News & Reviews

REVIEW: Lesere, Jermyn Street Theatre ✭✭

In terms of lighting, set, costumes, sound and design the creative team led by director Donnacadh O’Briain do a very solid job, alongside the cast. But the p…

Tim Hochstrasser

News & Reviews

REVIEW: What's It All About?, Menier Chocolate Factory ✭✭✭✭

There are shreds and patches of key songs, which, like Wagnerian leitmotifs, bind the whole experience, make it less a concert and more a pop/rock/r&b op…

REVIEW: Othello, Royal Shakespeare Theatre ✭✭✭

This is a curious production of Othello. You get the bones of the story, clearly, but the flesh, the marrow, the heart - all of which depends upon the rich c…

Hughes, Head and Cusack Star in New Play Ticking

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

REVIEW: Volpone, Swan Theatre ✭✭

Henry Goodman is assured and magnetic as the titular Volpone. He gives a larger than life performance which suits - entirely - Johnson's larger than life cha…

REVIEW: Constellations, Trafalgar Studios ✭✭✭✭✭

Constellations is a 75 minute jewel of a play. It is a play about things that happen, might happen and could happen – just like life.

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

LaChiusa Musical Hits Jermyn Street

First Look At The Who's Tommy

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

REVIEW: I Sing!, Drayton Arms ✭✭✭✭

The original creators can be proud; I Sing! is a wonderful show with a wonderful cast and deserves to find a home for longer than the scheduled week.

Danny Coleman-Cooke

News & Reviews

REVIEW: Noonday Demons, Kings Head Theatre ✭

This evening, I was sent to see Noonday Demons at the Kings' Head Theatre. But, that is not exactly what happened...

Miss Saigon Announces West End Closing Date

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

Rehearsal Images For Benedict Cumberbatch In Hamlet

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

Listen to Victoria Serra Sing Girl In the Mirror From Grand Hotel

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

Win Tickets To Bette Midler at The O2

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

REVIEW: The Mentalists, Wyndhams Theatre ✭✭✭

The Mentalists is a fun and lively Pinteresque farce from a very talented playwright. Whilst there are a few thematic flaws, an amusing script guarantees an …

Danny Coleman-Cooke

News & Reviews

REVIEW: The Rhythm Of Life, St James Theatre ✭✭✭

Coleman worked in an era where Broadway was consistently part of the Top 10. Not every number presented as part of Rhythm Of Life deserved placement in the s…

Danny Coleman-Cooke

News & Reviews

In The Heights Transfers to Kings Cross Theatre

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

Zoë Wanamaker Joins The Cast Of Harlequinade

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

REVIEW: The House Of Mirrors And Hearts, Arcola Theatre ✭✭✭✭

The future of British musicals seems assured. It’s wonderful to see a musical that eschews a jukebox or movie mentality and goes instead for an original stor…

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

REVIEW: Orson's Shadow, Southwark Playhouse ✭✭✭✭✭

The play is staged in the round with a pleasing and teasing contrast between the artifice stage convention and informality. The gestures towards setting are …

Tim Hochstrasser

News & Reviews

REVIEW: The Four Fridas, Royal Artillery Barracks ✭✭✭

Memories still linger of the impressive Opening Ceremonies to the Olympic and Paralympic Games held in London in 2012, and The Four Fridas is best viewed as …

Tim Hochstrasser

News & Reviews

REVIEW: Sibling Revelry, Hippodrome Casino ✭✭✭

Sibling Revelry is nothing revolutionary or groundbreaking and nor does it claim to be. However, if you’re looking for some top class performances from some …

Danny Coleman-Cooke

News & Reviews

REVIEW: East Is East, Churchill Theatre (On Tour) ✭✭✭✭

East is East is set in the early 70s, was written in the 80s and released as a film in the mid 90s. And yet it’s remarkable how little it has dated. Since th…

Danny Coleman-Cooke

News & Reviews

Open Auditions Held For Motown The Musical

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

REVIEW: I Love You You're Perfect Now Change, Above The Arts ✭✭✭

Watching Julie Atherton, Simon Lipkin, Gina Best and Samuel Holmes work their magic, individually, in couples, and as a quartet, it was difficult not to wond…

REVIEW: The Gruffalo, Lyric Theatre ✭✭✭✭

Matilda this show is not – the original and the adaptation are thin fare in comparison with the disturbing and multi-layered creations of Dahl and his later …

