West End Theatre reviews from the UK newspaper the Independent.
Here’s a selection of reviews of London shows from the theatre and arts critics at the Independent newspaper.
Theatre critics at the Independent include Arts Editor of The Independent Jessie Thompson, and Alice Saville, Isobel Lewis and Nicole Vassell.
See below for a full run-down of star ratings and theatre opinions about West End shows in London from the Independent.
Pygmalion at the The Old Vic Theatre (2023)
★★★
"Patsy Ferran’s charisma shines bright in curious production" "Bertie Carvel’s strange performance as linguistics professor Henry Higgins makes the George…
The Little Big Things at the @sohoplace Theatre (2023)
★★
"New musical’s approach to disability is cloying, simplistic and a little old-fashioned" "Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ringing endorsement of this new…
God of Carnage at the Lyric Hammersmith (2023)
★★
"Freema Agyeman comedy is mannered and unsubtle" "Yasmina Reza’s 2008 comedy wavers on the edge of a meaty, satisfying point…
A Mirror at the Almeida Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Jonny Lee Miller is fantastic in this drama about art and censorship" "Playwright Sam Holcroft’s study of how oppressive regimes…
Next to Normal at the Donmar Warehouse (2023)
★★★
"A musical about mental health that feels too neat and tidy" "This Donmar revival of a Broadway smash about a…
The Effect at the National Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Is it love – or drugs? Lucy Prebble’s lab trial drama fires the synapses" "‘I May Destroy You’ star Paapa…
Matthew Bourne's Romeo and Juliet at the Sadler's Wells Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"A spiky and youthful Shakespeare reimagining" "Dance adaptation of the classic tragedy is staged at Sadler’s Wells in London" "Already…
The SpongeBob Musical at the Queen Elizabeth Hall London (2023)
★★★★
"This exuberantly cheerful show will charm the sceptics" (Queen Elizabeth Hall London) "Don’t be fooled by the premise – bringing…
The Crown Jewels at the Garrick Theatre (2023)
★★
"Royal comedy is lacklustre, but Al Murray and Mel Giedroyc still sparkle" "Comedy about a real-life attempt to steal the…
Dr Semmelweis at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2023)
★★★
"A maverick turn from Mark Rylance" "There’s the germ of a great production in this play about a pioneering 19th-century…
A Strange Loop at the Barbican Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"A musical within a musical that you can never second guess" "Michael R Jackson’s acclaimed Broadway hit comes to the…
The Pillowman at the Duke of York's Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Lily Allen is a letdown but this is a modern classic in waiting" "The atmosphere is Kafka-esque, the stories like…
Dear England at the National Theatre (2023)
★★★
"National Theatre’s Southgate play is a solid team effort but no shots on target" "Joseph Fiennes delivers a remarkable performance…
School Girls or The African Mean Girls Play at the Lyric Hammersmith (2023)
★★★★★
"Based in 1980s Ghana, Jocelyn Bioh’s acclaimed off-Broadway hit explores the rapidly changing dynamics of a friendship group..." "Her script…
Romeo and Juliet at the Almeida Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"It’s rare to come across a production of Romeo and Juliet that stays true to Shakespeare’s promise of “two hours’…
When Winston Went To War With The Wireless at the Donmar Warehouse (2023)
★★★★
"This is a pacey play with powerhouse performances and a slick production." "The leads are well supported by a multitalented…
Brokeback Mountain at the Soho Place Theatre (2023)
★★
"This unsubtle adaptation leaves its stars stranded" "Mike Faist and Lucas Hedges are underserved by a clunky production as Annie…
August in England at the Bush Theatre (2023)
★★★
"Lenny Henry’s Windrush play is punchy and poignant" "Henry’s debut play is an impressive vehicle for his comic talent, but…
The Motive and the Cue at the National Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Burton/Gielgud luvvie-off will give you goosebumps" "Mark Gatiss is superb as Sir John Gielgud in Jack Thorne’s affecting play about…
Retrograde at the Kiln Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Ryan Calais Cameron cements himself as one of theatre’s most thrilling voices" "Ivo Jeremiah gives a career-best performance as Sidney…
