 2019 play about medical ethics, identity politics and antisemitism returns…
The Band's Visit at the Donmar Warehouse (2022)
★★★★
"Entrancing musical about nothing and nowhere" "When an Egyptian orchestra accidentally tips up in a sleepy Israeli backwater, lives are…
The Band's Visit at the Donmar Warehouse (2022)
★★★★
"A vibrant oddball musical bridges the Israeli-Arab gap" "The story is simple and sometimes expressed awkwardly, with bumbling humour in…
The Boy with Two Hearts at the National Theatre (2022)
★★★
"An Afghan family seek more than sanctuary" "In Phil Porter’s adaptation of the book by Hamed and Hessam Amiri, speech…
Dmitry at the Marylebone Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Historical Russian thriller resonates" "Peter Oswald’s take on Friedrich Schiller’s unfinished tragedy shows Russia’s recurrent turn towards tyranny" "... Tim…
Tosca at the London Coliseum (2022)
★★★★
"Gloriously sung and full of grand passion, this is gripping theatre" "Christof Loy’s atmospheric staging of Puccini’s opera doesn’t always…
Blues For An Alabama Sky at the National Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Harlem renaissance drama is a tale for our times" "A group of friends in 1930s New York pursue diverging dreams…
Blues For An Alabama Sky at the National Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Thirties Harlem is vibrantly alive at the National" "What a vital evening. Lynette Linton’s production of Blues for an Alabama…
Iphigenia in Splott at the Lyric Hammersmith (2022)
★★★★★
"A shattering modern classic that distils all our troubles" "Gary Owen’s magnificent one-woman monologue brings Greek tragedy to Cardiff and…
John Gabriel Borkman at the Bridge Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Simon Russell Beale magnetic as the shamed alpha-male banker" "Turning to a lesser-staged work by Ibsen might seem risky, but…
John Gabriel Borkman at the Bridge Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Simon Russell Beale is doubly commanding as Ibsen’s charismatic banker in a problem-raising revival" "Nicholas Hytner’s production, even with Simon…
Noises Off at the Theatre Royal Bath (2022)
★★★★
"Frayn’s exquisite farce-within-a-farce finds new humanity" "Felicity Kendal, Tracy-Ann Oberman and especially Joseph Millson are comic gifts in this 40th…
Woman in Mind at the Chichester Festival Theatre (2022)
★★★
"When the vicar’s wife’s worst nightmare is her own life" "Jenna Russell stars in Alan Ayckbourn’s exploration of mental illness…
Jews. In Their Own Words at the Royal Court (2022)
★★★
"Appalling revelations in a gallop through centuries of bigotry" "Jonathan Freedland has turned 180,000 words drawn from interviews into a…
Jews. In Their Own Words at the Royal Court (2022)
★★★★
"An illuminating, unsettling study of prejudice" "Based on interviews by Jonathan Freedland with 12 British Jews, this verbatim play directed…
The Crucible at the National Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Stylish restaging is all beauty and no bite" "Director Lyndsey Turner misses the opportunity to give Arthur Miller’s allegory modern…
The Crucible at the National Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Mob rule meets Little House on the Prairie in an assured revival of The Crucible" "Lyndsey Turner’s assured production rings…
Eureka Day at the The Old Vic (2022)
★★★
"Helen Hunt is an anti-vaxxer on the attack in anti-woke satire" "What begins as a broad takedown of the liberal…
Eureka Day at the The Old Vic (2022)
★★
"A new anti-vax satire needs more than a shot of Helen Hunt’s star power" "In turning over the debate between…
The Wonderful World of Dissocia at the Theatre Royal Stratford East (2022)
★★★★
"Whimsical and brutal" "At first, Anthony Neilson’s play is a bewildering affair, but its sombre aftermath imparts understanding with crushing…
Cages at the Riverside Studios (2022)
★
"Hologram rock musical is a dreary dystopia" "An overreliance on technology and a doomy score can’t replace old-fashioned chemistry in…
Rose at the Park Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Maureen Lipman is magnetic in journey through Jewish 20th century" "A mourning woman looks back on her life in Martin…
Handbagged at the Kiln Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Sparks fly at the Queen’s audiences with the Iron Lady" "Moira Buffini’s clever political comedy returns, educating a new generation…
