Selected reviews by Patrick Marmion, theatre critic for the Daily Mail.
Patrick is a playwright, journalist and Associate Lecturer at the University of Kent.
As a writer, his previous plays include The Divided Laing, Terms and Conditions, Pieta – After Chekhov, Osterley, and The Institute. His screenplays include Mushroom Soup, Kids FM, Maid Marion, Archie Tanner & The Dodo and The Dead Guy.
More about Patrick Marmion:
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Frank and Percy at the The Other Palace (2023)
★★★★
"Ian McKellen proves age is no barrier to laughter" (Theatre Royal Windsor) "The charming thing about Ben Weatherill's left-field romcom…
Daily Mail
Private Lives at the Ambassadors Theatre (2023)
★★★
"A reasonable recital " "Havers, though, seems thrilled to be back in the West End, and lends Coward's barbed wit…
Daily Mail
In Dreams at the Leeds Playhouse (2023)
★★★★
"In Dreams is a musical midlife crisis that makes a fitting tribute to Roy Orbison" "So the big challenge for…
Daily Mail
Song From Far Away at the Hampstead Theatre (2023)
★★★
"Will Young's one man play Song From Far Away only really zings when he's singing" (Hampstead Theatre) "Four times we…
Daily Mail
Groundhog Day at the The Old Vic (2023)
★★★★★
"You'll want to see this again... and again!" "Verdict: On repeat, please!" "Matthew Warchus and Tim Minchin’s musical is a…
Daily Mail
We Will Rock You at the London Coliseum (2023)
★
"Ben Elton in his own Queen musical? You wouldn't rush to rhapsodise about it..." "Not even the sight of Ben…
Daily Mail
The Shape of Things at the Park Theatre (2023)
★★★
"Verdict: Shapely fit-up" "Peaky Blinders’ cruel temptress Amber Anderson nails the part with a wry detachment and forensic purpose. And…
Daily Mail
Great Expectations at the Garrick Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Verdict: Is 'ard not to love it" "Now we find Izzard doing a spellbinding solo turn in Charles Dickens's saga…
Daily Mail
Rose at the Ambassadors Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Forget Beattie on the phone, 'Rose' is Maureen Lipman in full bloom" "Verdict: Dame Maureen Rises" "Performed sitting on a…
Daily Mail
Aspects of Love at the Lyric Theatre (2023)
★★★
"The same show 34 years on - and Michael Ball blows us away all over again" "Verdict: Great moments, long…
Daily Mail
The Comedy of Errors at the Shakespeare's Globe (2023)
★★★★
"Verdict: Twin Peaks" "Shakespeare's first — and shortest — comedy can, in the wrong hands, sometimes feel misnamed. But Sean…
Daily Mail
Bleak Expectations at the Criterion Theatre (2023)
★★★
"Are there enough fans to render this more than an old curiosity shop?" "Verdict: Not the Dickens" "To be fair…
Daily Mail
Ain't Too Proud - The Life And Times Of The Temptations at the Prince Edward Theatre (2023)
★★★
"Hits galore will thrill their fans - but this Temptations tribute lacks soul" "Ain't Too Proud is a catalogue musical…
Daily Mail
Dancing at Lughnasa at the National Theatre (2023)
★★★
"Brian Friel's Donegal memory play can quite reasonably be performed as pleasantly sentimental, but I longed for Josie Rourke's revival…
Daily Mail
Private Lives at the Donmar Warehouse (2023)
★★
"... Michael Longhurst's horribly unfunny revival, which scrapes away the brittle artifice of the writing and reveals the ugly truth…
Daily Mail
Guys & Dolls at the Bridge Theatre (2023)
★★★★★
"Sit down? Not with this rocking revival!" "Daniel Mays is the go-to Cockney geezer du jour... All that’s what makes…
Daily Mail
The Merchant of Venice 1936 at the Watford Palace (2023)
★★
"Now Shylock’s an East End matriarch facing down fascists" "Historical mis-match" "In a radical new production of The Merchant Of…
Daily Mail
Shirley Valentine at the Duke of York's Theatre (2023)
★★★★★
"Sheridan Smith is wall to wall sunshine, a one-woman pina colada with a cocktail umbrella!" "When the curtain rises on…
Daily Mail
Sylvia at the The Old Vic Theatre (2023)
★★★
"Slightly tamed suffragette" "Audaciously, it casts black actors in the white leading roles: soul diva Beverley Knight as Emmeline Pankhurst;…
Daily Mail
Phaedra at the National Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"A Shadow Cabinet minister ruined by lust? It's a tragedy!" "Good-value meltdown" "Janet McTeer is now perhaps best known for…
Daily Mail
The Lehman Trilogy at the Gillian Lynne Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"A bunch of bankers you might like to meet" "First time around, it's easy to be blown away by the…
