fri 26/09/2025

Theatre Reviews

Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of), Bristol Old Vic review - Jane Austen as shallow romcom

mark Kidel

It is a truth perhaps not quite but almost universally accepted that Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, beloved of GSCE English Lit examiners, and often adapted for the screen, is a part of the canon, waiting to be re-interpreted according to the fashions of the day.

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Amsterdam, Orange Tree Theatre review - suffocatingly mannered

Matt Wolf

An excellent director makes a rare misstep with Amsterdam, in which a compelling if tricksy play is given an arch and mannered production that only distances the audience further.

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What Girls Are Made Of, Soho Theatre review - euphoric gig-theatre

Marianka Swain

It’s now Edinburgh Fringe transfer season in London, but here’s one they made earlier: Cora Bissett’s Fringe First-winning autobiographical play from the 2018 Festival about her time in 1990s indie band Darlingheart.

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The King of Hell’s Palace, Hampstead Theatre review - Chinese scandal freezes the blood

aleks Sierz

New artistic directors are popping up all over British theatre. Every week seems to usher in a refreshingly versatile talent taking the reins of a major theatre.

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For Services Rendered, Jermyn Street Theatre review – uneven revival of 1930s drama

Laura De Lisle

“I don’t think I have the right to influence her,” says an older character of her daughter in For Services Rendered, W Somerset Maugham’s 1932 anti-war drama. If only all elder statesmen and women felt the same about the youth.

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Preludes, Southwark Playhouse review - journeying into the mind of Rachmaninoff

Marianka Swain

Where does music come from? That’s the vital question posed to Sergei Rachmaninoff in Dave Malloy’s extraordinary 2015 chamber work, as the great late-Romantic Russian composer – stuck in his third year of harrowing writer’s block – tries to relocate his gift.

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A Doll's House, Lyric Hammersmith review - Ibsen tellingly transposed to colonial India

Heather Neill

Newly arrived from a much-lauded stint at the Sherman Theatre, Cardiff, Rachel O'Riordan has undertaken to make "work of scale by women" during her time as artistic director of the Lyric. What better place to start than with Ibsen's once-shocking heroine, her story reimagined by prolific playwright Tanika Gupta?

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Torch Song, Turbine Theatre review - impressive return for Harvey Fierstein's seminal gay drama

Tom Birchenough

London’s latest theatre opening brings a stirring revival of Harvey Fierstein’s vital gay drama, which premiered as Torch Song Trilogy in New York at the beginning of the 1980s, the playwright himself unforgettable in the lead...

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Chiaroscuro, Bush Theatre review - music, sweet, sweet music

aleks Sierz

Identity politics has been around for decades.

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Anahera, Finborough Theatre review - blistering family drama from New Zealand

Katherine Waters

With power comes responsibility. One without the other is sickening -- and both iterations are on show in Emma Kinane's searing new play about a child runaway in New Zealand. 

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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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