Selected reviews by Andrzej Lukowski, theatre and dance editor of Time Out London.
Andrzej Lukowski has been theatre and dance editor of Time Out London since 2013, and is their lead theatre critic.
Andre also writes about dance, comedy and opera for Time Out. He also writes for other publications including the New York Times and The Stage.
More about Andrzej Lukowski:
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Further than the Furthest Thing at the Young Vic Theatre (2023)
★★★
"Zinnie Harris’s dreamy drama about the evacuation of a remote volcanic island is a slow burner but gets there in…
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Marjorie Prime at the Menier Chocolate Factory (2023)
★★★
"Prescient but excessively austere drama about a future in which deceased loved ones return as AI replicas" "It’s an aggressively…
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Guys & Dolls at the Bridge Theatre (2023)
★★★★★
"Nicholas Hytner and Bunny Christie’s game-changing immersive production of the classic musical is simply astonishing" "Nicolas Hytner’s Bridge production is…
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Sleepova at the Bush Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Bukky Bakray makes a tremendous stage debut in Matilda Feyiṣayọ Ibini’s exuberant drama about four Black teenage best friends" "Matilda…
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Shirley Valentine at the Duke of York's Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Sheridan Smith is tremendous in Matthew Dunster’s skilled revival of Willy Russell’s monologue, equal parts uplifting and chilling" "Now she’s…
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Women, Beware The Devil at the Almeida Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"A gleefully camp contemplation of the nature of evil" "Lulu Raczka’s Almeida debut manages to subvert so many things that…
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Trouble in Butetown at the Donmar Warehouse (2023)
★★★
"Diana Nneka Atouna’s gentle wartime thriller offers a snapshot of a diverse ’40s Cardiff" "Despite the thrillerish elements of the…
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Standing at the Sky's Edge at the National Theatre (2023)
★★★
"At its best Richard Hawley and Chris Bush’s musical love letter to Sheffield is a thing of elemental power" "Robert…
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Phaedra at the National Theatre (2023)
★★
"Janet McTeer does her best in Simon Stone’s indulgent melodrama rewrite of the Phaedra myth" "... even if you do…
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The Lehman Trilogy at the Gillian Lynne Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Sam Mendes directs the return of this dazzling piece of storytelling about a family business that would define America" "‘The…
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2:22 A Ghost Story at the Lyric Theatre (2023)
★★★
"Pop star Cheryl puts in a perfectly solid acting performance in the latest iteration of the durable West End chiller"…
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Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2023)
★★★
"Jenna Coleman and Aidan Turner are a couple struggling in a language-rationed world in this inventive but bleak romcom" "...…
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The Unfriend at the Criterion Theatre (2023)
★★
"Steven Moffat’s debut play is a disappointingly bland comedy about an English couple who take in a possible serial killer"…
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Alex Edelman: Just for Us at the Menier Chocolate Factory (2023)
★★★★
"Jewish comic Alex Edelman holds forth on the time he infiltrated a white nationalist meeting in this warm, witty stand-up…
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A Streetcar Named Desire at the Almeida Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Paul Mescal is terrifying and Patsy Ferran is unbelievably good in Rebecca Frecknall’s thrillingly dissonant revival of Tennessee Williams’s masterpiece"…
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Watch on the Rhine at the Donmar Warehouse (2023)
★★★★
"A terrific cast and a still-audacious second half gear change justify this rare revival of Lillian Hellman’s dramas" "Known for…
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The Fir Tree at the Shakespeare's Globe (2022)
★★★
"The Globe’s outdoor Christmas show is a delightfully ramshackle riff on a pair of Hans Christian Andersen classics" "‘The Fir…
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Hey Duggee at the Royal Festival Hall (2022)
★★★★
"Theatre badges all round for this ebullient first live outing for Duggee and the Squirrels" "While creator Grant Orchard isn’t…
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As You Like It at the @sohoplace (2022)
★★★★
"‘Strictly’ winner Rose Ayling-Ellis heads up the cast of a populist but charming production of Shakespeare’s woodland romp" "I’m as…
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Mandela at the The Young Vic (2022)
★★
"A technically thrilling production can’t conceal this Nelson Mandela musical’s baffling disinterest in its subject" "How did this happen? How…
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Kerry Jackson at the National Theatre (2022)
★★
"Star Fay Ripley is the sole highlight of this bafflingly unambitious class comedy" "April de Angelis’s new play is a…
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Orlando at the Garrick Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Emma Corrin is terrific as Virginia Woolf’s iconic androgyne" "... this adaptation by Neil Bartlett and directed by Michael Grandage…
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Mother Goose at the Hackney Empire (2022)
★★★★