Handbagged at the Kiln Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Moira Buffini’s damning satire ... acquires poignancy" "Buffini’s play is, not unexpectedly, far more merciful to the Queen than to…
The Snail House at the Hampstead Theatre (2022)
★★
"Richard Eyre’s debut play takes on too much" "This debut, which he also directs, is a family drama cum state-of-the-nation…
The Snail House at the Hampstead Theatre (2022)
★★
"Richard Eyre’s writing debut falls mysteriously flat" "This is an honourable, polished play with a fine grip on the contemporary…
The Clinic at the Almeida Theatre (2022)
★★
"Culture wars erupt at a birthday party" "Dipo Baruwa-Etti’s early dialogue shimmers with quick wit, intelligence and delightful touches (Happy…
The Clinic at the Almeida Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Family celebrations go pear-shaped in Dipo Baruwa-Etti’s mischievous new play" "Dipo Baruwa-Etti’s tremendously enjoyable new play" "The characterisation is deep…
Gabriel Byrne: Walking with Ghosts at the Apollo Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Gabriel Byrne’s trip down Dublin’s memory lanes" The actor adapts his impressionistic memoir for the stage, giving life to the…
Gabriel Byrne: Walking with Ghosts at the Apollo Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Gabriel Byrne brilliantly channels his early Dublin years" "This is an entertaining, moving, accomplished show" "Byrne’s default expression is of…
Antigone at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre (2022)
★★★
"A poetic tragedy about modern British Muslim life" "Inua Ellams updates the Sophoclean drama into a beguiling piece about faith…
Silence at the Donmar Warehouse (2022)
★★
"Partition yields neither documentary nor drama" "... in this four-handed adaptation – by Sonali Bhattacharyya, Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, Ishy Din…
Silence at the Donmar Warehouse (2022)
★★★
"A potent and poetic telling of the partition of India" "The stage adaptation of Kavita Puri’s extraordinary oral history project…
Who Killed My Father at the The Young Vic (2022)
★★★★
"A powerful study of class, cruelty and kin" "Hans Kesting is spellbinding as an anguished man facing up to his…
Who Killed My Father at the The Young Vic (2022)
★★★★
"This is a violently populated one-man show" "Kesting proves a master of seamlessly disconcerting transitions as, stooping and burrowing hands…
The Mousetrap (2022)
★★★★
"Agatha Christie spoof scampers through 50s theatreland" "This likable whodunnit comedy sees Sam Rockwell and Saoirse Ronan on the trail…
Gary Barlow - A Different Stage at the Duke of York's Theatre (2022)
★★
"Could it be magic? No!" "This one-man, one-note show is a blandly sanitised history of Take That. While it won’t…
I, Joan at the Shakespeare's Globe (2022)
★★★★
"Non-binary Joan of Arc proves a rousing protest piece" "Isobel Thom gives a visceral, courageous performance as France’s patron saint,…
I, Joan at the Shakespeare's Globe (2022)
★★★★
"Isobel Thom’s non-binary Joan of Arc blazes on to the stage in Charlie Josephine’s eye-opening new play" "“Non-binary finery”: I…
Ride - A New Musical at the Charing Cross Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Jaunty new musical takes cyclist’s feat for a spin" "This soulful celebration of adventurer Annie Londonderry takes time to get…
The Narcissist at the Chichester Festival Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"A darkly honest dissection of post-Trump politics" "A spin doctor’s life spirals into chaos after he’s hired by an ambitious…
The Narcissist at the Chichester Festival Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Christopher Shinn’s new play of post-Trump politics finds complex characters lost in ego and addiction" "Josh Seymour’s production swoops adroitly…
All's Well That Ends Well at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford upon Avon (2022)
★★★
"Problem play gets a tasty Gen Z makeover" "Rosie Sheehy dazzles as a woman calling the shots in this feverish…
Into The Woods at the Theatre Royal Bath (2022)
★★★
"Terry Gilliam’s rollicking take on Sondheim’s ‘fairytale collision’" "The ex-Python’s production is visually enticing, playful and dreamlike but doesn’t quite…
Into The Woods at the Theatre Royal Bath (2022)
★★★
"Terry Gilliam and Leah Hausman’s take on Sondheim is just a bit too much" "The time for Into the Woods…
The Trials at the Donmar Warehouse (2022)
★★★
"Tomorrow’s children hold us to account for climate crimes" "In a near-future world on fire, a jury of 12 young…
