sat 17/05/2025

theatre reviews, news & interviews

1536, Almeida Theatre review - fast and furious portrayal of women in Henry VIII's England

Rachel Halliburton

Ava Pickett’s award-winning début play, 1536, is a foul-mouthed, furious, frenetically funny ride through the lives of three young women living in Henry VIII’s England in the year of Anne Boleyn’s execution.

The Comedy About Spies, Noel Coward Theatre review - 'Goes Wrong' team hit the spot again

Veronica Lee

From the creative team that brought you The Play That Goes Wrong in 2012 (and assorted sequels) comes this spy caper. As ever with Mischief productions, their latest work is a lot of fun and pays its dues to the great age of British farce (and pantomime too) with clever wordplay and physical comedy as things go increasingly awry.

House of Games, Hampstead Theatre review -...

Helen Hawkins

There is so much that is right about Jonathan Kent’s new production of House of Games – the casting, the staging, the direction. But the flaw it can’...

Here We Are, National Theatre review - Sondheim...

Matt Wolf

You don't have to be greeting the modern day with a smile unsupported by events in the wider world to have a field day at Here We Are. The last...

Giant, Harold Pinter Theatre review - incendiary...

Helen Hawkins

When Mark Rosenblatt was preparing his debut play, the miseries of the assault on Gaza were still over the horizon. Now they are here, another...

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Einkvan, Det Norske Teatret, The Coronet Theatre review - alienation times six

David Nice

Estranged father, mother and son each doubled in Jon Fosse’s mesmerising meditation

The Gang of Three, King's Head Theatre - three old Labour ghosts resurrected to entertain and educate

Gary Naylor

Beautifully written and equally well acted play resonates down the decades

Conversations After Sex, Park Theatre review - pillow talk proves a snooze

Gary Naylor

Award-winning Irish play fails to reach a memorable climax

Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare's Globe - swagger and vivacity cohabit with death

Rachel Halliburton

Sean Holmes’ Western-style production brings a flamboyant start to the summer season

Krapp's Last Tape, Barbican review - playing with the lighter side of Beckett's gloom

Helen Hawkins

The Irish actor Stephen Rea is a silent-movie Krapp to treasure

My Master Builder, Wyndham's Theatre review - Ewan McGregor headlines stillborn Ibsen riff

Matt Wolf

Starry new writing premiere struggles to connect

Dealer's Choice, Donmar Warehouse review - fresh take on a classic about male self-destruction

Helen Hawkins

An ideal revisiting of Patrick Marber's play about risking all to move ahead

Much Ado About Nothing, RSC, Stratford - Messina FC scores on the bardic football field

Gary Naylor

Garish and gossipy, this new production packs a punch between the laughs

Ben and Imo, Orange Tree Theatre review - vibrant, strongly acted fiction about Britten and Imogen Holst

David Nice

Let’s make a coronation opera, with bags of dramatic licence

The Great Gatsby, London Coliseum review - lavish and lively production fails to capture the novel's tortured soul

Rachel Halliburton

The production gets stronger in the second half as the shadows of tragedy begin to loom

The Inseparables, Finborough Theatre review - uneven portrait of a close female friendship

Helen Hawkins

De Beauvoir's novel gets an often charming but undemanding staging

Personal Values, Hampstead Theatre review - deep grief that's too brief

Aleks Sierz

New play about two sisters, death and hoarding is well written, but feels incomplete

Ghosts, Lyric Hammersmith Theatre - turns out, they do fuck you up

Gary Naylor

Ten years on, Gary Owen and Rachel O'Riordan top their triumphant Iphigenia in Splott

All the Happy Things, Soho Theatre review - deep feelings, but little drama

Aleks Sierz

New play about a sibling’s death is well imagined and deeply felt, but a bit slender

Shanghai Dolls, Kiln Theatre review - fascinating slice of history inadequately told

Helen Hawkins

Amy Ng's take on two Chinese titans needs more dramatic ballast

Manhunt, Royal Court review - terrifyingly toxic masculinity

Aleks Sierz

After his Olivier Award win for Oedipus, Robert Icke turns to a modern “monster”

Midnight Cowboy, Southwark Playhouse - new musical cannot escape the movie's long shadow

Gary Naylor

Two misfits misfire in misconceived show

Thanks for Having Me, Riverside Studios review - snappily performed comedy with a lightweight core

Helen Hawkins

Writer-actor Keelan Kember floods the stage with a torrent of gags but few ideas

Rhinoceros, Almeida Theatre review - joyously absurd and absurdly joyful

Aleks Sierz

Ionesco classic gets an entertainingly vivid and contemporary update

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

Gary Naylor

Alastair Whatley honours his subject in a quietly powerful performance

Stiletto, Charing Cross Theatre review - new musical excess

Gary Naylor

Quirky, operatic show won't please everyone, but will delight many

Apex Predator, Hampstead Theatre review - poor writing turns horror into silliness

Aleks Sierz

New play about motherhood and vampirism is disappointingly incoherent

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Musical, Theatre Royal Bath review - not a screaming success

Gary Naylor

1950s America feels a lot like 2020s America in this portmanteau show

Wilko: Love and Death and Rock'n'Roll, Southwark Playhouse review - charismatic reincarnation of a rock legend

Helen Hawkins

Johnson Willis captures the anarchic energy and wit of the late guitarist

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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