Daily Mail
The Tempest at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Alex casts her spell as the first female Prospero" "... make no mistake, this is no politically correct stunt by…
Daily Mail
Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2023)
★★
"More mute than cute - Aidan and Jenna's show is a lemon" "Give them — or almost anyone — a…
Daily Mail
Noises Off at the Phoenix Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"It's comedy with the precision of a high end cuckoo clock" "... as a bravura piece of comic plotting, Michael…
Daily Mail
Alex Edelman: Just for Us at the Menier Chocolate Factory (2023)
★★★★
"Whoever had the idea of mic-ing him up in this intimate venue must be seriously hard of hearing." "It's a…
Daily Mail
George Takei's Allegiance at the Charing Cross Theatre (2023)
★★★
"Oh my, Mr Sulu!" "Allegiance is a wholesome musical about an unwholesome subject: the internment of Japanese-Americans in the aftermath…
Daily Mail
A Streetcar Named Desire at the Almeida Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Gone are Normal People's Paul Mescal's boyish charms, he's a beast off the leash" "Much the best reason for seeing…
Daily Mail
On The Ropes at the Park Theatre (2023)
★★
"Needs to shed some weight" "Dougie Blaxland’s lumbering script, written with Vanriel, actually makes him less sympathetic by being too…
Daily Mail
Watch on the Rhine at the Donmar Warehouse (2023)
★★★
"It's a hodgepodge of storylines, but this World War II drama has a Casablanca thrill to it" "It starts off…
Daily Mail
Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre (2022)
★★★
"Yee-ha! it’s a very dolly Christmas for Scrooge" "Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol is everything you’d expect: a bright…
Daily Mail
Paradise Now! at the Bush Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Avon calling!" "Originality is a precious commodity in a theatrical world that is often too eager to run with the…
Daily Mail
Marvellous at the @sohoplace (2022)
★★★
"It's a bold move by producer Nica Burns using Theresa Heskins' no-star production to open the 600-seater Soho Place theatre."…
Daily Mail
Local Hero at the Chichester Festival Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Daniel Evans's farewell production in Chichester, before he takes charge of the Royal Shakespeare Company next year, is a great…
Daily Mail
My Neighbour Totoro at the Barbican Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Psst! A big cuddly surprise in this sugar-rush of a show" "For sheer, turbo-charged, off-the-Richter scale, sigh-inducing spectacle, you will…
Daily Mail
The Boy with Two Hearts at the National Theatre (2022)
★★
"Heartfelt but saccharine" "An oddly saccharine saga of an Afghan family fleeing the Taliban and seeking help for their eldest…
Daily Mail
John Gabriel Borkman at the Bridge Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Hard to take seriously " "Cut loose from its period detail and set in a contemporary 'palace' of embossed concrete,…
Daily Mail
The Crucible at the National Theatre (2022)
★★★★★
"Arthur Miller's classic witch hunt makes today's woke wars seem trivial" "... the really great thing about Lyndsey Turner's gruelling…
Daily Mail
The Two Popes at the The Rose Kingston & UK Tour (2022)
★★★★
"Two popes and one question - how do we move from era to era?" "At a time of succession in…
Daily Mail
The Snail House at the Hampstead Theatre (2022)
★★★
"More pain, please!" "One of the great directors of modern times, Eyre (a late-onset writer at 79) unfolds the action…
Daily Mail
Gary Barlow - A Different Stage at the Duke of York's Theatre (2022)
★★★★★
"Soppy, sappy... but Barlow still shines like a superstar" "I first saw the show in the community centre of Gary's…
Daily Mail
The Narcissist at the Chichester Festival Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Each character is self-regarding, in line with the title — though, interestingly, Lloyd's Jim is the least so. He's the…
Daily Mail
All's Well That Ends Well at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford upon Avon (2022)
★★
"'Unloved' play just got unlovelier" "The story is so far from modern protocols around matchmaking that Helena can only strike…
Daily Mail
Into The Woods at the Theatre Royal Bath (2022)
★★★★
"Magical spectacle" "Gloating may be unseemly but Terry Gilliam has certainly earned the right to crow about his stunning new…