The Trials at the Donmar Warehouse (2022)
★★★
" A teenage jury call their climate-ruining elders to account" "The ‘dinosaur’ generation is put on trial in Dawn King’s…
All of Us at the National Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Disablism, austerity and therapy-speak fuel Francesca Martinez’s jolting drama" "There are startling, sparkling episodes in All of Us, revelatory moments…
All of Us at the National Theatre (2022)
★★★★★
"Francesca Martinez’s urgent call for radical empathy" "Personal, political and polemical, this intensely moving play about disability and austerity challenges…
The Great British Bake Off Musical at the Everyman Theatre Cheltenham (2022)
★★★
"Sweet treat with a soggy bottom" "The TV show invites a large helping of satire but Jake Brunger and Pippa…
Identical at the Nottingham Playhouse (2022)
★★★★
"Trevor Nunn takes on The Parent Trap, with songs" "This earnest musical, which features three sets of real twins across…
Identical at the Nottingham Playhouse (2022)
★★★★
"A new musical of The Parent Trap has its own special effect" "The casting of twins as the separated sisters…
The Tempest at the Shakespeare's Glob (2022)
★★★
"The bard in budgie smugglers" "Sean Holmes’s gleefully comic take is a riot of holiday colour and fun, featuring luminous…
The Tempest at the Shakespeare's Glob (2022)
★★★
"Sean Holmes takes enjoyable liberties with his party island Tempest" "Ferdy Roberts’s entertaining Prospero is an intemperate old beach boy…
The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe at the Gillian Lynne Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"A new-look Narnia delivers deep magic" "It boasts breathtaking ensemble work, in particular the transitions between the art deco wardrobe…
The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe at the Gillian Lynne Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"A dark, riveting revamp" "This exhilarating production of CS Lewis’s timeless tale delivers spellbinding spectacle, wartime drama and perfect puppetry"…
Chasing Hares at the Young Vic (2022)
★★★★
"Factory drama moulds its own subversive power play" "Sonali Bhattacharyya intriguingly exposes the exploitative dynamics of the global gig economy…
Chasing Hares at the Young Vic (2022)
★★★
"Globalisation’s effect on an Indian factory makes for touching drama" "It is a play that is unkempt in parts and…
Sister Act at the Eventim Apollo (2022)
★★★
"Beverley Knight and Jennifer Saunders bring the laughs as rebel nuns" "Jennifer Saunders is the main draw, bridling and bristling…
101 Dalmatians at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre (2022)
★★
"Puppyish enthusiasm can’t save a patchy production" "This family musical and adorable puppets will keep the kids happy, but parents…
101 Dalmatians at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Douglas Hodge’s new Dodie Smith musical is spot on" "... a perfect post-lockdown choice for London’s ever-swelling, dog-doting crowd (of…
Jack Absolute Flies Again at the National Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Mrs Malaprop’s a loose cannon in Richard Bean’s Battle of Britain take on Sheridan" "Quentin, shiny as a creature on…
Much Ado About Nothing at the National Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Screwball Shakespeare goes with a swing" "John Heffernan shines brightest as a dorkish Benedick; Katherine Parkinson’s Beatrice is wry and…
Much Ado About Nothing at the National Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Shakespeare’s comedy is the gift that keeps on giving" "As the hate-to-love, love-to-hate couple, John Heffernan and Katherine Parkinson give…
Crazy For You at the Chichester Festival Theatre (2022)
★★★★★
"Spine-tingling musical is a giddy thrill" "Instantly infectious melodies, superb choreography and irresistible comedy are met with astonishing performances in…
Crazy For You at the Chichester Festival Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Who can resist Gershwin?" "Development and detail is all in the swelling voices and frisking toes of Carly Anderson and…
Peaky Blinders: The Rise reviews at the Camden Garrison (2022)
★★
"Immersed in a criminally flimsy plot" "Fans of the TV series may enjoy the period detail and atmosphere, but this…
Patriots at the Almeida Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Peter Morgan’s compelling study of Russian dissidence" "Rupert Goold’s production is ultimately entertaining but choppy, taking time to settle before…
