Theatre Reviews
The Bay at Nice, Menier Chocolate Factory review - David Hare talkfest takes intermittent wingWednesday, 20 March 2019
David Hare knows a thing or two about sustaining an onstage face-off. Skylight and The Breath of Life consist tantalisingly of little else and so, for the most part, does his 1986 curiosity The Bay at Nice, which I caught back in the day during a premiere engagement at the Cottesloe that was given immediate lustre by the ravishing Irene Worth. Read more... |
The Rubenstein Kiss, Southwark Playhouse review - slick spy drama doesn't quite come togetherWednesday, 20 March 2019
It's an ideal time to revive James Phillips's debut The Rubenstein Kiss. Since it won the John Whiting Award for new writing in 2005 its story, of ideological differences tearing a family apart, has only become more relevant. Read more... |
Richard II, Sam Wanamaker Theatre review - electrifying mixed-race all-female productionMonday, 18 March 2019
Richard II has become the drama of our times, as it walks us through the impotent convulsions of a weak and vain leader brought down by in-fighting among his men. Read more... |
Betrayal, Harold Pinter Theatre review - Tom Hiddleston anchors a bold, brooding revivalThursday, 14 March 2019
The grand finale of Jamie Lloyd’s remarkable Pinter at the Pinter season is this starry production of one of the writer’s greatest – and certainly most personal – works, inspired by his extramarital affair with Joan Bakewell. Read more... |
Admissions, Trafalgar Studios review - topical and whiplash-smartWednesday, 13 March 2019
Joshua Harmon knows how to stir and excite an audience and does that and more with Admissions, newly arrived in the West End as part of the ongoing tsunami of American theatre across the capital just now. Read more... |
The Twilight Zone, Ambassadors Theatre review – retro wit for our new space ageWednesday, 13 March 2019
As China and the US arm-wrestle for world domination in everything from trade to military power, we find ourselves in the throes of a space race again. Read more... |
Angry Alan, Soho Theatre review - superb monologue about the rise of 'meninism'Monday, 11 March 2019
Penelope Skinner's monologue was a critical and audience hit at last year's Edinburgh Fringe, when its talking point found its moment. Here is Roger, a divorced father who lives in Walnut Creek and has lost his senior management job at AT&T, drifting along in middle age, when he discovers Angry Alan, his online saviour. Read more... |
Waitress, Adelphi Theatre review - sweet if sometimes silly musical arrives from BroadwayFriday, 08 March 2019
There's a lovely, quietly subversive musical lurking somewhere in Waitress, and for extended passages in the second act that show is allowed to shine through. Read more... |
Medea, Internationaal Theater Amsterdam, Barbican review - lacerating contemporary tragedyThursday, 07 March 2019
Hallucinatory theatre has struck quite a few times in the Barbican's international seasons. Read more... |
Alys, Always, Bridge Theatre review - mildly perverse but rather dispiritingThursday, 07 March 2019
Okay, so this is the play that will be remembered for the character names that have unusual spellings. As in Alys not Alice, Kyte not Kite, etc. Read more... |
Pages
Advertising feature
★★★★★
‘A compulsive, involving, emotionally stirring evening – theatre’s answer to a page-turner.’
The Observer, Kate Kellaway
Direct from a sold-out season at Kiln Theatre the five star, hit play, The Son, is now playing at the Duke of York’s Theatre for a strictly limited season.
★★★★★
‘This final part of Florian Zeller’s trilogy is the most powerful of all.’
The Times, Ann Treneman
Written by the internationally acclaimed Florian Zeller (The Father, The Mother), lauded by The Guardian as ‘the most exciting playwright of our time’, The Son is directed by the award-winning Michael Longhurst.
Book by 30 September and get tickets from £15*
with no booking fee.
latest in today
Help to give theartsdesk a future!
It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.
It followed some...
Chris McCausland, Winchester Theatre Royal review - Strictly...
By all accounts Chris McCausland had to be persuaded to take part in the most recent series of Strictly Come Dancing, which he won with...
Album: The Weather Station - Humanhood
Four of Humanhood’s 13 tracks are short, impressionistic mood pieces. Between 48 seconds and just-over a minute-and-a-half long, they...
Oliver!, Gielgud Theatre review - Lionel Bart's 1960 ma...
Into a world of grooming gangs, human trafficking and senior prelates resigning over child abuse cases comes Oliver!, Lionel...
What's the Matter with Tony Slattery?, BBC Two review -...
In the late Eighties and Nineties, Tony Slattery became one of the most ubiquitous faces on television, appearing regularly on Whose Line Is...
Album: Ethel Cain - Perverts
Ethel Cain’s Perverts is a dark and experimental follow-up to her debut album, Preacher’s Daughter. It takes listeners on a...
Leif Ove Andsnes, Wigmore Hall review - colour and courage,...
Forthright and upright, powerful and lucid, the frank and bold pianism of Leif Ove Andsnes took his Wigmore Hall audience from Norway to Poland (...
American Primeval, Netflix review - nightmare on the Wild Fr...
It seems The Osmonds may not have been the worst outrage perpetrated on an unsuspecting public by the Mormons. American Primeval is set...
Chamayou, BBC Philharmonic, Wigglesworth, Bridgewater Hall,...
Top Brownie points for the BBC Philharmonic for being one of the first (maybe the first?) to celebrate the birth centenary of Pierre Boulez this...
The Maids, Jermyn Street Theatre review - new broom sweeps c...
There are two main reasons to revive classics. The first is that they are really good; the second is that they have something to...