Selected reviews by Quentin Letts, theatre critic and journalist for the Times and Sunday Times.
Quentin is the political sketch writer for The Times and a theatre critic for The Sunday Times. He has written about parliament and its scurvy occupants since 1990.
Quentin joined the Times and Sunday Times in 2018, following 18 years writing for the Daily Mail, as their parliamentary sketch writer and theatre critic.
His books include the bestselling 50 People Who Buggered Up Britain and The Speaker’s Wife, a novel.
More about Quentin Letts:
The Times Bio & Articles | MuckRack | Twitter
The Way Old Friends Do at the Park Theatre (2023)
★★★
"This Abba comedy by Mark Gaitis is jolly good fun (Birmingham Rep)" "Mamma mia! It’s camp and funny — and…
The Sunday Times
Guys & Dolls at the Bridge Theatre (2023)
★★★★★
"Shamelessly sexy" "Hurrah! A joyous liberation from our age’s ghastly priggishness" "From the opening blast of the overture you know…
The Sunday Times
The Great British Bake Off Musical at the Noel Coward Theatre (2023)
★★
"It gave me tooth rot" "A stage spin-off of the show is a horribly saccharine enterprise" "This spin-off from the…
The Sunday Times
Shirley Valentine at the Duke of York's Theatre (2023)
★★★★★
"Sheridan Smith is the ultimate leading lady" "The actress goes beyond star quality as Willy Russell’s liberated Scouse housewife in…
The Sunday Times
Women, Beware The Devil at the Almeida Theatre (2023)
★
"The director Rupert Goold and the set designer Miriam Buether throw all their talents at this cod-medieval story about witch-hunting…
The Sunday Times
Medea at the @sohoplace (2023)
★★★
"Sophie Okonedo, initially in sunglasses, is self-assured and chic in the title role, although she never quite mines the depths."…
The Sunday Times
The Lehman Trilogy at the Gillian Lynne Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"The Lehman Trilogy is back — but is it better?" "Five years after it first astonished audiences, the tale of…
The Sunday Times
Linck & Mülhahn at the Hampstead Theatre (2023)
★★★
"Maggie Bain and Helena Wilson are sweet, if a little 21st-century, as the lovebirds. Owen Horsley’s production is jolted by…
The Sunday Times
2:22 A Ghost Story at the Lyric Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"It’s a chilling modern classic" "The pop singer proves the snoots were wrong in her West End debut." "This domestic…
The Sunday Times
Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2023)
★★
"Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons, a revived 2015 chin-stroker from Sam Steiner, is altogether more pretentious. It’s the sort of…
The Sunday Times
Noises Off at the Phoenix Theatre (2023)
★★★
" Act II, when we see the panic and calamities backstage, can be the stuff of genius. So it proves…
The Sunday Times
A Streetcar Named Desire at the Almeida Theatre (2023)
★★★★★
"A Streetcar Named Desire is superb" "Ferran is so convincing that it is hard to imagine how the show could…
The Sunday Times
Watch on the Rhine at the Donmar Warehouse (2023)
★★★★
"Donald Trump must see this" "This revival about US wartime isolationism is gripping and timely." "Ellen McDougall’s production whacks you…
The Sunday Times
Hex at the National Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Full of spectacle and knowing jokes and performed with infectious vigour." "Jim Fortune’s music is a mish-mash, but the staging…
The Sunday Times
Orlando at the Garrick Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Corrin has a magnetic presence" "There are two solid reasons to catch Michael Grandage’s Orlando. The first is Emma Corrin’s…
The Sunday Times
Vardy v Rooney: The Wagatha Christie Trial at the Wyndham's Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Much of Vardy v Rooney — the costumes, the wild stakes, the vanities and tautness of plot — felt theatrical.…
The Sunday Times
The Sex Party at the Menier Chocolate Factory (2022)
★★
"An orgy in Islington" "Oglers may initially enjoy The Sex Party, a new Terry Johnson play at the reopened Menier.…
