Selected reviews by Fiona Mountford, freelance theatre critic.
Fiona Mountford is a writer and theatre critic. She spent 17 years as the Evening Standard’s theatre critic, and has worked for numerous publications including the Observer, Telegraph, the Spectator, Sunday Times and i news.
More about Fiona Mountford:
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Black Superhero at the Royal Court Theatre (2023)
★★★
"Fierce, frank exploration of black masculinity" "Danny Lee Wynter’s uneven but snappy debut play revolves around a struggling actor who…
i News
Guys & Dolls at the Bridge Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Reinforces the thrill of live theatre like nothing else" "The initial booking period for Nicholas Hytner’s exuberant Guys and Dolls…
i News
Shirley Valentine at the Duke of York's Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Sheridan Smith is a dazzling triumph" "The star was surely born to play Willy Russell’s chirpy yet downtrodden Liverpudlian wife…
i News
Oklahoma! at the Wyndham's Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Swaggering revamp thrums with sexual tension" "Daniel Fish’s Tony-winning version of frontier country is stark: an uncompromising place of rough…
i News
Women, Beware The Devil at the Almeida Theatre (2023)
★★★
"Alison Oliver beguiles as a woman accused of witchcraft" " A wild and unwieldly new work from Lulu Raczka" "The…
i News
Romeo and Julie at the National Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Callum Scott Howells is magnificent as a skint Cardiff single dad" "Playwright Gary Owen and director Rachel O’Riordan have produced…
i News
Trouble in Butetown at the Donmar Warehouse (2023)
★★★
"An underpowered portrait of wartime life in Cardiff" "The standout performance in Diana Nneka Atuona’s new play comes from 10-year-old…
i News
Medea at the @sohoplace (2023)
★★★★
"Sophie Okonedo is blisteringly brilliant in this revenge tragedy" "The in-the-round auditorium of the West End’s newest theatre proves the…
i News
Sylvia at the The Old Vic Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Beverley Knight lets rip in this fast, fearsome suffragette musical" "Kate Prince blends hip hop, dance and funk in her…
i News
Standing at the Sky's Edge at the National Theatre (2023)
★★★★★
"Richard Hawley’s perfect love letter to Sheffield" "This stylish production set on the iconic Park Hill estate is a terrific…
i News
Phaedra at the National Theatre (2023)
★★
"Frenetic and ridiculous" "Janet McTeer is never less than commanding in Simon Stone’s Greek myth retelling, but this divisive play…
i News
The Lehman Trilogy at the Gillian Lynne Theatre (2023)
★★★★★
"Pure theatre magic" "Starring Hadley Fraser, Michael Balogun and Nigel Lindsay, Ben Power’s play is nothing less than an astonishing…
i News
The Tempest at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre (2023)
★★
"Alex Kingston is an uneven Prospero in a lethargic production" "Elizabeth Freestone’s climate change spin on the play contains many…
i News
Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2023)
★★★
"Jenna Coleman and Aidan Turner bring bags of zest" "The performers are on superlative form in Sam Steiner’s sometimes bewildering…
i News
Noises Off at the Phoenix Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Michael Frayn’s farce is as sublimely funny as ever" "The play following a rackety company of actors from final dress…
i News
The Unfriend at the Criterion Theatre (2023)
★★
"Steven Moffat’s house guest comedy is lazy and unfunny" "Mark Gatiss’s production starring Amanda Abbington and Reece Shearsmith pummels ideas…
i News
A Streetcar Named Desire at the Almeida Theatre (2023)
★★★★★
"Paul Mescal boils with raw animal power in a mesmerising revival" "It says something about the quality of a production…
i News
Watch on the Rhine at the Donmar Warehouse (2023)
★★★
"Lillian Hellman’s call to arms is stirring but stodgy" "The writer’s 1941 play – here starring Patricia Hodge – follows…
i News
The Fir Tree at the Shakespeare's Globe (2022)
★★★
"A festive eco-fable that may make you pity your Christmas tree" "Hans Christian Andersen’s obscure fairy tale about a talkative…
The Telegraph
As You Like It at the @sohoplace (2022)
★★★
"Rose Ayling-Ellis is charming in her West End debut" "The Strictly darling stars in As You Like It – the…
i News
Sons of the Prophet at the Hampstead Theatre (2022)
★★★
"A humane but underpowered story of family and loss" "Stephen Karam’s play has some lovely performances but is markedly inferior…
i News
Mandela at the The Young Vic (2022)
★★★
"Musical fails to bring us closer to the political great" "There are heartfelt moments, but should this be a musical?…
i News
Hex at the National Theatre (2022)
★★★★
" It’s a delight" "Rufus Norris and Katrina Lindsay’s ingenious idea of putting a new spin on the fairy behind…
i News
It's A Wonderful Life at the London Coliseum (2022)
★★★★
"The Christmas miracle that should save the ENO" "Let’s hope the Arts Council, which recently announced the bizarre defunding of…