"Panto’s last superstar Clive Rowe electrifies the Hackney Empire once again" "Like the Rolling Stones, the Hackney Empire panto doesn’t…
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Henry V at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse (2022)
★★★
"Henry V gets a Richard III makeover in this none-more-dark new take on the patriotic war play" "This darkly comic…
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The Sex Party at the Menier Chocolate Factory (2022)
★★
"Bewilderingly disjointed comedy about an Islington sex party that gets awkward when trans woman Lucy arrives" "There is probably a…
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Not One of These People at the Royal Court Theatre (2022)
★★★
"An out-there formal experiment" "Martin Crimp’s deepfake show is an out-there formal experiment that asks very hard questions about the…
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Mary at the Hampstead Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Scottish diplomat James Melville is the focus of this understated installment of Rona Munro’s epic James Plays" "A chamber piece…
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Tammy Faye – A New Musical at the Almeida Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Elton John’s new musical is a joyously camp tribute to the oddball US televangelist, with a storming book by James…
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My Neighbour Totoro at the Barbican Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"In the RSC’s new blockbuster awe-inspiring puppets bring Studio Ghibli’s masterpiece to the stage flawlessly" "... the puppets – designed…
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The Doctor at the Duke of York's Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Visionary director Robert Icke returns as Juliet Stevenson reprises her colossal 2019 performance" "... it’s bloody good to have ‘The…
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The Band's Visit at the Donmar Warehouse (2022)
★★★★
"This bittersweet, idiosyncratic musical about a lost Egyptian band gets a gorgeous UK premiere" "For a moment, it looks like…
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Dmitry at the Marylebone Theatre (2022)
★★★
"The brand-new Marylebone Theatre opens its doors with this gripping Schiller curio" "The Marylebone Theatre is an unexpected new addition…
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John Gabriel Borkman at the Bridge Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Simon Russell Beale and Lia Williams are wonderful in Ibsen’s eccentric, elegiac late play" "Finally revived by Nicholas Hytner at…
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The Crucible at the National Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Brendan Cowell’s working-class hero John Proctor is tremendous in the National Theatre’s atmospheric Arthur Miller revival" "It doesn’t get much…
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Eureka Day at the The Old Vic (2022)
★★★
"Helen Hunt is excellent in this smart US comedy about a liberal schoolboard that collapses into infighting over a vaccine…
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The Clinic at the Almeida Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Faultlines in a fractious British-Nigerian family become catastrophically exposed when they take in a troubled young activist" "It’s pretty much…
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Silence at the Donmar Warehouse (2022)
★★★★
"Powerful docu-theatre show giving voice to those caught up in the chaos of the Partition of India" "These accounts of…
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I, Joan at the Shakespeare's Globe (2022)
★★★
"Charlie Josephine’s play is a joyous celebration of non-binary identity told aa tongue in cheek take on the story of…
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Stranger Things: The Experience at the Troubadour Brent Cross Studios Cricklewood (2022)
★★★
"After a wonky start, this official immersive show does a decent job of throwing you into the world of the…
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The Trials at the Donmar Warehouse (2022)
★★★★
"Teenagers are given power of life or death in Dawn King’s gripping climate dystopia" "‘The Trials’ works both on an…
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South Pacific at the Sadler's Wells (2022)
★★★★
"Smart revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s WW2-set jewel" "... Daniel Evans’s Chichester Festival Theatre revival of ‘South Pacific’ is affirmation…
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The Tempest at the Shakespeare's Glob (2022)
★★★★
"Sean Holmes directs a super-fun production of Shakespeare’s magical final play" "... Holmes’s production is aware of the environmental and…
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Sister Act at the Eventim Apollo (2022)
★★★
"Despite Beverley Knight’s stupendous vocals, this big-budget musical revival misses intended star Whoopi Goldberg" " Beverly Knight makes a very…
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101 Dalmatians at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Kate Fleetwood steals the show as an influencer Cruella de Vil in this uneven new family musical" "Adapted direct from…
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Jack Absolute Flies Again at the National Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Richard Bean and Oliver Chris’s WW2-set reworking of ‘The Rivals’ is very funny but not a lot more" "‘Jack Absolute…
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Much Ado About Nothing at the National Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Katherine Parkinson and John Heffernan are a blast in this luxuriously eccentric take on Shakespeare’s romcom" "If this production has…
