mon 28/04/2025

Theatre Reviews

Every Day I Make Greatness Happen, Hampstead Theatre Downstairs review - live-wire immediacy

Rachel Halliburton

"I’m not a number, I’m not a grade, and I’m not a failure." The 17-year-old girl stands in front of the small class, who gaze at her goggle-eyed. "A robot factory. That’s all you’ve got here." The teacher’s response is caustically admiring. "Why are you here, Alisha, if that’s what you’re capable of?

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Pinter at the Pinter, Harold Pinter Theatre review - harrowing and comic short pieces from the master

Heather Neill

Ten years after Harold Pinter's death, Jamie Lloyd has set about honouring the 20th century's outstanding British playwright in an ambitious West End season of his shorter works at the theatre which now bears his name.

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Antony and Cleopatra, National Theatre review - Ralph Fiennes in marvellous throttle

Tom Birchenough

You always wonder about those final scenes of Shakespeare’s tragedies. Are they really needed dramatically; do they work? We understand, of course, that a closing exhalation may add impact to high passions just witnessed.

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Twelfth Night, Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh - a touch too sweet

David Kettle

“Well, that was really sweet,” one young audience member in front of me remarked on his way out of Edinburgh’s Lyceum Theatre.

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Poet in da Corner, Royal Court review - mind-blowing energy plus plus plus

aleks Sierz

There was once a time when grime music was very angry, and very threatening, but that seems a long time ago now. Today, Dizzee Rascal is less a herald of riot and revolt, and more of a national treasure, exuding charm from every pore, even if his music has become increasing predictable and safe.

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Eyam, Shakespeare's Globe review - plague drama, dark and loose

Tom Birchenough

The end-of-season contemporary writing slot at the Globe must be a proposal as full of promise for playwrights as it is perhaps intimidating.

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Henry V, Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol review - the pity of war

mark Kidel

Henry V is a play shot through with martial energy and the terrible chaos of war.

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The Outsider, Print Room at the Coronet review - power in restraint

Rachel Halliburton

As the Syrian conflict enters its final convulsions, renewing memories of how the Sykes-Picot agreement – between an Englishman and a Frenchman – would cause more than a century of political resentment in the Arab world, The Outsider seems particularly piquant.

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Heathers The Musical, Theatre Royal Haymarket review - a sardonic take on teen angst

Marianka Swain

This London premiere of Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe’s 2010 musical (based on Daniel Waters’ oh-so-Eighties cult classic movie, starring Christian Slater and Winona Ryder) had a development period at The Other Palace – no critics allowed – before cruising into the...

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The Human Voice, Gate Theatre review - unrelenting and sad

Katherine Waters

It’s night, and the woman (Leanne Best) is waiting for a phone call. She’s desperate for the voice of her lover  or rather ex-lover: they split three nights ago. Both have secrets they will disclose over the course of their final conversation. Both have positions to defend. The scene is set for a coupling of melodrama and banality.

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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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