Theatre Reviews
As You Like It, Shakespeare's Globe review - vibrant, ebullient fun in a forest where anything goesTuesday, 05 September 2023
To proclaim that you’re playing gender games with Shakespeare’s As You Like It seems a little like announcing that you have a bicycle with two wheels, or indeed that you’re doing something interesting with rhythms in Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. Read more...
|
Next to Normal, Donmar Warehouse review - terrific cast in a punchy musicalFriday, 01 September 2023
The journey from off-Broadway to central London has taken 15 years, but the multi-award-winning musical Next to Normal has finally made it. That time lag may lead to suspicions that its subject matter has become a tad outmoded, but this staging, directed by outgoing Donmar director Michael Longhurst, is fresh and affecting. Read more... |
The Odyssey: The Underworld, National Theatre review - community effort with real heart and a great stagingWednesday, 30 August 2023
One of the great wonders of Western literary history is one of the earliest, Homer’s The Odyssey, an epic poem with all the thrills and spills of an Indiana Jones outing, with added Olympians. The National’s version turned out not to be The Odyssey as we know it, though. Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2023 reviews: CHOO CHOO! / Blood of the LambSaturday, 26 August 2023
CHOO CHOO! (Or... Have You Ever Thought About ****** **** *****? (Cos I Have)), Pleasance Dome ★★★★ Read more... |
A Mirror, Almeida Theatre review - unconvincing and contrivedFriday, 25 August 2023
This is a play about censorship in a totalitarian state – but, no, I’m not reviewing The Pillowman again. Instead, I’m watching A Mirror by Sam Holcroft, a playwright who – as her 2015 play Rules for Living amply illustrated – is interested in playful games with the idea of theatricality. Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2023 reviews: Distant Memories of the Near Future / Soldiers of TomorrowFriday, 25 August 2023
Distant Memories of the Near Future, Summerhall ★★★★ Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2023 reviews: Dark Noon / Concerned OthersWednesday, 23 August 2023
Dark Noon, Pleasance at EICC ★★★★★ Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2023 reviews: The Insider / Sensuous GoverningTuesday, 22 August 2023
The Insider, ZOO Southside ★★★★ Read more... |
Dimanche, Edinburgh International Festival 2023 review - troubling and bewilderingMonday, 21 August 2023
A toy car – in fact, a mobile home with comically enormous antenna on top – shudders over arms and shoulders as if they were mountain ranges. A colossal polar bear comforts its curious cub. A lifesize puppet grandmother is chased up and down stairs by her over-enthusiastic stairlift. Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2023 reviews: Maureen / Common DissonanceSaturday, 19 August 2023
Maureen, House of Oz ★★★★ 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...
Music Reissues Weekly: Hawkwind - X In Search Of Space, Dore...
One of last year’s major joys was the box set version of Hawkwind's Space Ritual, an 11-disc extravaganza which made the great live album...
Twelfth Night, Royal Shakespeare Theatre review - comic ener...
It is not just Twelfth Night, it’s Twelfth Night, or What You Will in The Folio,...
Blu-ray: Hitchcock - The Beginning
There's a tension in Alfred Hitchcock’s early films between misogyny and condemnation of...
Albums of the Year 2024: Samara Joy - Portrait
From placing first in the Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Jazz Competition in 2019 to being a triple Grammy winner, Samara Joy’s rise has been...
Nutcracker, English National Ballet, Coliseum review - Tchai...
No new production of a beloved old ballet can please everyone, and there is none more beloved, or more frequently produced, than ...
You Me Bum Bum Train, secret location review - a joyful mult...
This feels like the theatrical equivalent of being in a centrifuge – a wild, spinning ride...
The Tempest, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane review - Sigourney We...
Shakespeare must have relished the opportunities brought by the indoor...
Albums of the Year 2024: Mercury Rev - Born Horses
Born Horses remains as inscrutable as it was when it was issued in the summer. While it is about the search for enlightenment through...