thu 19/06/2025

Theatre Reviews

the end of history ..., Royal Court review - raises more questions than it answers

Matt Wolf

An apocalyptic title proves somewhat of a red herring for a slight if intriguing play that returns the dream team behind Harry Potter and the Cursed Child to their erstwhile stomping ground at the Royal...

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Dark Sublime, Trafalgar Studios review – sci-fi tribute is less rocket, more Reliant Robin

Rachel Halliburton

This lovingly lo-tech visit to galaxies far far away is a curious proposition, which, while neither dark, nor sublime, does have its moments. Framed as a tribute to Seventies sci-fi in all its polyester-clad absurdity, it in fact reveals itself to be an exploration of the parallel emotional worlds we all inhabit, with hat-tips to Star Trek and Blake 7 along the way.

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Noises Off, Lyric Hammersmith review - farce doesn't catch fire

Veronica Lee

Michael Frayn's Noises Off is a modern classic, a backstage sex farce that pokes affectionate fun at a profession he loves. And now Jeremy Herrin, one of our most accomplished directors, revives it for Lyric Hammersmith, where the play was premiered in 1982.

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Rust, Bush Theatre review - slender yet invigorating

aleks Sierz

The best kind of two-hander is the play about couples. And the most dramatic way of saying something about relationships is to show a couple who are in trouble, bad trouble. Crisis. Especially if they start off well together.

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Summer Rolls, Park Theatre review - racism laid bare to mixed results

Tim Cornwell

There’s a moment in Summer Rolls, at the Nguyen family dinner table, when a veil is briefly pulled back on the ugly racism so many Asian immigrant communities must endure in the UK.

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Europe, Donmar Warehouse review - timely, tender, brutal and brilliant

aleks Sierz

In the middle of the current decade, there was a mild vogue for reviving a handful of the great plays of the 1990s, such as Mark Ravenhill's Shopping and Fucking and Patrick Marber's Closer.

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On Your Feet!, London Coliseum review - Gloria Estefan bio-musical hits familiar notes

Marianka Swain

This well-meaning biographical jukebox musical about icons Gloria and Emilio Estefan, which did two years on Broadway and a US tour, is good summer scheduling, what with its Latin-pop bangers, infectious dance routines and “Dreams come true” messaging.

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The Hunt, Almeida Theatre review - tense Scandinoirland drama

aleks Sierz

For a while, child abuse has been banished from our stages. After all, there is a limit, surely, to how much pain audiences can be put through.

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Cash Cow, Hampstead Theatre review - timely look at pushy tennis parents

Marianka Swain

“How much does she owe us?” So ponder the now estranged parents of a former tennis pro, as they calculate the very literal investment they’ve put into their daughter.

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The Damned, Comédie-Française, Barbican review - slow-burn horrors in devastating images

David Nice

Is the terrifying past of Germany in 1933 also our future?

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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.


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