i News
Vardy v Rooney: The Wagatha Christie Trial at the Wyndham's Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Your brain will implode" "Liv Hennessy has whittled seven days’ worth of court transcripts down into two hours that bounce…
i News
The Sex Party at the Menier Chocolate Factory (2022)
★
"Inept and embarrassing – like a rant from your weird uncle" "Terry Johnson’s play has the air of a formerly…
i News
Super High Resolution at the Soho Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"A captivating performance from Blackborow, who has a radiantly expressive face, demonstrates how Anna is so professionally composed but personally…
i News
Mary at the Hampstead Theatre (2022)
★
"What is going on at Hampstead? Urgent questions need to be asked – and soon – about the selection of…
i News
Tammy Faye – A New Musical at the Almeida Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Hallelujah! Elton John’s new musical is a riot" "The pop legend joins forces with the Scissor Sisters’s Jake Shears and…
i News
Good at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"David Tennant is magnetic as a Nazi professor" "In this reimagining of the 1980s modern classic, Tennant gives a compelling…
i News
Blues For An Alabama Sky at the National Theatre (2022)
★★★★★
"Pearl Cleage’s 1995 drama gives our critic the best evening she’s had at the National Theatre in a long time"…
i News
Iphigenia in Splott at the Lyric Hammersmith (2022)
★★★★
"Gary Owen’s furious monodrama, written in 2015 as a response to the austerity policies of the Cameron government, has lost…
i News
Jews. In Their Own Words at the Royal Court (2022)
★★
"The theatre’s response to anti-Semitism claims doesn’t work" "This play, where actors voice the views of 12 Jewish interviewees, is…
i News
The Crucible at the National Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Erin Doherty shines in an immensely powerful revival" "Director Lyndsey Turner offers a still and foreboding production of immense gravity,…
i News
Eureka Day at the The Old Vic (2022)
★★★★★
"Eureka! Here’s the first copper-bottomed hit of the autumn season – and the fact that it stars the Oscar-winning actress…
i News
All's Well That Ends Well at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford upon Avon (2022)
★★
"Director Blanche McIntyre has had the beginnings of a bright idea in updating the setting to our contemporary world of…
i News
Jack Absolute Flies Again at the National Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Light-hearted levity, rather than world-conquering phenomenon" "The result is a qualified triumph of an evening, one that pitches from the…
The Telegraph
Anything Goes at the Barbican Theatre (2022)
★★★★★
"A gloriously frothy and terrifically tuneful tap-dancing confection" "The extended sections of dance are dazzling " "In the words of…
i News
Patriots at the Almeida Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Tom Hollander delivers firecracker Boris Berezovsky lead performance" "There are echoes of The Crown’s confident sweep down the years and…
The Telegraph
Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club (Playhouse Theatre) (2021)
★★★★
"Eddie Redmayne is chilling in this unsettling, stripped-back revival" "Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome to the most eagerly anticipated show of the…
i News
Best of Enemies at the The Young Vic (2021)
★★★★★
"James Graham serves up another thrilling, slyly humorous knockout" "David Harewood and Charles Edwards offer a masterclass as intellectual monster…
i News
Mary Poppins at the Prince Edward Theatre (2021)
★★★★★
"The Most delightful West End show in a long time" "Richard Eyre's 2004 musical is back at the Prince Edward…
The Telegraph
9 to 5 The Musical at the Savoy Theatre (2019)
★★
"It's enough to drive you crazy if you let it" " There’s not enough real firepower here or in Patricia…
The Evening Standard
Hole at the Royal Court Theatre (2018)
★★★
‘The show doesn’t develop sufficiently from its initial premise, although it continues to burn with rage’ ‘The message of this…
The Evening Standard
My Name Is Lucy Barton at the Bridge Theatre (2018)
★★★★
"Impressive" "At first I feared I wouldn’t get along with Lucy Barton. This Lucy Barton, at least, as there is…
The Evening Standard
An Ideal Husband at the Vaudeville Theatre (2018)
★★★★
"Fantastic Foxes team up for a Wilde West End delight" "Jonathan Church’s production triumphs because it skilfully balances Wilde’s light…
The Evening Standard
Tina - The Tina Turner Musical at the Aldwych Theatre (2018)
★★★
"Who better to power a high-profile new show than the queen of rock and roll herself" "Warren is a livewire…
The Evening Standard
Sister Act The Musical at the London Palladium (2009)
★★★★
"Take it away, sisters" "There can be no disputing the evening's main draw: 24-year-old Miller... her magnificent voice is rich,…
The Evening Standard
Thriller Live at the Lyric Theatre (2009)
★★★★
""Thrilling, certainly, but empty, too.""
The Evening Standard
📷 Main photo: Fiona Mountford