The Secret Life of Bees at the Almeida Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Sweet new musical is a joyful, inclusive crowd-pleaser" "Duncan Sheik’s score is the true pleasure of this adaptation of Sue…
A Little Life at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2023)
★★
"A naive and psychologically incurious narrative of abuse" "Ivo Van Hove’s adaptation starring James Norton is cold, surgical and humourless"…
Marjorie Prime at the Menier Chocolate Factory (2023)
★★★
"Anne Reid anchors this overly cosy AI play" "Jordan Harrison’s gentle vision of an android-filled future feels too even-handed" "It’s…
Guys & Dolls at the Bridge Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"You’ll struggle to find a classier revival" "Nicholas Hytner’s immersive production sends audiences into the seedy, neon-lit underbelly of Depression-era…
The Great British Bake Off Musical at the Noel Coward Theatre (2023)
★★★
"Sweet songs and silly jokes, but the puns are overdone" "A ‘Bake Off’ inspired musical was never going to be…
Shirley Valentine at the Duke of York's Theatre (2023)
★★★★★
"Sheridan Smith gives the performance of the year so far" "Willy Russell’s 1986 warm, wistful play about a bored housewife…
The Winter's Tale at the Shakespeare's Globe (2023)
★★★
"A quixotic take that gives us two shows in one" "Sean Holmes serves up silliness and wonder in the first…
Medea at the @sohoplace (2023)
★★★★
"Sophie Okonedo has a moving dignity in this triumphant production" "Dominic Cooke’s subtle staging of this Greek myth makes Medea’s…
Phaedra at the National Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Janet McTeer is riveting in a wry, stylish take on sexual obsession" "Six years after ‘Yerma’, director Simon Stone puts…
2:22 A Ghost Story at the Lyric Theatre (2023)
★★★
"Cheryl the actor has arrived – and she’s frightfully good" "The Geordie pop princess makes an impressive West End debut…
Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2023)
★★★
"Aidan Turner and Jenna Coleman squeeze out the juice" "It’s nice that Sam Steiner’s 2015 fringe gem has been plucked…
A Streetcar Named Desire at the Almeida Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Paul Mescal’s cruel Stanley leaves Normal People’s gold chain in tatters" "The ‘Aftersun’ actor gives an entrancing performance in Rebecca…
Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre (2022)
★★
"Tennessee-based Dickens retelling is heavy on the cheese" "Among the small company, George Maguire is a stand-out, as both a…
The Nutcracker at the Royal Opera House (2022)
★★★★
"A Christmas treat on a handsome scale" "Grand and gilded, a Christmas treat on a handsome scale. From its mighty…
Orlando at the Garrick Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Emma Corrin is magnificent as Woolf’s punk rock protagonist" "Michael Grandage’s production has an inventiveness and creativity that’s true to…
Matilda The Musical (2022)
★★★★
"A frothy, whimsical delight" "The musical of Roald Dahl’s classic book is so intrinsically British it will soon be absorbed…
Tammy Faye – A New Musical at the Almeida Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Camp, cutesy and hard to resist" "Rupert Goold’s production at the Almeida about the televangelist, with music by Elton John,…
Light of Passage at the Royal Opera House (2022)
★★★★
"Crystal Pite’s new work is haunting and powerful" "Choreographer Crystal Pite can make dancers move like a murmuration of starlings,…
Good at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2022)
★★★
"David Tennant is hypnotic in muddled Nazi drama" "Dominic Cooke’s revival of CP Taylor’s 1982 play, about a liberal professor…
The Crucible at the National Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"A clever revival that shows the perils of self-righteousness" "‘The Crown’ star Erin Doherty dispels all memories of Princess Anne…
The Mousetrap (2022)
★★★
"Playful Agatha Christie romp is as sweet and light as a fondant fancy" "Saoirse Ronan comes out on top in…
I, Joan at the Shakespeare's Globe (2022)
★★★★
"Funny, fierce non-binary Joan of Arc proves sceptics wrong" "The Globe’s much-publicised production of Charlie Josephine’s new play is no…
101 Dalmatians at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre (2022)
★★★
"The influencer economy comes for Pongo and Perdi" "The puppets are cute in this musical adaptation but the social media…
Patriots at the Almeida Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Tom Hollander gives one of the performances of the year" "If the play sometimes gets heavy – the political and…
