Theatre Reviews
A Streetcar Named Desire, National Theatre at Home review - world on fireFriday, 22 May 2020
The National Theatre’s triumphant march through its archive of NT Live recordings continues this week with a glorious blaze of a show. Read more...
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The Understudy online review - entertaining adaptation of David Nicholls' novelFriday, 22 May 2020
A running gag in David Nicholls' novel The Understudy is that its main character is called Steve McQueen. Not that Steve McQueen, the multi-award-winning, critically acclaimed, rich and successful one. Read more... |
Cats, The Shows Must Go On review - a purr-fectly theatrical experienceSaturday, 16 May 2020
Cats is, declares composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, a show that doesn’t really have a story, but was beloved on stage because it’s “the ultimate theatrical experience”. Read more... |
Barber Shop Chronicles, National Theatre at Home review - still lively after all these yearsFriday, 15 May 2020
Barber shops – as we are all starting to appreciate in this time of lockdown – fulfil an emotional as much as a cosmetic role: having a haircut can represent a new beginning, a moment for reflection, or even an informal confessional. Read more... |
Midnight Your Time, Donmar Warehouse online review – intimate and quietly movingThursday, 14 May 2020
During lockdown, some of the best online theatre has been shows that are specially created for this digital format. Much better than dull records of dramas that might have worked well on stage, but now seem sadly moribund and exceedingly slow on the laptop screen. Read more... |
Antony and Cleopatra, National Theatre at Home review – Fiennes and Okonedo triumph in dragging tragedyMonday, 11 May 2020
Like an asp eating its own tail, the National Theatre's 2018 production of Antony and Cleopatra, streaming on YouTube until 14 May, begins as it will end. Read more... |
Re:Creating Europe, MIF Rewind review - last year's burning issue semi-dramatizedMonday, 04 May 2020
Are we really past all this? From Ivo van Hove's 2019 polyphony of opinions and reflections down the centuries, so much has gone into the oven on a low heat while more Brits discover that "better together" in the European Union might be a better catchphrase than "take back control". Read more... |
Frankenstein, National Theatre at Home review – creature discomfortsSaturday, 02 May 2020
So far, it could be said that the National Theatre is having a good lockdown. Every week, this flagship streams one of its stock of NT Live films, which are always a welcome reminder of the range of its output over the past decade or so. Read more... |
Theatre Lockdown Special 3: Mary Shelley twice over, Europe writ large, and one day more for a mega-musicalThursday, 30 April 2020
Time is moving in mysterious ways at the moment. It's been possible over the last month or so to mark out the beginning of each week with the arrival online of a different production streaming from the Hampstead Theatre archives. Read more... |
Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration, Broadway.com/YouTube review - slick, often sombre, but when funny, hilariousTuesday, 28 April 2020
Maybe you can't compare incomparables, but it was instructive to watch this Broadway lockdown gala feting nonagenarian Stephen Sondheim a night after the Metropolitan Opera's galaxy of stars welcoming us into their homes. Read more... |
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★★★★★
‘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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