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Peaky Blinders: The Rise reviews at the Camden Garrison (2022)
★
"This is comfortably the most tedious immersive theatre show I’ve seen in London in at least ten years." "if you…
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Patriots at the Almeida Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Falls short of its ambitions" "It’s an interesting, informative play, with three great performances in Hollander’s brilliant, quicksilver Berezovsky, Keen’s…
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The Seagull at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Emilia Clarke is irresistible in Jamie Lloyd’s ultra-stripped back take on Chekhov’s masterpiece" "To say Lloyd’s production is boring would…
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Disney's Beauty and the Beast at the London Palladium (2022)
★★★
"Disney’s spectacular-looking musical is a stunning exercise in vamping for time" "A song and dance sequence set in a tavern…
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A Dolls House, Part 2 at the Donmar Warehouse (2022)
★★★★
"A funny, sharp metasequel to Ibsen’s classic play" "If ‘A Doll’s House, Part 2’ has an obvious weakness it’s that…
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The Gunpowder Plot at the Tower Vaults London (2022)
★★★★
"The Gunpowder Plot has set a new gold standard" "This lavish new immersive theatre attraction from the Tower of London…
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Legally Blonde The Musical at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre (2022)
★★★
"It’s weird, visually striking and basically pretty funny" "this revival of ‘Legally Blonde’ feels less like an update of the…
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Grease at the Dominion Theatre (2022)
★★★
"A harder, darker hornier version of the classic musical" "Nikolai Foster’s big West End revival isn’t an aggressively dramatic reappraisal,…
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Oklahoma! at the Young Vic Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"This radical Rodgers & Hammerstein revival lives up to the thirsty hype" "I’m struggling to think of a hornier theatre…
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Jerusalem at the Apollo Theatre (2022)
★★★★★
"Mark Rylance lets the old magic flow once again as the stage performance of our lifetimes returns" "I doubt the…
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Prima Facie at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Jodie Comer gives a tour de force performance in this slightly clunky sexual assault monologue" "It’s a personal triumph somewhat…
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Marys Seacole at the Donmar Warehouse (2022)
★★★
"The headspinning new play from the author of ‘Fairview’" "As it happens, ‘Marys Seacole’ is an altogether different affair, which…
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Punchdrunk: The Burnt City at the One Cartridge Place (2022)
★★★★
"Immersive theatre legends Punchdrunk return with a jaw-dropping riff on Greek myth" "Punchdrunk has a very distinct aesthetic, and when…
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The 47th at the The Old Vic (2022)
★★★★
"Bertie Carvel is astoundingly good as an anarchic Donald Trump in Mike Bartlett’s audacious blank verse drama" "Essentially, this Trump…
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Cock at the Ambassadors Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Thirteen years on, Mike Bartlett’s ‘Cock’ stands up" "Welcome to the dawn of the Mike Bartlett supremacy. Always prolific, soon…
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Moulin Rouge! The Musical at the Piccadilly Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Pure Sensory Overload" "It’s a very fun night out, guaranteed to push the buttons of anyone who grew up on…
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Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club (Playhouse Theatre) (2021)
★★★★
"Jessie Buckley gives the performance of the year and Eddie Redmayne is a bit much in this spectacular Kander &…
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Best of Enemies at the The Young Vic (2021)
★★★★★
"David Harewood and Charles Edwards are phenomenal in James Graham’s love letter to America’s chaotic late ’60s" "Jeremy Herrin’s production…
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The Ocean at the End of the Lane at the Duke of York's Theatre (2021)
★★★★★
"The National Theatre’s adaptation is even better in the West End" "The bottom line is, shows like this don’t come…
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Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) at the Criterion Theatre (2021)
★★★
"Gleefully in-yer-face stage adaptation" "Stretched out over two-and-a-half hours it does wear itself thin. It’s brimming with energy, but ends…
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Back to the Future at the Adelphi Theatre (2021)
★★★
"Great Scott! The DeLorean is amazing, but this bombastic musical of the classic film is A Lot" "I don’t want…
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Frozen The Musical at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane (2021)
★★★★
"The musical version of ‘Frozen’ is an awesome spectacle with more heart, depth and darkness than the film" "This isn’t…
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The Phantom of the Opera at the Her Majesty's Theatre (2021)
★★★★
"Andrew Lloyd Webber's gothic spectacular is totally '80s in the best possible way"
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Anything Goes at the Barbican Theatre (2021)
★★★★
"Sutton Foster blows off the roof in this sublime revival of the classic musical" "They don’t make ’em like this…