The Seagull at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2022)
★★
"Doesn’t half drag-on" "Indira Varma is excellent, but this self-referential rewrite of Chekhov’s 1895 play feels slow and self-indulgent" "It’s…
Mad House at the The Ambassadors Theatre (2022)
★★★
"David Harbour is tremendous fun in this old-fashioned comedy" "It’s a fine showcase for the talents of Harbour and Bill…
That Is Not Who I Am at the Royal Court Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"This strange political mystery is a significant work" "Kirkwood’s pseudonym and the play’s fake title – it’s really called Rapture…
A Dolls House, Part 2 at the Donmar Warehouse (2022)
★★★
"A bit of Ibsen fanfic that’s more of a think piece than a drama" "Is this meta-fiction? Or Ibsen fanfic?…
The Car Man at the Royal Albert Hall (2022)
★★★★
"A deft, intense reinvention, simmering with danger" "Will Bozier and Zizi Strallen give energetic performances as Luca and Lana in…
The Unfriend at the Chichester Festival Theatre (2022)
★★
"Smug and sitcom-ish" "Shearsmith is given most of the funny lines, while Abbington is the naturalistic straight man doing Proper…
The Glass Menagerie at the Duke of York's Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Amy Adams makes a likeable but underpowered West End debut" " Amy Adams’s interpretation is sympathetic, free of the trappings…
The House of Shades at the Almeida Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Anne-Marie Duff is on spectacular form" "At almost three hours, the play can feel unwieldy. Blanche McIntyre’s direction allows us…
My Fair Lady (2022)
★★★★
"Amara Okereke shines as Eliza Doolittle in Bartlett Sher’s glossy musical" "Director wrings every last drop of comic potential out…
Oklahoma! at the Young Vic Theatre (2022)
★★★
"An innovative but unsettling revival of the classic American musical" "Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1943 romance comedy gets a dark reimagining"…
Jerusalem at the Apollo Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Mark Rylance returns for a dark, potent revival of Jez Butterworth’s 2009 play" "There’s a real cruelty to the Englishness…
Prima Facie at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"An extraordinary Jodie Comer exposes our broken legal system in a striking if tidy drama" "In her West End debut,…
The 47th at the The Old Vic (2022)
★★★★
"Bertie Carvel’s hypnotic Trump is a whirlwind, career-defining performance" "Mike Bartlett’s new play, set in 2024 with Donald Trump gearing…
Straight Line Crazy at the Bridge Theatre (2022)
★★
"David Hare’s new historical drama is unsubtle and sluggish" "Ralph Fiennes stars as Robert Moses, the man who once unofficially…
Cock at the Ambassadors Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Jonathan Bailey captivates as Taron Egerton’s sexually conflicted lover" "Revival of Mike Bartlett’s 2009 play fizzes with energy" "Our language…
The Collaboration at the The Young Vic (2022)
★★★★
"Bettany is a neurotic Andy Warhol in this fantastically enjoyable play" "Anthony McCarten’s Young Vic pacy production is an exercise…
Moulin Rouge! The Musical at the Piccadilly Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Ostentatious, absurd and ravishing" "The film is an alchemical delight – romantic and craven, tawdry and glamorous."
Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club (Playhouse Theatre) (2021)
★★★★★
"A vibrant and frightening revival that belongs to Jessie Buckley" "London’s Playhouse Theatre is transformed into the Kit Kat Club…
A Chorus Line at the Curve Leicester (2021)
★★★★
"Innovative in unexpected ways" "Flashy production at the Leicester Curve is supremely slick, but hindered by one gimmicky trick"
The Ocean at the End of the Lane at the Duke of York's Theatre (2021)
★★★★★
"A thunderous, sometimes terrifying adaptation" "Joel Horwood’s thunderous adaptation finds wonder even in the most unremarkable of moments." "While the…
Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) at the Criterion Theatre (2021)
★★★★
"There’s bite to this fluffy cucumber sandwich of a show" "Austen is a master of understatement and carefully shaded little…
Frozen The Musical at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane (2021)
★★★
"An immaculately executed theme park ride of a musical" "The stage adaptation of Disney’s smash will leave you dazed and…
Cinderella at the Gillian Lynne Theatre (2021)
★★★
"Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical is high-camp fun with a muddled message" "So was Cinderella worth the wait? Well, yes and…