The Tempest at the Theatre Royal Bath (2022)
★★★★
"Deborah Warner’s grimy island engrosses and disgusts" "The veteran director’s arrestingly visceral production honours the sheer strangeness of Shakespeare’s late…
The Seagull at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Woodchip-walled Chekhov is hypnotic" "Jamie Lloyd’s radical, stripped-back, strangely gripping production, using Anya Reiss’s cool adaptation, might well be aspiring…
Richard III reviews - RSC Stratford at the Stratford Upon Avon (2022)
★★★
"Shakespeare’s supervillain breezes through the bloodbath" "Arthur Hughes is the scheming sociopath in a production of magisterial stagecraft that builds…
Mad House at the The Ambassadors Theatre (2022)
★★★
"David Harbour and Bill Pullman spar in dark family psychodrama" "Under the direction of Moritz von Stuelpnagel, the first half…
That Is Not Who I Am at the Royal Court Theatre (2022)
★★★
"A revelatory drama about identity theft is let down by its thriller plot" "At its best, Lucy Morrison’s production spins…
That Is Not Who I Am at the Royal Court Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"All is not what it seems in tricksy thriller about truth and power" "One play reveals another in a tangled…
The Southbury Child at the Chichester Festival Theatre (2022)
★★
"A vicar picks an odd hill to die on" "Even-handed to a fault, Stephen Beresford’s new comedy coasts by on…
A Dolls House, Part 2 at the Donmar Warehouse (2022)
★★★
"Noma Dumezweni is a compelling lead in Lucas Hnath’s sequel, which is well drawn but a little too tightly controlled"…
A Dolls House, Part 2 at the Donmar Warehouse (2022)
★★★
"Lucas Hnath’s sequel to the Ibsen classic is intriguing rather than revelator" "This Doll’s House is a hybrid: it uses…
Jitney at the Old Vic Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"A taut, tense tale of Black injustice in 1970s America" "A stylish rework of the August Wilson character-study sees a…
Jitney at the Old Vic Theatre (2022)
★★★
"August Wilson’s taxi-stand drama has developed new flavour with age" "Punctuated by the constant ringing of the phone, and by…
The Car Man at the Royal Albert Hall (2022)
★★★★
"Steamy dance thriller with a supercharged engine" "Bourne’s 1950s potboiler has been beefed up for a larger venue. The result…
The Gunpowder Plot at the Tower Vaults London (2022)
★★★
"A thrilling live adventure is marred by moments of bewildering VR in this immersive voyage back to 1605" "In the…
Tony! [The Tony Blair Rock Opera] at the Park Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Harry Hill puts the party into politics" "Co-written by Hill and Steve Brown, this is a messy jamboree-bag of songs…
Tony! [The Tony Blair Rock Opera] at the Park Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"... comedian Harry Hill and composer Steve Brown’s Tony! (The Tony Blair Rock Opera) is a new, fresh, multitasking musical,…
Britannicus at the Lyric Hammersmith (2022)
★★★★
"Political drama is deadly serious but full of sass" "Timberlake Wertenbaker’s take on Racine’s version of ancient Rome is replete…
The Unfriend at the Chichester Festival Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Cringe-tastic " "Gatiss’s brisk directing doesn’t permit lags or reflection and the rollicking pace plays to the strengths of cast…
The Glass Menagerie at the Duke of York's Theatre (2022)
★★
"Amy Adams’s West End debut fails to find its heart" "Tennessee Williams’s story of yearning, passion and despair never puts…
ABBA Voyage at the ABBA Arena (2022)
★★★★★
"Jaw-dropping " "Any sense you’re not actually in the presence of the band dissolves during a setlist of crowd-pleasing hits"…
ABBA Voyage at the ABBA Arena (2022)
★★★★
"A dazzling retro-futurist extravaganza" "Stepping back in time and into the future, Abba astound with a mind-bending virtual comeback show…
Legally Blonde The Musical at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Joyously camp revamp is in the pink" "An overhaul of the original’s gender politics, plenty of Gen-Z touchpoints and a…
Murder On The Orient Express at the Chichester Festival Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"A first-class ride all the way" "Henry Goodman gives us every inch of Hercule Poirot’s dandiness and comedy in this…
The House of Shades at the Almeida Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Anne-Marie Duff gives a toxic tour de force" "Beth Steel’s large canvas reflects brawny ambition and magnificent fearlessness as the…
