fri 04/04/2025

theatre reviews, news & interviews

The Importance of Being Oscar, Jermyn Street Theatre review - Wilde, still burning bright

Gary Naylor

It’s a greater accolade than a Nobel Prize for Literature – one’s very own adjective. There’s a select few: Shakespearean; Dickensian and Pinteresque. Add to that list, Wildean. 

Stiletto, Charing Cross Theatre review - new musical excess

Gary Naylor

That friend you have who hates musicals – probably male, probably straight, probably not seen one since The Sound of Music on BBC 1 after the Queen’s Speech in 1978 – well, don’t send them to Charing Cross Theatre for this show. But that other friend you have – enjoyed Hamilton, likes a bit of Sondheim, seen a couple of operas – do send them.

Apex Predator, Hampstead Theatre review - poor...

Aleks Sierz

Motherhood is a high stress job. Ask any woman and they will tell you the same: sleepless nights, feeding problems and worry. Lots of worry. Lots and...

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Musical, Theatre...

Gary Naylor

In Italy, they did it differently. Their pulp fiction tales of suburban transgression appeared between yellow covers on new stands and spawned the...

Wilko: Love and Death and Rock'n'Roll,...

Helen Hawkins

Resurrecting the origins of old rock stars is becoming quite the thing, After cinema’s Elton John, Freddie Mercury, Bob Dylan and upcoming Bruce...

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Playhouse Creatures, Orange Tree Theatre review - jokes, shiny costumes and quarrels, but little drama

Aleks Sierz

April De Angelis’s 1993 play is a delightful if sketchy account of Restoration female actors

Dear England, National Theatre review - extra time for stirring soccer classic

Demetrios Matheou

James Graham adds a neat coda to his ode to decency in sport

Weather Girl, Soho Theatre review - the apocalypse as surreal black comedy

Helen Hawkins

A Californian weather girl copes with fires inside and outside her head

Clueless: The Musical, Trafalgar Studios review - a perfectly manicured update

Rachel Halliburton

KT Tunstall's new score brings bite and momentum to a high octane evening

The Habits, Hampstead Theatre review - who knows what adventures await?

Aleks Sierz

New play about the game of Dungeons & Dragons explores fact and fantasy

Farewell Mister Haffmann, Park Theatre review - French hit of confusing genre, with a real historical villain

Helen Hawkins

Jean-Philippe Daguerre tries to mix a farcical comedy of manners with the Holocaust

Edward II, RSC, Swan Theatre, Stratford review - monarchs, murder and mayhem from Marlowe

Gary Naylor

Putsch in the palace brings down a king who chose the wrong person to love

One Day When We Were Young, Park Theatre review - mini-marvel with a poignant punch

Helen Hawkins

Perfectly judged performances enhance a subtle staging of Nick Payne's two-hander

Alterations, National Theatre review - high emotional costs of ambition

Aleks Sierz

The Guyanese migrant experience of 1970s London gets the big-stage treatment

A Knock on the Roof, Royal Court review - poignant account of living under terror

Aleks Sierz

Gaza play is both surreally humorous and finally devastating

The Score, Theatre Royal Haymarket review - curious beast of a play fails to engage

Rachel Halliburton

Missed opportunity to create a rich drama from this intriguing historical encounter

The Ferryman, Gaiety Theatre, Dublin review - Jez Butterworth's Northern Irish epic comes close to home

David Nice

Variable ensemble yields some gripping scenes and monologues

Richard II, Bridge Theatre review - handsomely mounted, emotionally muted

Matt Wolf

Jonathan Bailey makes a petulant stage return in Shakespeare's most luxuriant play

Backstroke, Donmar Warehouse review - a complex journey through a mother-daughter relationship

Helen Hawkins

Tamsin Greig and Celia Imrie shine in a multifaceted portrait of motherhood

Otherland, Almeida Theatre review - a vivid, beautifully written take on the trans experience