The Snowman at the Peacock Theatre (2020)
"A new Christmas tradition is being established. The Peacock Theatre is now filled with children whose parents were themselves children…
Cyrano de Bergerac at the Playhouse Theatre (2019)
★★★★
"Jamie Lloyd goes for broke on the rap front in this characteristically inventive and sometimes piercingly perceptive production" “James McAvoy…
& Juliet at the Shaftesbury Theatre (2019)
★★★★
"A gloriously silly, unexpectedly poignant production" "Built around the powerhouse-pop of songwriting savant Max Martin, the jukebox musical imagines a…
DEAR EVAN HANSEN at the Noel Coward Theatre (2019)
★★★★★
"A superb, unmissable musical" "Sam Tutty gives a star-making performance in a story of grief, deception and the conscienceless juggernaut…
Vassa at the Almeida Theatre (2019)
★★★★
"A vivid, horribly vital production." "Siobhan Redmond shines in this disgracefully funny adaptation of Maxim Gorky’s 1910 play." "Fly Davis’s…
The Starry Messenger at the Wyndham's Theatre (2019)
★★★★
"Some theatregoers may be disappointed, given the momentousness of what’s at issue here, that the dialogue doesn’t vocalise that. So…
Sergei Polunin at the London Palladium (2019)
★★
"None of the splashiness of Polunin’s first ventures" "This mixed bill is a stripped back, underpowered affair, with nods to…
Betrayal at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2019)
★★★★★
"Tom Hiddleston excels in searching Pinter revival" "Crowning his superlative six-month Pinter season, Jamie Lloyd directs an exceptionally thoughtful and…
Waitress at the Adelphi Theatre, (2019)
★★★★
"This show is the real deal" "This is both a romcom set in the workplace and a feminist drama in…
Come From Away - UK Tour at the Phoenix Theatre (2019)
★★★
"Drama thrives on conflict and this musical about 9/11 has very little of that" "It would be impossible to imagine…
All About Eve at the Noel Coward Theatre (2019)
★★★★
"Gillian Anderson is arresting in emphatically successful update of classic film" "The supporting cast are hit-and-miss, but Anderson and Lily…
True West at the Vaudeville Theatre (2018)
★★★
"Kit Harington does fine work in engaging dose of visceral elation" "It’s Johnny Flynn whose comic perfection elevates this production…
Company at the Gielgud Theatre (2018)
★★★★
"Broadway legend Patti LuPone gives another stand-out performance as Joanne, the moneyed lush who can’t credit that her husband genuinely…
Translations at the National Theatre (2018)
★★★★
"Magnificent revival" "The depth and richness of this 1980 classic by Brian Friel are sounded beautifully in Ian Rickson’s magnificent…
My Name Is Lucy Barton at the Bridge Theatre (2018)
"Laura Linney is luminous in this one-woman show." "Laura Linney gives a luminous – unaffected and deeply affecting." "The three-time…
Killer Joe at the Trafalgar Studios (2018)
★★★
"Orlando Bloom has full command of the stage – but the play itself is queasily dated." "The explicitness (above and…
Julie at the National Theatre (2018)
★★★
"Vanessa Kirby shines, but the dramatic stakes are lowered in Polly Stenham's update of Strindberg." "The play looks at the…
Red at the Wyndham's Theatre (2018)
★★★★
"Alfred Molina plays Mark Rothko in a phenomenal production of a flawed play" "Michael Grandage’s superlative staging of the piece…
An Ideal Husband at the Vaudeville Theatre (2018)
★★★★
"Edward and Freddie Fox create a delicious double act" "Oscar Wilde’s comedy gets a shrewd, enjoyable revival from Jonathan Church.…
An Ideal Husband at the Vaudeville Theatre (2018)
★★★★
"Edward and Freddie Fox create a delicious double act" "Oscar Wilde’s comedy gets a shrewd, enjoyable revival from Jonathan Church.…
Hamilton at the Victoria Palace Theatre (2017)
★★★★★
"A magnificent achievement" "The most frenziedly anticipated musical in London since ‘The Book of Mormon’ lives up to the hype…
Sister Act The Musical at the London Palladium (2009)
★★★
"It's show time, not musical theatre magic" "There's nothing really refreshingly new here even if you might feel like brushing…
Oliver! at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane (2009)
"A masterpiece is restored, but not in its fullest glory."
Thriller Live at the Lyric Theatre (2009)
★★★★
"Immensely enjoyable compilation" "It's a shame that Gary Lloyd's production has no theatrical justification whatsoever, but the presentation is so…
📷 Main photo: Independent
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