One Minute Theatre Reviews - Plays & Musicals on stage in London & UK

Paul Seven Lewis of one Minute Theatre Reviews

Sing Yer Heart Out For The Lads – Chichester – review

Roy Williams' portrayal of racist England supporters retains its power ★★★★★ Seeing Roy Williams’ Sing Yer Heart Out For The Lads is not a comfortable experience but this is an important play in a flawless production from Chichester Festival Theatre. I suspect some people may think this is a play ...
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Whistle Down The Wind – Watermill – review

Do dance and a dead mother improve Lloyd Webber's 'problem' musical? ★★★ This energetic production of Whistle Down The Wind at The Watermill Theatre offers a radical re-interpretation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s problem musical. I say ‘problem’ because it’s never quite been the hit many of us thought it would ...
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Crazy For You at Chichester – Is it even better than Anything Goes?

Is Crazy For You at Chichester even better than Anything Goes? ★★★★★ Crazy For You at Chichester Festival Theatre is a faultless production. Just like Anything Goes, another song-and-dance Broadway musical that also originated in the 1930s, it is a joyous, jaw-dropping spectacle with some of the best songs ever ...
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Jack Absolute Flies Again – National Theatre – review

Caroline Quentin flies high in WW2 comedy ★★★ Richard Bean and Oliver Chris took the characters and plot of Goldoni’s The Servant Of Two Masters and turned them into the modern classic One Man Two Guv'nors. Now they’ve tried the same approach with another 18th-century comedy, Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s The ...
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Alex Jennings in The Southbury Child – review

Powerful play by Stephen Beresford about tradition versus populism ★★★★ What timing! The Prime Minister's ethics advisor resigns and here's a new play about sticking to your principles. A child has died, a child with the surname Southbury. The mother wants the church to be festooned with Disney balloons; the ...
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The Unfriend by Steven Moffat, dir. Mark Gatiss, starring Reece Shearsmith – review

Triumphant comedy debut from Doctor Who & Sherlock writer ★★★★★ What connects Doctor Who, Sherlock, The League Of Gentleman and No 9? The answer is The Unfriend, a new laugh-a-minute comedy that’s just opened at Chichester Festival Theatre’s Minerva. I’ll give you all the connections in a moment. For now, ...
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Nicola Walker in The Corn Is Green – National Theatre – review

Nicola Walker and director Dominic Cooke refresh dated play ★★★★ The Corn Is Green is a production that is worthy to stand alongside the best of the National Theatre. It almost seems a bonus that it features a star performance from Nicola Walker. It’s a hundred years ago and an ...
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Oklahoma! with Arthur Darvill at Young Vic – review

The old songs still soar in this new look at Oklahoma! ★★★ If the optimistic, can-do nature of Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals grates on you a little, the new Broadway production of Oklahoma!, now the Young Vic, will be right up your Stetson. Daniel Fish's production, co-directed at the London ...
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A Secret Guide to Punchdrunk’s The Burnt City

Impressive but confusing immersion into the Trojan War ★★★ The Burnt City is hard to understand and difficult to find your way around. So, this is not only a review of the show but a guide to how to get the best out of it. Punchdrunk are the leaders in ...
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Scandaltown – Lyric Hammersmith – review

Satire on modern society is fun but toothless ★★★ Scandaltown at the Lyric Hammersmith promises a ‘decadent world of sex, hypocrisy, parties and power’. The theatre website warns about ‘nudity, drug use and smoking’. If that leads you to expect something edgy, you'll be sorely disappointed. Mike Bartlett’s new play ...
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The Taxidermist’s Daughter – Chichester – review

Kate Mosse's first play provides a dramatic opening to new Chichester season ★★★ The opening of this year’s Chichester Festival Theatre season could not be more dramatic. I’ve rarely felt such goosebumps as when the lights went up on The Taxidermist’s Daughter began: an initial jump at the loud discordant ...
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Christina Bianco in The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice – review

Shobna Gulati, Ian Kelsey and Christina Bianco delight in Jim Cartwright's classic comedy ★★★★ Touring productions are the Cinderella of British theatre. Given the choice, actors will often prefer to work in one place, preferably London. So, when I saw that two former soap actors and a YouTube sensation were ...
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Ralph Fiennes in Straight Line Crazy – Bridge Theatre – review

Fiennes shines in David Hare's play about a strong man ★★★ George Bernard Shaw said in his play Man And Superman: ‘The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.’ In ...
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Jonathan Bailey & Taron Egerton in Cock – review

Celebrity casting maybe, good acting definitely ★★★ Let me make clear from the start the ‘cock’ of the title does not refer to a penis, although there are quite a few references to penises in the play. So, no jokes about limp performances (there weren't any), standing up at the ...
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Paul Bettany & Jeremy Pope in The Collaboration – Young Vic – review

Paul Bettany & Jeremy Pope light up this fascinating play ★★★★ The Collaboration at The Young Vic is a special occasion. The two stars are Paul Bettany - Vision no less from the Marvel Universe, and the very unpleasant Duke of Argyll in A Very British Scandal - and Hollywood ...
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Florian Zeller’s The Forest – review

Toby Stephens and Paul McGann share the honours as a man on the edge ★★★ French playwright Florian Zeller’s work has become familiar to British audiences thanks to plays like The Truth, The Lie, The Height Of The Storm and the trilogy of The Mother, The Father and The Son ...
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Spike by Ian Hislop & Nick Newman – review

An entertaining look at a comic genius but without his anarchic spirit ★★★ Spike by Nick Newman and Ian Hislop at The Watermill Theatre is a labour of love. Spike Milligan had a long association with Private Eye and the authors, both from the magazine, clearly feel great affection for ...
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Elizabeth McGovern in AVA The Secret Conversations – Riverside Studios

McGovern is terrific, shame about the script ★★★ It might have been best if the conversations in AVA The Secret Conversations (Riverside Studios) had stayed secret. Having said that, there is one major strength in this production: Elizabeth McGovern. She may never have been a sex goddess like her character ...
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Pride & Prejudice* (*sort of) – review

The Funniest Show in The West End ★★★★ Some critics have acclaimed Pride & Prejudice* (*sort of) as the funniest show currently in London's West End. I was late seeing this little gem at The Criterion, but I can't disagree. It is an outstanding achievement by Isobel McArthur. She not ...
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Best Of Enemies at Young Vic – review

The best new play I've seen this year ★★★★★ Best Of Enemies at the Young Vic is the best new play I’ve seen this year. James Graham’s writing is vivid, funny, and shocking. There are towring performances by the two leads David Harewood and Charles Edwards. And the production directed ...
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