Tim Hochstrasser

News & Reviews

REVIEW: As Is, Trafalgar Studios ✭✭✭✭

Viewed one way, Hoffman's play is not a play about AIDS and its repercussions; it is a play about ignorance, discrimination and fear. Viewed that way, it is …

REVIEW: Black Cat Cabaret - Nocturne, London Wonderground ✭✭✭

One of the most exciting features of the current fairground-cluster that is London Wonderground on the South Bank is the focus on late night cabaret. In the …

Tim Hochstrasser

News & Reviews

The Diver Comes To the Rag Factory

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

The Play That Goes Wrong - New Cast Announced

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

Love Me Tender Trailer Released

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

REVIEW: The Importance Of Being Earnest, Vaudeville Theatre ✭✭✭

Director AdrianNoble strikes gold in the quartet of lovers: Gwendolyn, Jack, Cicely and Algernon. Without any question, Emily Barber and Imogen Doel are utte…

REVIEW: The Dreamers, St James Theatre ✭✭

The Dreamers is a real mixed bag. Musically it is often very strong; the musical direction and band are both terrific. However, lyrically and dramatically it…

Danny Coleman-Cooke

News & Reviews

REVIEW: To Kill A Mockingbird, Barbican Theatre ✭✭✭✭✭

Timothy Sheader's utterly astonishing, profoundly beautiful, and intensely gripping production of To Kill A Mockngbird, is now playing at the Barbican Theatr…

REVIEW: Measure For Measure, Shakespeares Globe ✭✭✭

This is a feel-good production of a difficult play. The very best thing about it is Dominic Rowan’s exceptionally charismatic Duke. In the second half, parti…

CRITIC'S CHOICE: Top 10 New West End Plays 30 June 2015

REVIEW: Rent Boy The Musical, Above The Stag ✭✭✭

The star of the show, in truth, is Carole Todd's spirited, cheeky, and knowing choreography, which brings out the very best in the cast and masterfully estab…

CRITIC'S CHOICE: Top 10 New West End Musicals 30 June 2015

REVIEW: Amour, Royal Academy Of Music ✭✭✭✭

If tonight’s performance represents the future of British theatre then we are in very safe hands indeed. OK, so the story is about as substantial as the wall…

Danny Coleman-Cooke

News & Reviews

REVIEW: An Oak Tree, National Theatre ✭✭✭✭

Crouch delights in theatre which unsettles and pushes boundaries and An Oak Tree is no exception. In parts, it is brilliant and it is never less than compell…

Rocky Horror Show Tour Cast Announced

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

Charlie And The Chocolate Factory Celebrate Start of 3rd Year.

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

Harry Potter And The Cursed Child To Open Summer 2016

Douglas Mayo

News & Reviews

REVIEW: Asking Rembrandt, Old Red Lion Theatre ✭✭✭✭✭

There is not much room for manoeuvre upstairs at the Old Red Lion, but the creative team, led by director Jonathan Kemp, have put together a flexible and wel…

Tim Hochstrasser

News & Reviews

REVIEW: The Motherf**ker With The Hat, Lyttleton Theatre ✭✭✭

It's not that this is a bad play; it's more that it is not really a play at all. It's a series of separate scenes, mostly two-handers, which chiefly concern …

REVIEW: Joking Apart, Theatre Royal Windsor ✭✭✭✭

As with so many theatres of a certain age, the bar at the Theatre Royal is proudly lined with photos of bygone productions from the golden age of repertory t…

Tim Hochstrasser

News & Reviews

REVIEW: Bend It Like Beckham, Phoenix Theatre ✭✭✭✭

Act Two is practically perfect. It starts with a fabulous number for the girls, Glorious, and it never looks back. It's full of great music from Goodall and …

REVIEW: The Seagull, Regent's Park Open Air Theatre ✭✭✭✭

Betts' adaptation (re-imagining is perhaps more accurate) certainly tries to evoke the same effect Chekhov must have had on his original audiences. There is …

REVIEW: Alpha Beta, Finborough Theatre ✭✭

It’s exactly as bleak as it sounds; the entire play is one long, petty, extended, circular argument, stretched over nine miserable years. There’s very little…

Danny Coleman-Cooke

News & Reviews