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Les Miserables at the Sondheim Theatre (2020)
★★★★
"It’s been reworked, but ‘Les Misérables’ is still very much ‘Les Misérables’, in all its OTT glory" "I don’t think…
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Cirque Du Soleil - Luzia at the Royal Albert Hall (2020)
★★★
"You always know what you’re getting with Cirque du Soleil, but this Mexico-themed show is one of the Montréal circus…
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Magic Goes Wrong at the Vaudeville Theatre (2020)
★★★
"Magic Goes Wrong’ feels caught at a strange crossroads between Mischief’s bumbling Englishness and Penn & Teller’s edgier interjections." "The…
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Cyrano de Bergerac at the Playhouse Theatre (2019)
★★★★
"Lloyd and co have cooked up something pretty remarkable" “It’s Cyrano de Berger-rap. It’s James rap-Avoy. It’s… perhaps more accurate…
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& Juliet at the Shaftesbury Theatre (2019)
★★★★
"Joyously daft musical riff on ‘Romeo & Juliet’, based on the hits of pop maestro Max Martin" "& Juliet is…
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Groan Ups at the Vaudeville Theatre (2019)
★★
“The folks behind ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’ fall flat on their faces with this oft-cringey school-set comedy” Mischief Theatre...they're…
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The Girl Who Fell at the Trafalgar Theatre (2019)
★★★★
"Fiercely funny stuff"
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Lungs at the The Old Vic (2019)
★★★★
"Their performances – hers in particular – grow immeasurably in stature" “Warchus’s revival is broader and more sitcommy than previous,…
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Solaris at the Lyric Hammersmith (2019)
★★★★
"It’s a haunting trip, into inner and outer space" "I’d hope (Stanisław) Lem could acknowledge the boldness and, ultimately, the…
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Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the London Palladium (2019)
★★★
"The show has the emotional heft of a beetroot" "Unfortunately the show has the emotional heft of a beetroot, and…
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The Starry Messenger at the Wyndham's Theatre (2019)
★★★
"Dramas don’t come more midlife crisis-y than ‘The Starry Messenger’. There is a smart, poignant existential drama somewhere inside The…
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Betrayal at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2019)
★★★★★
"The triumph here belongs to director Jamie Lloyd. Directing Betrayal as the culmination of his Pinter at the Pinter season…
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Waitress at the Adelphi Theatre, (2019)
★★★
"This pie-tastic Broadway smash is big hearted but half-baked" "Most of the pies in Diane Paulus's Broadway-conquering show are allegorical:…
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All About Eve at the Noel Coward Theatre (2019)
★★★★
"Gillian Anderson gives an incredible turn as Broadway actress Margo Channing" [Gillian Andersons'] performance as ageing actress Margo Channing in…
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Fiddler On The Roof at the Meniere Chocolate Factory (2018)
★★★
"Trevor Nunn’s gloomy ‘Fiddler’ is classy but not always fun" ‘I realise there are some restrictions that apply when staging…
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Hole at the Royal Court Theatre (2018)
★★★
‘Ellie Kendrick’s fiery feminist cabaret feels slightly overshadowed by its directors, RashDash’ ‘Generically speaking, we’re not exactly talking about a…
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Hadestown at the National Theatre (2018)
★★★★
"Gloriously offbeat musical" "‘Hadestown’ is not perfect, but it is really, really good. The wonderfully diverse songs of Mitchell’s expanded,…
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Company at the Gielgud Theatre (2018)
★★★★★
"This production deserves to go down as a game-changer." Rosalie Craig and Patti LuPone star in Marianne Elliott’s tour de…
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Translations at the National Theatre (2018)
★★★★
"Colin Morgan and Ciarán Hinds star in an exquisitely brooding revival of Brian Friel’s masterpiece." "Rickson’s revival is awash with…
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My Name Is Lucy Barton at the Bridge Theatre (2018)
★★★★
"Laura Linney is brilliant in her UK stage debut." "I have not read Elizabeth Strout’s 2016 novel ‘My Name is…
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Killer Joe at the Trafalgar Studios (2018)
★★★
"Orlando Bloom is a decent baddie in this lurid, uneven thriller" "Essentially a black comedy about the transactional nature of…
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Julie at the National Theatre (2018)
★★★★
"Vanessa Kirby is great as a disintegrating posh girl in this nightmarish production" "All the iconic/grim moments of the Strindberg…
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Red at the Wyndham's Theatre (2018)
★★★★
"Alfred Molina is a mighty Mark Rothko in this intense, visually stunning drama about the agony of art" "Michael Grandage’s…
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Tina - The Tina Turner Musical at the Aldwych Theatre (2018)
★★★
"Adrienne Warren is magnificent" "The tunes are great and Adrienne Warren is magnificent as Tina Turner, but is this too…
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Hamilton at the Victoria Palace Theatre (2017)
★★★★★
"Lin-Manuel Miranda’s visionary musical lives up to the hype" "Okay, let’s just get this out of the way. ‘Hamilton’ is…
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📷 Main photo: Critics - Andrzej Lukowski