Daily Mail
The Trials at the Donmar Warehouse (2022)
★★
"See title" "The Trials is a net-zero entertainment set in a dystopian near future where juries of children have been…
Daily Mail
Sister Act at the Eventim Apollo (2022)
★★★★
"Just divine! A habit worth getting in to" "Playing the night club singer Deloris van Cartier, who hides from the…
Daily Mail
101 Dalmatians at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Puppet puppies are too cute to be worn by Cruella" "Zinnie Harris and Johnny McKnight’s somewhat worthy adaptation combines the…
Daily Mail
Jack Absolute Flies Again at the National Theatre (2022)
★★★★★
"The Guvnor's back with a bawdy romp" "Richard Bean is back at the National Theatre with a snortingly good, crowd-pleasing…
Daily Mail
Much Ado About Nothing at the National Theatre (2022)
★★
" Not much about ado" "There seemed little love lost between the actors in Simon Godwin’s lightweight production, which doesn’t…
Daily Mail
Crazy For You at the Chichester Festival Theatre (2022)
★★★★★
"Guaranteed to put pep in your step!" "When shows are as good as this staging of Crazy For You, they’re…
Daily Mail
Billy Elliot The Musical at the Curve Theatre Leicester (2022)
★★★★
"Billy still has the power to move us to tears" "It’s fair to say that Sir Elton’s finest work lies…
Daily Mail
Anything Goes at the Barbican Theatre (2022)
★★★★★
"Delightful and de-lovely as ever aboard SS American" "About 20 minutes into this joyous show, I stopped taking notes —…
Daily Mail
Patriots at the Almeida Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"The rise and fall of Putin’s arch enemy " "Rupert Goold directs with characteristic touches of song and dance on…
Daily Mail
Richard III reviews - RSC Stratford at the Stratford Upon Avon (2022)
★★★
"Psycho super-villain? No, he’s more of a naughty boy" "Hughes gives it his all. The actor, who has radial dysplasia,…
Daily Mail
Jitney at the Old Vic Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Gutsy" "The pleasure of this gutsy and absorbing revival of August Wilson’s 1970s taxi-office drama is that it spares us…
Daily Mail
Tony! [The Tony Blair Rock Opera] at the Park Theatre (2022)
★★★★★
"Harry Hill's musical takes bite out of Blair" "Verdict: Joyfully profane tonic" "All hail Harry Hill and his musical writing…
Daily Mail
The Unfriend at the Chichester Festival Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Deathly dull " "Comedies of procrastination can only go on so long before something must give. Only here, it doesn't."…
Daily Mail
My Fair Lady (2022)
★★★★
"Never mind that Amara Okereke is the first black Eliza Doolittle in a West End production of this joyous musical…
Daily Mail
Straight Line Crazy at the Bridge Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"My way, or the highway, for Fiennes the megalomaniac" "Ralph Fiennes had better watch his back. Terrific as he is…
Daily Mail
Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club (Playhouse Theatre) (2021)
★★★★
"At Eddie’s Cabaret, even the set’s wunderbar" "It may be a little parsimonious in its pleasures, but this eagerly anticipated…
Daily Mail
Get Up, Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical at the Lyric Theatre (2021)
★★★
"Marley is magic but the drama needs some redemption" "As much as I love Marley and his music, this version,…
Daily Mail
Back to the Future at the Adelphi Theatre (2021)
★★★★★
"From Doc to the DeLorean, this blast from the past hits all the right notes" "Where to begin, with a…
Daily Mail
Frozen The Musical at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane (2021)
★★★★★
"More magical than the film, this stage version of Frozen is one hot hit" "But whatever we grown-ups may think…
Daily Mail
Les Miserables at the Sondheim Theatre (2020)
★★★★★
"The mighty Mis is still revolutionary" "... this 'new staging' of one of the world's longest-running musicals remains fit to…
Daily Mail
Magic Goes Wrong at the Vaudeville Theatre (2020)
★★★★
"The secret of the so-called Wrong Boys’ success is surely that it’s deeply familiar parody, with a twist of Monty…
Daily Mail
Come From Away - UK Tour at the Phoenix Theatre (2019)
★★★
"Is this 9/11 musical too hearty?" "It’s based on real-life accounts of how residents on the island of Newfoundland coped…
Daily Mail
📷 Main photo: Critics - Patrick Marmion
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