Theatre
Upstart Crow without the jokes: RSC’s Hamnet, at the Swan Theatre, reviewed
The Swan Theatre has reopened after an overhaul and praise god: they’ve replaced the seats. The Swan is a likeable…
So good it would have made Ibsen envious: Dixon and Daughters, at the Dorfman Theatre, reviewed
Dixon and Daughters is a family drama that opens on a note of sour mistrust. We’re in a working-class home…
Famine zones are more fun than this play: Dancing at Lughnasa, at the Olivier Theatre, reviewed
Snowflakes, an excellent title, rehashes The Dumb Waiter by Harold Pinter. A guest in a hotel room is visited by…
London theatre-goers have peculiar tastes
The Secret Life of Bees is a fairy-tale set in the Deep South in 1964. Lily, a bullied white girl,…
An epic bore: A Little Life, at the Harold Pinter Theatre, reviewed
A Little Life, based on Hanya Yanagihara’s novel, is set in a New York apartment shared by four mega-successful yuppies:…
Deeply unsatisfying: Berlusconi – A New Musical, at Southwark Playhouse Elephant, reviewed
Berlusconi: A New Musical, an excellent title, has opened at a new venue in south London, Southwark Playhouse Elephant. The…
Flawless: Accidental Death of an Anarchist, at the Lyric Hammersmith, reviewed
Accidental Death of an Anarchist has been performed all over the world with varying degrees of success. Written by Dario…
Drab by comparison to the film: Bonnie & Clyde, at the Garrick Theatre, reviewed
The murderous odyssey of Bonnie and Clyde is a tricky subject for a musical because the characters are such loathsome…
A ripping production with plenty of laughs: Guys and Dolls, at the Bridge Theatre, reviewed
Further than the Furthest Thing is an allegorical play set on a remote island populated by English-speakers from all over…
Cumbersome muddle: Women, Beware the Devil, at the Almeida Theatre, reviewed
Rupert Goold’s new show, Women, Beware the Devil, has great costumes, sumptuous sets and an intriguing chessboard stage like a…
Approaches perfection: Medea, @sohoplace, reviewed
Winner’s Curse is a hybrid drama by Dan Patterson and Daniel Taub which opens as a lecture by a fictional…
How has it escaped being cancelled? The Lehman Trilogy, at the Gillian Lynne Theatre, reviewed
Standing at the Sky’s Edge is an ode to a monstrous carbuncle. The atrocity in question is a concrete gulag,…
A sex farce reminiscent of Alan Clark’s diaries: Phaedra, at the Lyttelton Theatre, reviewed
Simon Stone claims that his new comedy, Phaedra, draws on the work of Euripides, Seneca and Racine. In fact, the…
Chatterbox crackdown
A romcom with an irritating title, Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons, has opened at the HP Theatre starring Jenna Coleman…
These drag queens haven’t a clue how banal their problems are: Sound of the Underground, at the Royal Court, reviewed
Sound of the Underground is a drag show involving a handful of cross-dressers who spend the opening 15 minutes telling…
Pure, heavenly escapism: The Unfriend, at the Criterion Theatre, reviewed
The Unfriend is a smart new family comedy which opens on the sunlit deck of a cruise ship. Peter and…
Comes close to perfection: Watch on the Rhine, at the Donmar Warehouse, reviewed
Watch on the Rhine is the curiously misleading title chosen by Lillian Hellman for a wartime family drama that became…
Clever and witty state-of-the-nation play: Kerry Jackson, at the Dorfman Theatre, reviewed
The National’s new comedy by April De Angelis is a clever and amusing attempt to deliver that most elusive artefact,…
Eccentric triviality aimed at 1970s feminists: Orlando, at the Garrick Theatre, reviewed
Orlando opens with a pack of Virginia Woolfs on stage. All wear the same costume of horn-rimmed spectacles, long tweed…
A short history of applause – and booing
A dank Tuesday evening in a West End theatre. The auditorium is barely two thirds full. The play is nothing…
Cruel but shamefully enjoyable: Vardy v Rooney – the Wagatha Christie Trial reviewed
The Wagatha Christie affair began in 2019 when Coleen Rooney accused Rebekah Vardy of selling stories from her private Instagram…
The art of the panto dame
There is nothing more panto than a dame. The grandmother of today’s dames is Dan Leno (1860–1904), a champion clog…
The acting rescues it: National Theatre’s Othello reviewed
Crude eccentricities damage the potential brilliance of Othello at the National. Some of the visual gestures seem to have been…
An unexpected heartbreaker: Elf the Musical, at the Dominion Theatre, reviewed
Elf opens with an unbelievable premise. Buddy was abandoned as a baby and adopted by Santa’s elves and he spent…
Wordy, overwritten flop – perfect for the BBC: Noor, at Southwark Playhouse, reviewed
A heroic Asian woman parachutes into occupied France to work for the resistance and help overthrow the Nazis. This sounds…
