London theatre reviews from UK newspaper The Standard (formerly The Evening Standard)
Here’s a selection of reviews of London shows from the theatre and arts critics at The Standard.
The chief theatre critic at The Standard is Nick Curtis.
See below for a full run-down of star ratings and theatre opinions about West End shows in London from The Standard.
Cloud 9 at the National Theatre Lyttelton (2026)
"Unfortunately, though Dominic Cooke's strongly cast production is as fluent as one could wish, the play resonates more for its…
The Lives of Others at the Adelphi Theatre (2026)
★★★★★
"Keira Knightley's return to the stage is revolutionary." "You could almost call it a gesamtkunstwerk - a “total artwork” -…
Martin Guerre at the Old Vic (2026)
★★★
“This reworked musical about a French peasant returning to his wife but suspected of being an imposter, is committed but…
Hay Fever at the Wyndham's Theatre (2026)
★★★
"A handsome, old-fashioned star vehicle for two great character actors and scene-stealers, Christine Baranski and Richard E. Grant." "The lines…
The Last Ship at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane (2026)
★★
"Many of the songs have a certain majesty, and a resonant sense of working-class community and pride, not least because…
Fences at the Leeds Playhouse and Lyric Hammersmith (2026)
★★★★
"Ray Fearon’s sturdy, fiery Troy Maxson is a loving husband and a showmanlike embroiderer of his own myth[...]Fearon gives a…
Bloodsport: After Helen of Troy at the Stratford East (2026)
★★★★
“With masked gangs of angry men currently on British streets, Ava Pickett’s riposte to toxic masculinity, which transposes the aftermath…
for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf at the The Yard Theatre (2026)
★★★★
“The scrappy Hackney Wick venue elbowed into a crowded London theatre scene in 2011, presenting innovative commissions and programming in…
Kimberly Akimbo at the Hampstead Theatre (2026)
★★★★
" Michael Longhurst’s wry, nimble production also hands 66-year-old musical theatre star Maria Friedman a glittering singing role and an…
The Story at the National Theatre (2026)
★★★★
“A cracking melodrama about race and the media in America.” “Tracey Scott Wilson’s 2003 play has the pace and punch…
Who Killed Marilyn? at the Emerald Theatre (2026)
★
“Purporting to reclaim Marilyn as a talented actress and an independent woman rather than a victim, it in fact ploughs…
Abigail's Party at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2026)
★★★★
“Outhwaite gives a monstrous, physically precise tour de force.” “Peter McKintosh’s set and costume design looks cool rather than naff.”…
How the Other Half Loves at the The Old Vic (2026)
★★★
"meticulously plotted and executed, elegantly staged in the round as originally conceived" "coasts successfully on the comic timing of Dorothy…
I’m Every Woman - The Chaka Khan Musical at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre (2026)
★
"The singing voices of a cast led by an extravagantly bewigged Alexandra Burke are pretty much the only saving grace"…
Tao of Glass at the @sohoplace (2026)
★★★★
"it's magic, and arguably profound." "Fundamentally it's about acceptance — of age and death… and the unknowable mystery of where…
The Oresteia at the Bridge Theatre (2026)
★★★★★
“A brilliant profaning of an almost sacred text.” “Thrillingly stripped back.” “The play happens in a glass cube, an opulent…
Jesus Christ Superstar - London Palladium at the London Palladium (2026)
★★★★
"An OTT, aorta-pumping concert-style production… thrilling, high-octane." "Sheader's production… has the bleary, transportive mood of a festival." "This JCS is…
PRIDE The Musical at the National Theatre (2026)
★★★★
“Not every story needs to be turned into a musical, but Matthew Warchus’s 2014 film Pride seemed to be crying…
Cyrano de Bergerac at the Noël Coward Theatre (2026)
★★★★
“Director Simon Evans and writer Debris Stevenson, who is a poet as well as a playwright, academic and “professional raver”,…
Sinatra The Musical at the Aldwych Theatre (2026)
★★
"Set pieces and grand spectacles do little to distract from the cracks." “Lavishly mounted but lamely written and characterised.” “Joel…
Glengarry Glen Ross at the The Old Vic (2026)
★★★★
"Patrick Marber’s all-female staging of David Mamet’s hyper-masculine 1984 study of desperate real-estate salesmen somehow feels compellingly new and strange."…
High Society at the Barbican Theatre (2026)
★★★
"See this for George, Kendal, Dyer and Lindsay" “It’s the women who impress in this reworked, airy Cole Porter musical…
Equus at the Menier Chocolate Factory (2026)
★★★★
"A fine revival of a deeply odd but significant play" "A forceful revival of Peter Shaffer’s strange play at the…
Sherlock Holmes at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre (2026)
★★
"A garbled take" "Joel Horwood’s script, loosely based on [Conan Doyle's] story The Sign of Four, is an uneasy mix…
1536 at the Ambassadors Theatre (2026)
★★★★★
"As the plot unfolds we judge how much and how little has changed since 1536." "Ava Pickett’s debut play, which…
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