Hansard in the Lyttelton Theatre of the National Theatre is what I love about theatre. Forget video screens, background music, special effects. Simply two great actors live on stage telling a story to a live audience. For ninety unbroken minutes this couple bickers and takes swipes at each other until ...
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Present Laughter at The Old Vic is one of the funniest plays I’ve ever seen. Andrew Scott is the leading contender for the best actor of his generation ...
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While I have small reservations about this production, I found it a thoroughly enjoyable evening’s entertainment ...
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The Gielgud is one of the nicest theatres in the West End The Gielgud Theatre was known as The Globe for most of its 113 year history. In 1994, after a replica of Shakespeare’s Globe was built on the South Bank, iit was renamed in honour of Sir John Gielgud ...
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Lesley Sharp and David Morrissey provide laughter and emotion in Jack Thorne's family drama It's a world away from Jack Thorne and John  Tiffany's last collaboration- Harry Potter And The Curse Child- but the end of history is another moving drama about parent child relationships. The title may refer to a ...
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Bitter reviews for David Mamet's Bitter Wheat at The Garrick Even recruiting John Malkovich, one of the finest stage actors of his generation to make a rare West End appearance couldn’t sweeten the critics’ reactions to David Mamet's Bitter Wheat: “a flabby, cynical and pointless effort” cried Tim Bano in The ...
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A Masterclass in Playwriting and Acting Prism at Hampstead Theatre (touring autumn 2019) is a double pleasure. It marks a welcome return for Terry Johnson, author of Dead Funny, Hysteria and Insignificance with his first full length play in ten years. And it gives Robert Lindsay the chance to get his teeth into a role worthy ...
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Sweat- an important visceral play by Lynn Nottage. There is so much I could say about this play but I want to concentrate on the central story which concerns the deindustrialisation that happened in the US in the early 21st century. It's something we in the UK are only too ...
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Roger Allam shines in dull play Much is being made by the National Theatre of how this play and its author Githa Sowerby are not that well known and that if she had been a man, it would have been a different story. She would have stood alongside Bernard Shaw ...
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Sheila Hancock and James Nesbitt are the leading lights and Kirsty MacLaren shines There’s a lot to like in This Is My Family which is directed by Daniel Evans with a light comic touch. This is the second of CFT Artistic Director Daniel Evans' 'greatest hits' from his days at the Sheffield ...
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Avengers star Hayley Atwell is forceful co-star with Tom Burke   Rosmersholm is about wanting to pursue passion and change but being held back by the past – the political system, religion, inhertitance. At the beginning, everything is covered in dustsheets in this stately home- Rosmersholm. The walls show signs ...
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Downton Abbey star in clever one woman play by Christopher Hampton The set comprises a small living room with an old lady sitting on a chair alone on a thrust stage talking to the audience. She never stands up. For 100 minutes we listen, I mean really listen. The lady ...
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Anne-Marie Duff adds Wow Factor to excellent production of Sweet Charity Sweet Charity with book by Neil Simon, music by Cy Coleman and lyrics by Dorothy Fields. This would be an excellent production with any musical star but Anne-Marie Duff adds a wow factor. She may not be as good a ...
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Handbagged by Moira Buffini in a new production directed by Jo Newman Handbagged takes us through the major events of Margaret Thatcher’s reign as British prime minister. I use the word ‘reign’ deliberately because the story is told through a series of meetings between an increasingly regal Thatcher (Eve Matheson) ...
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Rachel Wagstaff's triumphant adaptation of classic Christie whodunit Watch the YouTube review of The Mirror Crack'd- The Wales Millennium Centre and Wiltshire Creative touring production of Agatha Christie's The Mirror Crack'd, adapted for the stage by Rachel Wagstaff,  received its premiere at Salisbury Playhouse. This could have a standard Agatha ...
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All About Eve directed by Ivo Van Hove at the Noel Coward Theatre London Watch the YouTube review of All About Eve here You may well know the story. After all, the film All About Eve is a classic. Scripted by Joseph L Mankiewicz, it tells of a young would-be actor ...
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Come From Away, a musical by Irene Sankoff and David Hein at the Phoenix Theatre in London 9/11 was a tragic event carried out by evil people.  The musical  Come From Away is a kind of antidote, reminding us that most people are basically good and generous. I’d forgotten but, ...
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Tony Kushner & Jeanine Tesori's great musical Click here to watch my video review of Caroline, Or Change on One Minute Theatre Reviews YouTube channel I managed to miss Caroline, Or Change when it was launched at Chichester, and again when it moved to Hampstead Theatre. Now that it’s transferred ...
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Magnificent cast featuring Nicola Walker, Maggie Steed and Alun Armstrong Click here to watch the review on YouTube A much loved teacher is about retire but his home is under siege by children from his school. His estranged daughter comes to visit her parents. His regular use of the cane ...
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Stephen Tompkinson's Scrooge is pitch perfect Click here to watch the review on YouTube As you'd expect from writer Jack Thorne, who wrote Harry Potter And The Cursed Child and director Matthew Warchus who directed Matilda The Musical), their adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is both magical and ...
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