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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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 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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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 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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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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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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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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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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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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Ignore The Butcher Of Broadway, this is a winning show ★★★★ Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella opened to largely positive reviews but more recently the production has been butchered by the New York Post's Johnny Oleksinski, potentially scuppering a Broadway launch. According to Britain’s leading showbiz reporter Baz Bamigboye of the ...
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Top British theatre from your sofa When a theatre production is filmed, you get the opportunity to see some great acting but you lose the very thing we love- theatricality. Something fundamental to theatre – people performing live in front of you- is lost when the fourth wall is replaced ...
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A story of an impressive showbiz career ★★★ If you’re fascinated by show business, you'll definitely want Musicals, Marigolds & Me, the new autobiography by Paul Nicholas, in your Christmas stocking. He’s already given us one slice of his life back in 1999, so his latest contribution concentrates on his ...
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An enjoyably theatrical show based on Noel Coward's iconic romance ★★★★ If you’re expecting to see a straightforward stage adaptation of the film Brief Encounter, you may be disappointed. If you’re expecting to see Emma Rice’s legendary multimedia production of Brief Encounter, you may be disappointed. If you go without ...
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