My Fair Lady (2022)
★★★
"Perfectly elegant, ever so sedate" "This garlanded production of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s musical, fresh from Broadway, is…
Passion at the Hope Mill Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Thrilling singing in a rousing Sondheim reboot" "Ruthie Henshall and Kelly Price shine in a sophisticated and intimate staging of…
Oklahoma! at the Young Vic Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"An invigorating take on Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic" "This modern, sexy and unsettling show injects thrills into a familiar musical,…
Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends at the Sondheim Theatre (2022)
★★★★★
"A glorious all-star memorial service" "This was a glorious memorial service, each of the tunes a eulogy, every eulogist either…
Much Ado About Nothing at the Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Gaiety abounds in the Globe’s great garden party" "Lucy Bailey’s ambling production of Shakespeare’s comedy, set in northern Italy on…
Macbeth at the Longacre Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga soar but there’s magic missing" "Sam Gold’s inventively staged take on the classic tragedy has…
Jerusalem at the Apollo Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Mark Rylance’s riveting return as ‘Rooster’ Byron" "Problematic gags limit the power of Jez Butterworth’s layered drama about myths and…
Prima Facie at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Jodie Comer on formidable form in roaring drama" "The Killing Eve star makes a masterful West End debut in Suzie…
Funny Girl at the August Wilson Theatre (2022)
"Move Over, Barbra. Welcome, Beanie. A New Star Is Born." "Like everyone else, I arrived at this refurbished classic dragging…
The Corn is Green at the National Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"An inspirational heart-warmer in praise of good education" "Emlyn Williams’ 1938 play is a kind of Billy Elliot of the…
Marys Seacole at the Donmar Warehouse (2022)
★★
"Mystifying drama about caring through the ages" "Despite strong performances, Jackie Sibblies Drury’s play zigzags so much that it overshadows…
Punchdrunk: The Burnt City at the One Cartridge Place (2022)
★★★
"Spectacle eclipses story in siege of Troy epic" "This immersive retelling of Greek tragedies is stylish and atmospheric but lacks…
Punchdrunk: The Burnt City at the One Cartridge Place (2022)
★★★★★
"The immersive theatre trailblazers return with an all-consuming vision of the siege of Troy" "The current embracing of all things…
Scandaltown at the Lyric Hammersmith (2022)
★★★
"Smut and silliness in modern Restoration comedy" "Mike Bartlett’s rambunctious capers with types including Lady Susan Climber and Matt Eton…
Zorro The Musical at the Charing Cross Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Swordplay, seduction and castanets" "The whiff of hamminess is never absent from the Zorro story and here both script and…
The 47th at the The Old Vic (2022)
★★★
"Bertie Carvel is devilishly good but this Trumpian satire feels too soon" "Mike Bartlett’s script turns US politics into Shakepearean…
Anyone Can Whistle at the Southwark Playhouse (2022)
★★★★
"Sondheim flop gets a blazing revival" "This elusive curiosity – whose original production in 1964 closed on Broadway after nine…
To Kill A Mockingbird at the Gielgud Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Harper Lee would approve of snappy Sorkin update" "Rafe Spall is a dignified Atticus Finch in Aaron Sorkin’s smooth and…
Straight Line Crazy at the Bridge Theatre (2022)
★★★★★
"Ralph Fiennes enthrals as the man who shaped New York" "Fiennes heads an electrifying cast in David Hare’s dynamic portrait…
The Human Voice at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2022)
★★
"Ruth Wilson fails to connect in Jean Cocteau’s tale of despair" "Ivo van Hove’s production divests this drama of emotional…
Cock at the Ambassadors Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Jonathan Bailey and Taron Egerton locked in a love triangle" "Jade Anouka’s character causes an existential earthquake in Marianne Elliott’s…
Maria Friedman & Friends - Legacy at the Menier Chocolate Factory (2022)
★★★
"Who’s up for a cabaret lock-in?" "Looking back at the work of Sondheim, Hamlisch and Legrand, with glorious songs and…
The Collaboration at the The Young Vic (2022)
★★★