The Sunday Times
A Christmas Carol at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Adrian Edmondson’s bulgy-eyed, lip-licking Scrooge is the best thing about the show. “K-k-keep the change,” Scrooge stammers when he is…
The Sunday Times
Fisherman's Friends: The Musical at the Theatre Royal Bath (2022)
★★★★
"I loved it, me hearties" "Blow me down, this sea shanty yarn is a beautifully sung tonic." "The opening sound…
The Sunday Times
Tammy Faye – A New Musical at the Almeida Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Elton John helps put the fun into fundamentalism" "The singer teams up with James Graham and the Scissor Sisters’ Jake…
The Sunday Times
A Single Man at the Park Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Philip Wilson’s production is easy to watch. The set design by Caitlin Abbott, with a few sliding compartments, sound effects…
The Sunday Times
My Neighbour Totoro at the Barbican Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"A monster hit" "The RSC hits the spot with an ambitious children’s show based on a 1980s Japanese classic" "Even…
The Sunday Times
Good at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2022)
★★★
"David Tennant’s hero isn’t a nice man, he’s a Nazi swine" "This production’s big draw is David Tennant as Halder.…
The Sunday Times
The Band's Visit at the Donmar Warehouse (2022)
★★★★
"The best show at the Donmar Warehouse in ages" "The Band’s Visit restores faith in humanity. This little show, adapted…
The Sunday Times
John Gabriel Borkman at the Bridge Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Although Beale is, as always, delicious to watch, his voice so civilised and English, it doesn’t quite work. He lacks…
The Sunday Times
The Crucible at the National Theatre (2022)
★★★★★
"The Crucible is a five-star scorcher" "Arthur Miller’s 1692 witch hunt targets today’s hanging judges" "Lyndsey Turner’s production of The…
The Sunday Times
The Snail House at the Hampstead Theatre (2022)
★★
"It is unexpectedly shouty" "the second half improves... and by the end it almost has a Chekhovian flavour"
The Sunday Times
The Clothes They Stood Up In at the Nottingham Playhouse (2022)
★★★
"Alan Bennett grapples with everyday horrors" "Scarborough being perfect as this fussy, inadequate little martinet. Sophie Thompson overdoes things a…
The Sunday Times
The Clinic at the Almeida Theatre (2022)
★★
"The Clinic is an attack on middle-class pretension" "Commercial theatres might have been tougher on, and therefore ultimately more helpful…
The Sunday Times
Silence at the Donmar Warehouse (2022)
★★
"This show adapts a Kavita Puri book, Partition Voices. As a record of ethnic cleansing, it has raw historical value,…
The Sunday Times
Gary Barlow - A Different Stage at the Duke of York's Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Hail Gary Barlow, the sex god from next door" "The Take That frontman’s one-man show is rueful and engaging" "This…
The Sunday Times
I, Joan at the Shakespeare's Globe (2022)
★★
"A gender-fluid Joan of Arc? Pull the other one" "It’s not a bad idea, but do we really need battle…
The Sunday Times
All of Us at the National Theatre (2022)
★★
"Taking aim at Tories" "The jokes soon dry up and go down the partisan plughole." "Tory scum kill disabled people:…
The Sunday Times
Identical at the Nottingham Playhouse (2022)
★★★★
"Even I wept buckets at this wonderful weepy" "With songs by Stiles and Drewe, it is a gooey offering. The…
The Sunday Times
The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe at the Gillian Lynne Theatre (2022)
★★★
"I wanted The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to evoke wonder" "In all it’s a shrewd commercial package for…
The Sunday Times
Sister Act at the Eventim Apollo (2022)
★★★
"Beverley Knight, voice like a jumbo jet, plays a Philadelphia nightclub singer, Deloris, who takes sanctuary in a convent after…
The Sunday Times
Jack Absolute Flies Again at the National Theatre (2022)
★★★★★
"This loveable show should revive the battered box office at the National Theatre" "... this is an enormously loveable show.…
