Hampstead Theatre

Watch three irascible women screaming at each other: Anthropology, at Hampstead Theatre, reviewed

16 September 2023 9:00 am

Anthropology is a drama about artificial intelligence that starts as an ultra-gloomy soap opera. A suicidal lesbian, Merril, speaks on…

Hamlet fans will love this: Re-Member Me, at Hampstead Theatre, reviewed

10 June 2023 9:00 am

A puzzle at Hampstead Theatre. Literally, a brain teaser. Its new production, Re-member Me, is a one-man show written and…

Sad, blinkered and incoherent: Arcola’s The Misandrist reviewed

20 May 2023 9:00 am

A new play, The Misandrist, looks at modern dating habits. Rachel is a smart, self-confident woman whose partner is a…

Right play, wrong place: The Fellowship, at Hampstead Theatre, reviewed

9 July 2022 9:00 am

Roy Williams’s new play is a wonky beast. It has two dense and cumbersome storylines that aren’t properly developed. Dawn…

The playwright seems curiously detached about rape: The Breach, at Hampstead Theatre, reviewed

21 May 2022 9:00 am

Hampstead’s latest play is a knotty rape drama by Naomi Wallace set in Kentucky. Four teenagers with weird names meet…

Muddled, tricksy and cheap: The Corn is Green at the Lyttelton Theatre reviewed

30 April 2022 9:00 am

The Corn is Green by Emlyn Williams is a sociology essay written in 1938 about a prickly tyrant, Miss Moffat,…

Could the Arts Council pay Americans to keep this stuff in America? Daddy and The Fever Syndrome reviewed

16 April 2022 9:00 am

The Fever Syndrome is a dramatised lecture set in a New York brownstone occupied by the super-brainy Myers family. The…

A beautiful, frustrating bore: Florian Zeller's The Forest, at Hampstead Theatre, reviewed

26 February 2022 9:00 am

The Forest is the latest thriller from the French dramatist Florian Zeller, translated by Oscar winner Christopher Hampton. It’s a…

One of the best nights of my life: Hampstead Theatre's Peggy For You reviewed

15 January 2022 9:00 am

Hampstead Theatre has revived a play about Peggy Ramsay, the legendary West End agent who shaped the careers of Joe…

Like Alan Bennett but less funny: 'night, Mother at Hampstead Theatre reviewed

6 November 2021 9:00 am

’night, Mother is a two-hander that opens like a comedy sketch. ‘I’m going to kill myself, Mama,’ says Jessie. She’s…

Sexist, classist and pro-global warming: Frozen, at Theatre Royal Drury Lane, reviewed

18 September 2021 9:00 am

Frozen the musical declares war on woke politics. The 2013 Disney movie has been turned into a song-and-dance show that…

One for hardcore Tennessee Williams fans only: The Two Character Play reviewed

31 July 2021 9:00 am

It can be difficult to remember that Tennessee Williams, the great songster of the Deep South during the 1950s, was…

This interactive Doctor Who show is as bombastic, fey and tedious as the TV series

26 June 2021 9:00 am

Death of a Black Man is a little-known script from the 1970s written by Alfred Fagon who suffered a fatal…

Theatre's final taboo: fun

17 April 2021 9:00 am

The stage has become a pleasure-free zone in which snarling dramatists fight over their pet political causes, says Lloyd Evans

Stick it on the BBC: Love Letters at Theatre Royal Haymarket reviewed

9 January 2021 9:00 am

Love Letters by A.R. Gurney began life as an epistolary novella about two childhood friends, Andy and Melissa, whose on-off…

Absorbing and meticulously researched play about Partition: Drawing the Line reviewed

11 April 2020 9:00 am

Theatres have taken to the internet like never before. Recorded performances are being made available over the web, many for…

Redneck twaddle: Young Vic’s Fairview reviewed

11 January 2020 9:00 am

Fairview by Jackie Sibblies Drury won last year’s Pulitzer Prize. It deserves additional awards for promoting racial disharmony and entrenching…

A surefire international hit: Lungs reviewed

2 November 2019 9:00 am

No power on earth can stop Lungs from becoming an international hit. Duncan Macmillan’s slick two-handed comedy reunites Matt Smith…

Star quality: Jade Anouka, right, as Bea in Ella Road’s The Phlebotomist

An exceptional dystopia that’s made for TV: The Phlebotomist reviewed

6 April 2019 9:00 am

The Phlebotomist by Ella Road explores the future of genetics. Suppose a simple blood test were able to tell us…

Cost of Living at Hampstead Theatre isn’t a bad show – and it contains a star in the making

9 February 2019 9:00 am

Hampstead has become quite a hit-factory since Ed Hall took over. His foreign policy is admirably simple. He scours New…

A horror show that appeals to the intellect but not the gut: The Tell-Tale Heart reviewed

5 January 2019 9:00 am

The Tell-Tale Heart is based on a teeny-weeny short story by Edgar Allan Poe. The full text appears in the…

Maisie Williams as Caroline in the breathtaking new play 'I and You' at Hampstead Theatre. Photo: Manuel Harlan

One of the best plays I’ve ever seen: I and You at the Hampstead Theatre reviewed

10 November 2018 9:00 am

Lauren Gunderson’s play I and You opens in the scruffy bedroom of 17-year-old Caroline. Lonely, beautiful and furious, she’s unable…

Teen spirit: Karla Crome in Dance Nation at the Almeida Theatre

Its producers should tape a cyanide pill to the programme: The Humans reviewed

15 September 2018 9:00 am

Hampstead’s boss Ed Hall was so impressed by Stephen Karam’s play The Humans that he wanted to direct it himself.…

Contains at least 15 laugh-out-loud moments: Genesis Inc. reviewed

7 July 2018 9:00 am

Listen to the crowd. I often delay passing judgment on a show until the audience delivers its verdict. This is…

Rarely have I sat through such a chaotic and whimsical script: Describe the Night reviewed

19 May 2018 9:00 am

Describe the Night opens in Poland in 1920 where two Russian soldiers, Isaac and Nikolai, discuss truth and falsehood. Next…