"Warhol and Basquiat mix paint and trade blows" "Paul Bettany and Jeremy Pope excel as the art world legends in…
The Music Man at the Winter Garden Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Hugh Jackman dazzles in uneven Broadway show" "The actor enthusiastically sings and dances through a big-budget version of the much-loved…
Moulin Rouge! The Musical at the Piccadilly Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Wonderfully Wild" "With pyrotechnics, a looming elephant, scenery to die for and a cast with energy to burn, this revival…
Bring It On: The Musical at the Queen Elizabeth Hall (2021)
★★★
"Lin-Manuel Miranda leads the cheer" "Love Island’s Amber Davies tops a charismatic cast, including Olympic gymnast Louis Smith, in a…
Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club (Playhouse Theatre) (2021)
★★★★
"Eddie Redmayne is electric in this blinder of a show" "Redmayne and Jessie Buckley ‘Willkommen’ us into this Weimar-era Berlin…
Best of Enemies at the The Young Vic (2021)
★★★★
"James Graham’s superb study of media and politics" "David Harewood and Charles Edwards go head-to-head as William F Buckley Jr…
West Side Story (2021)
★★★★★
"Spielberg’s triumphantly hyperreal remake" "Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story 2.0 is an ecstatic act of ancestor-worship: a vividly dreamed, cunningly…
A Chorus Line at the Curve Leicester (2021)
★★★★
"A thrilling combination of sharp moves and snappy tunes" "What a thrill, then, to see the deep Curve stage flooded…
The Book of Dust at the Bridge Theatre (2021)
★★★★
"A theatrical marvel. Nicholas Hytner brings a dazzling wizard’s touch to this adaptation of Philip Pullman’s fantasy tale" "The stage…
Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre (2021)
★★★
"Friends of Dorothy may be diverted by this musical prequel to The Wizard of Oz. But, although it has been…
The Ocean at the End of the Lane at the Duke of York's Theatre (2021)
★★★★
"Neil Gaiman’s monsters will leave you cowering" "Shapeshifting creatures take centre stage in Katy Rudd’s production that terrifyingly evokes childhood…
Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) at the Criterion Theatre (2021)
★★★★
"Rough-hewn but joyous musical take on the classic novel works in everything from Carly Simon to Chris de Burgh" "As…
A Christmas Carol - A Ghost Story at the Nottingham Playhouse (2021)
★★★
"Mark Gatiss’s witty dash through Dickens" "Gatiss’s delayed rework amps up the ghostly effects while drawing out the overlooked dark…
Get Up, Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical at the Lyric Theatre (2021)
★★★
"It’s the music that carries the emotional weight in this tale of love, loss and roots rock, starring the superb…
Back to the Future at the Adelphi Theatre (2021)
★★★
"The car’s the star: this is a splashy theatre-film mashup, with gravity-defying effects, cute quirks and offbeat gags" "The cast…
Frozen The Musical at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane (2021)
★★★★★
"Stunning musical extravaganza creates its own magic" "Beyond the visual thrills and powerful ballads, this adaptation brings an unexpected depth…
Cinderella at the Gillian Lynne Theatre (2021)
★★★★★
"Not so much a ball as a blast" "The original story and book by Emerald Fennell have heart and a…
Jersey Boys at the Trafalgar Theatre (2021)
★★★★
"Four Seasons story still hits all the high notes" "The doo-wop musical returns to the West End: a cracking true…
Mary Poppins at the Prince Edward Theatre (2021)
★★★★★
"Stageful of sugar is a rapturous delight" "Zizi Strallen is excellent as the buoyant nanny in Eyre’s chippy and enduring…
The Phantom of the Opera at the Her Majesty's Theatre (2021)
★★★★
"The music of the night is back" "A new cast refreshes Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical, its pop melodies, maximalist designs…
Anything Goes at the Barbican Theatre (2021)
★★★★★
"Sutton Foster dazzles in Cole Porter’s fizzing tonic for our times" "This 1934 show is Depression-era escapism fit for post-Covid…
Anything Goes at the Barbican Theatre (2021)
★★★★★
"Sutton Foster dazzles in Cole Porter’s fizzing tonic for our times" "This 1934 show is Depression-era escapism fit for post-Covid…
Les Miserables at the Sondheim Theatre (2020)
★★★★★
" Just hear these people sing!" "With a cast that never misses a note, the West End’s longest-running musical proves…
Cirque Du Soleil - Luzia at the Royal Albert Hall (2020)
★★★★