The Sunday Times
Much Ado About Nothing at the National Theatre (2022)
★★★
"The test of any Much Ado is the moment Beatrice goes icy and asks Benedick to “kill Claudio”. If the…
The Sunday Times
Crazy For You at the Chichester Festival Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"When it comes to song and dance and liquid watchability, Stemp is the works. He plays our rich kid, Bobby…
The Sunday Times
Anything Goes at the Barbican Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Fear not, little flock. The Cole Porter musical Anything Goes is back at the Barbican after last summer’s triumphant run.…
The Sunday Times
Patriots at the Almeida Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Playwright Peter Morgan‘s slick horror show captures the early days of the despot but makes him sound like Rodney from…
The Sunday Times
The Seagull at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2022)
★
"Emilia Clarke can’t save The Seagull" "The stage is a bare, doorless, three-sided chipboard box. The actors are barefoot and…
The Sunday Times
A Dolls House, Part 2 at the Donmar Warehouse (2022)
★★★
"A radical feminist wrestling match" "Patricia Allison impresses as Emmy, but she and Dumezweni are given little ammunition to make…
The Sunday Times
Tony! [The Tony Blair Rock Opera] at the Park Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Tony Blair lives on in song" "No one is spared in Harry Hill’s New Labour rock opera" "After the self-polishing…
The Sunday Times
My Fair Lady (2022)
★★★★
"My Fair Lady reminded me why we go to West End shows" "From the moment the overture starts swirling around…
The Sunday Times
The 47th at the The Old Vic (2022)
★★★★★
"At last, a five-star Trump we can love" "Bertie Carvel is remarkable as the former president in this outrageous, must-see…
The Sunday Times
To Kill A Mockingbird at the Gielgud Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Aaron Sorkin supercharges To Kill a Mockingbird" "At last, here’s a play with serious oomph — pity about Rafe Spall’s…
The Sunday Times
Straight Line Crazy at the Bridge Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Ralph Fiennes takes on middle-class women" "David Hare’s play makes town planning exciting" "Danny Webb does a strong turn as…
The Sunday Times
The Human Voice at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2022)
★★
"Jean Cocteau wrote this bottom-numbing play in 1928, when it must at least have had shock value and when the…
The Sunday Times
The Ocean at the End of the Lane at the Duke of York's Theatre (2021)
★★★★
"Only for the brave - screams galore await" "The ghoulery is done well, a team of anonymous, black-clad performers carrying…
The Times
Cinderella at the Gillian Lynne Theatre (2021)
★★★★
"Cinderella is a triumph" "Cinderella is a triumph of catchy songs and fabulous wigs — it shouldn’t be denied to…
The Sunday Times
Solaris at the Lyric Hammersmith (2019)
★★★
"There's a touch of Blake's 7 to the Lyric's Solaris - and it's all the better for it" "it might…
The Times
All About Eve at the Noel Coward Theatre (2019)
★★★★
"Superbly assured, but it's All About gimmicks" "Gimmickry can be fascinating, as when Margo’s face is rapidly aged in a…
Daily Mail
Company at the Gielgud Theatre (2018)
★★★★
"Sondheim revamped with a gender bender twist" "Yet another old show has been warmed up with gender bending." "In places…
Daily Mail
Tina - The Tina Turner Musical at the Aldwych Theatre (2018)
★★★★★
"That voice, I tell you: it could reduce the very citadel of Jericho to rubble" "Adrienne Warren. Dimples to kill.…
Daily Mail
Sister Act The Musical at the London Palladium (2009)
★★
"Hold on to your wimples" "Call me a miserable old monk, but I hated Sister Act"
Daily Mail
Oliver! at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane (2009)
"It is pointless to say that Sir Cameron Mackintosh has a hit because advance ticket sales are already enormous, but…
Daily Mail
📷 Main photo: Critics - Quentin Letts