Rachel Halliburton

Bush's writing is as fresh as a sea breeze and as lyrical as birdsong

Much Ado About Nothing, Theatre Royal Drury Lane review - this shamelessly hedonistic production is a triumph

Rachel Halliburton

Diamond-sharp banter and an endorphin fizz make this one of the best parties in town

Hamlet, Royal Shakespeare Theatre - Luke Thallon triumphs as the state succumbs to storms

Gary Naylor

The iceberg cometh

East Is South, Hampstead Theatre review - bewildering and unconvincing

Aleks Sierz

House of Cards writer tackles AI and religion, but without the necessary clarity

Unicorn, Garrick Theatre review - wordy and emotionless desire

Aleks Sierz

New West End drama about spicing up marriage is oddly lacking in passion

More Life, Royal Court review - posthuman tragedy fails to come alive

Aleks Sierz

A new sci-fi gothic horror about life after death is intriguing, but flawed

Three Sisters, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse review - Chekhov's anatomy lesson on the human condition

Gary Naylor

Russia - but also here, there and everywhere

Churchill in Moscow, Orange Tree Theatre review - thought-provoking language and power games

Aleks Sierz

Howard Brenton’s new play about Winston and Stalin is both intelligent and fun

The Years, Harold Pinter Theatre review - a bravura, joyous feat of storytelling

Demetrios Matheou

The Almeida’s all-women hit transfers to the West End

Elektra, Duke of York's Theatre review - Brie Larson's London stage debut is angry but inert

Matt Wolf

Brie Larson makes a brave West End debut that, alas, misfires

Footnote: a brief history of British theatre

London theatre is the oldest and most famous theatreland in the world, with more than 100 theatres offering shows ranging from new plays in the subsidised venues such as the National Theatre and Royal Court to mass popular hits such as The Lion King in the West End and influential experimental crucibles like the Bush and Almeida theatres. There's much cross-fertilisation with Broadway, with London productions transferring to New York, and leading Hollywood film actors coming to the West End to star in live theatre. In regional British theatre, the creative energy of theatres like Alan Ayckbourn's Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, the Bristol Old Vic and the Sheffield theatre hub add to the richness of the landscape, while the many town theatres host circling tours of popular farces, crime theatre and musicals.

lion_kingThe first permanent theatre, the Red Lion, was built in Queen Elizabeth I's time, in 1576 in Shoreditch; Shakespeare spent 20 years in London with the Lord Chamberlain's Men, mainly performing at The Theatre, also in Shoreditch. A century later under the merry Charles II the first "West End" theatre was built on what is now Theatre Royal Drury Lane, and Restoration theatre evolved with a strong injection of political wit from Irish playwrights Oliver Goldsmith and Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Catering for more populist tastes, Sadler's Wells theatre went up in 1765, and a lively mix of drama, comedy and working-class music-hall ensued. But by the mid-19th century London theatre was deplored for its low taste, its burlesque productions unfavourably contrasted with the aristocratic French theatre. Calls for a national theatre to do justice to Shakespeare resulted in the first "Shakespeare Memorial" theatre built in Stratford in 1879.

The Forties and Fifties saw a golden age of classic theatre, with Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir Ralph Richardson and Sir John Gielgud starring in world-acclaimed productions in the Old Vic company, and new British plays by Harold Pinter, John Osborne, Beckett and others erupting at the English Stage Company in the Royal Court. This momentum led in 1961 to the establishing of the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford, and in 1963 the launch of the National Theatre at The Old Vic, led by Olivier. In the late Sixties Britain broke the American stranglehold on large-scale modern musicals when Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice launched their brilliant careers with first Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and then Jesus Christ Superstar in 1970, and never looked back. The British modern original musical tradition led on to Les Misérables, The Lion King and most recently Matilda.

The Arts Desk brings you the fastest overnight reviews and ticket booking links for last night's openings, as well as the most thoughtful close-up interviews with major creative figures, actors and playwrights. Our critics include Matt Wolf, Aleks Sierz, Alexandra Coghlan, Veronica Lee, Sam Marlowe, Hilary Whitney and James Woodall.

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