"The Canadian company’s colourful Mexican-flavoured show is full of heart-stopping skill, dreamy lyricism and visual whimsy" "On such a grand…
Magic Goes Wrong at the Vaudeville Theatre (2020)
★★★
"A fun night out" "There’s real magic to enjoy alongside the tomfoolery. Stunts and tricks go awry in this slapstick…
Cyrano de Bergerac at the Playhouse Theatre (2019)
★★★★
"Lloyd’s production makes you see an old play with fresh eyes" “This is a Cyrano that dispenses with conventional spectacle,…
Jagged Little Pill at the Broadhurst Theatre (2019)
★★★★
"Alanis musical hits Broadway with a bang" "Oscar-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody has brought Alanis Morissette’s music to the stage with…
& Juliet at the Shaftesbury Theatre (2019)
★★
"Pop mogul Max Martin's bizarre jukebox bonanza" "Songs of the prolific Swedish tunesmith are shoehorned into a silly Shakespeare-derived story…
& Juliet at the Shaftesbury Theatre (2019)
★★★★
"The bard goes bubblegum" "A fun, feminist makeover of Romeo and Juliet chooses life – with a great pop soundtrack"…
DEAR EVAN HANSEN at the Noel Coward Theatre (2019)
★★★★
"High-school musical captures agonies of youth" "Sam Tutty shines as the lonely student who fabricates a friendship with a dead…
Groan Ups at the Vaudeville Theatre (2019)
★★★
"This is more a study of the life that goes pear-shaped" “From age six to 30, Mischief Theatre’s engaging band…
Lungs at the The Old Vic (2019)
★★★★
"Claire Foy and Matt Smith shine in climate crisis drama" "Duncan Macmillan’s two-hander is a frenetic portrait of flawed love…
Vassa at the Almeida Theatre (2019)
★★★
"Siobhan Redmond is impressive" "Siobhan Redmond is impressive as a tyrannical mother trying to rescue her debt-ridden family in Tinuke…
A Day In The Death Of Joe Egg at the Trafalgar Theatre (2019)
★★★★
"Peter Nichols' classic has rare truth" “Excellent performances from a cast including Toby Stephens and Claire Skinner” “Clarence Smith is…
Solaris at the Lyric Hammersmith (2019)
★★★★
"Love and loneliness collide in best take yet on sci-fi classic" “David Greig’s adaptation...Although rooted in the novel, it takes…
Moulin Rouge! The Musical at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre (2019)
★★★
"Not only critic-proof, but maybe also story-proof." "Moulin Rouge is one of those shows that is not only critic-proof, but…
Jean Paul Gaultier Fashion Freak Show at the Queen Elizabeth Hall (2019)
★★★★
"A fabulous fiesta of fabric and flesh" "Lucha libre masks, conical bras, banana skirts – this voguing, strutting, dancing celebration…
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the London Palladium (2019)
★★★★
"Sheridan Smith and Jason Donovan bring charisma to a jubilant revival" "I first saw this show in 1972 when it…
Wife at the Kiln Theatre (2019)
★★★★
"Rousing look at 60 years of sexual identity" "Adamson’s discrete episodes are held together by two things. One is the…
The Starry Messenger at the Wyndham's Theatre (2019)
★★★
"Kenneth Lonergan’s tale of astronomy and midlife misery makes fine use of an A-list cast but never truly explodes into…
Sergei Polunin at the London Palladium (2019)
★★
"The bad boy of ballet’s self-absorbed mixed bill is unlikely to win over his detractors" "It’s a cabaret of inelegant…
Sergei Polunin at the London Palladium (2019)
★★
"Storm, stress and sweet torment " "Ballet and B-movies collide as Sergei Polunin revives Russian villain Rasputin, suffers with Nijinsky,…
Betrayal at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2019)
★★★★
"Hiddleston is superb in haunting drama of deception" "Of the many versions of the play I've seen over the past…
Waitress at the Adelphi Theatre, (2019)
★★★
"Bittersweet Broadway musical served warm in the West End" "Initially, the show struck me as raucous and improbable. Bareilles' lyrics…
Come From Away at the Phoenix Theatre (2019)
★★★
"Relentless niceness in tale of post-9/11 Canadian kindness" "This musical about plane passengers diverted to Newfoundland on 11 September has…
9 to 5 The Musical at the Savoy Theatre (2019)
★★★
"Slick and stylish Dolly Parton period piece" "This beloved revenge fantasy is as subtle as a sledgehammer but its advocacy…
All About Eve at the Noel Coward Theatre (2019)
★★★
"Classic Hollywood updated with technical wizardry" "Gillian Anderson and Lily James give fine performances but this version of the 1950…
All About Eve at the Noel Coward Theatre (2019)
★★★
"Van Hove’s paraphernalia is there – the cameras circling the stage, the video screen capturing and magnifying the action. But…
True West at the Vaudeville Theatre (2018)
★★★
"Kit Harington and Johnny Flynn are good, if slightly mismatched, as the brothers in Sam Shepard’s haunting play" "Enjoyable as…
The Cher Show at the Neil Simon Theatre (2018)
★★★
"Broadway musical is a mixed bag of pop excess" 'A jukebox ode to the megastar contains some dazzling numbers but…
The Cher Show at the Neil Simon Theatre (2018)
"If We Could Turn Back Time, We’d Skip The Cher Show" "To hear her tell it, Cher struggled most of…
Clueless - The Musical at the The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre (2018)
★★
'Movie fans will hear all of their favorite lines– “As if!” “Way harsh!” “You’re a virgin who can’t drive” –…
Clueless - The Musical at the The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre (2018)
'The Way Harsh Truth About ‘Clueless, The Musical’: It Stinks' 'Teen princess Cher Horowitz and her friends sing familiar melodies…
Fiddler On The Roof at the Meniere Chocolate Factory (2018)
★★★★★
"Musically, geopolitically, emotionally, this Fiddler raises the roof." 'Although much-loved and often revived, Fiddler on the Roof has been charged…
Hole at the Royal Court Theatre (2018)
★★★
‘Ellie Kendrick livens up her inventive debut with astrophysics and ancient Greek myth – but it could use more concrete…
Billionaire Boy at the NST City, Southampton (2018)
★★★
“Jon Brittain’s musical adaptation of David Walliams’s tale of Joe Spud, the richest boy in the country, has plenty to…
Hadestown at the National Theatre (2018)
★★★★
"A beguiling fable for today" "There are some cracking songs in Rachel Chavkin and Anaïs Mitchell’s haunting journey through the…
Company at the Gielgud Theatre (2018)
★★★★
"Sex-switch Sondheim proves a heavenly fling" "Company is one of the great grown-up musicals. However, where Harold Prince’s 1970 production…
Translations at the National Theatre (2018)
★★★★★
"A flawless take on Friel's culture-clash masterpiece." "Brian Friel’s play about the infinite mysteries of language is richly realised in…
My Name Is Lucy Barton at the Bridge Theatre (2018)
★★★★
"Elizabeth Strout’s novel works outstandingly on stage, thanks to sole performer Linney’s nuanced command of the narrative." "Linney switches easily…
Killer Joe at the Trafalgar Studios (2018)
★★★★
"Orlando Bloom's hitman-cop is queasily gripping." "This revival of Tracy Letts’s violent play about a grotesquely dysfunctional family keeps the…
Julie at the National Theatre (2018)
★★
"Polly Stenham's modern take on Strindberg misses the mark" "The Crown’s Vanessa Kirby impresses but this updated version of the…
Red at the Wyndham's Theatre (2018)
★★★★
"Alfred Molina's portrait is as layered as a Rothko canvas" "Michael Grandage directs a well-judged revival of John Logan’s play…
An Ideal Husband at the Vaudeville Theatre (2018)
★★★★
"Wilde's dandies and fat cats verge on the preposterous" "Edward and Freddie Fox, as a father and son, are the…
The Girl On The Train (2018)
★★★
"is Paula Hawkins's bestseller unadaptable?" “Here you feel that an eerily compelling novel, with its multiple narration and Hitchcockian voyeurism,…
Tina - The Tina Turner Musical at the Aldwych Theatre (2018)
★★★★
"Whirlwind Turner tribute leaves you breathless" "As bio-musicals go, this is as good as it gets. The show rests on…
Hamilton at the Victoria Palace Theatre (2017)
★★★★★
"revolutionary musical a thrilling salute to America's immigrants" "Lin-Manuel Miranda’s rollercoaster of a show boasts outstanding performances and charts the…
Sister Act The Musical at the London Palladium (2009)
"If you can smother quibbles about the daft story... and if, crucially, you like to save up for big-budget musical…
Sister Act The Musical at the London Palladium (2009)
★★
"All too typically the nuns, in Anthony van Laast's choreography, kick up their heels like the Rockettes and prance around…
Priscilla Queen of the Desert at the Palace Theatre (2009)
★★
"Although the show is eventually about a father-son reunion, it never touches the heart. And, given the unexplored richness of…
Oliver! at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane (2009)
★★★
"HEADLINE" "For the most part, however, this is Dickens as jolly family entertainment stripped of the sense of solitude that…
Thriller Live at the Lyric Theatre (2009)
★★★
"It's cute, kicking and retro" "Singer Roger Wright has a soaring, modulated Motown voice, but even he can't stop this…
📷 Main photo: The Guardian
