The veteran actress, playing Prospero in her West End debut, is strangely absent from Shakespeare’s narrative.

Tom Stoppard's dense 1997 play is dazzlingly served by director Blanche McIntyre and two formidable leading men in Matthew Tennyson and Simon Russell Beale as the younger and older AE Housman.

Relaunch of Elton John musical needs further tinkering still It's second time only quasi-lucky for The Devil Wears Prada, the stage musical adaptation of the much-loved Meryl Streep film from 2006 that nosediv…

Our critics discuss which A-lister performances on the West End were worth the ticket price, and why so many new musicals struggled this year.

December may be the time of year when people switch off and embrace the holidays. But there's very little rest in the ever-busy world of London theater, which is more crowded this year than ever. For more on Sa…

A new production in London, starring Ncuti Gatwa, releases Oscar Wilde’s 1895 comedy from period convention and brings it stunningly into the 21st century.

An outstanding Sule Rimi joins Emma Kingston and Jasper Britton in UK premiere of Dan McCabe's play set in Sunnyside, Queens

Musical theatre behemoth becomes an outsized film - and this is just part one "No one mourns the wicked," we're told during the immediately arresting beginning to Wicked, which concludes two hours 40 minutes l…

Baggy and overlong Beru Tessema play, directed by Daniel Bailey, gets a high profile guest appearance from onetime Hamilton himself, Jamael Westman

The 'Emily in Paris' star surrenders to cliche - or does she? The Catalan capital has given its name to a famous number in the Stephen Sondheim musical, Company. And here it is lending geographical specificity…

A Victorian classic gets a modern-day makeover, Benjamin Button sings, and a popular superhero gets a London stage outing: Those are among the highlights of a characteristically busy month on and off the West E…

John Hollingworth gives a movingly indrawn performance in new play from Richard Bean, who wrote "One Man, Two Guvnors"; Emily Burns directs.

Adrien Brody is in magnificent form in his UK stage debut as Nick Yarris in new Lindsey Ferrentino play, directed by Justin Martin, of Prime Face renown

Oli Forsyth play is brilliantly served by its starry cast

Morfydd Clark and Billy Howle give blazing star turns in this Almeida double bill of onetime Royal Court classics; Diyan Zora and Atri Banerjee direct - brilliantly

the critic mourns the passing of a Broadway and London star gone way too soon

An appreciation of the legendary Tony winning actress, an impassioned presence always on the London (and, sometimes, Broadway) stage

From name-heavy West End revivals to bracing new dramas, October in London is giving pride of place to the play. Offerings during the month ahead include several classic titles of ongoing relevance and two new …

Anne Odeke stars in her own play which has morphed from a solo endeavour into a bustling, capacious rallying cry on the Globe mainstage

Some recommendations for visitors and residents who want to get the most from the city’s varied theater scene.

Diana Vickers and Marc Antolin in thin if breezy musical send-up of Gwyneth Paltrow Utah ski trial

Maureen Beattie stars in Stella Feehily's bioplay directed by Alice Hamilton as the opening show of the new Hampstead season

Summer is saying its goodbyes, and with that comes the seasonal promise of exciting theater for the fall. That’s nowhere more true than in London, which offers a dizzying array of shows in the month ahead. Fr…

Mary Bridget Davies brings her Tony nominated performance to London

Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan's debut play is beautifully served by its cast of two

Alan Cox and David Yelland head all-male cast of West End upgrade for Katherine Moar play.

French "hybrid memoir" comes blazingly alive onstage in London The title sounds as if we ought to be in for an evening of Virginia Woolf, and, indeed, one of the astonishing women on view (Deborah Findlay) was…

Late summer is often reputed as the lull before the autumnal storm of new productions. And yet, the British capital is as busy as ever during the month ahead, breaking into song (many of them familiar) and allo…

Roy Alexander Weise directs UK bow of Katori Hall's baggy if brio-filled Pulitzer winner

The veteran British actress shines in a new revival that is the musical theater highlight of the West End summer.

An imperfect show arrives boasting a quasi-immersive charm The Baker's Wife closed on the way to Broadway in 1976, since which time Stephen Schwartz's stubbornly resistent if sweetly scored musical has been re…

Christopher Hampton adapts Stefan Zweig's 1922 novella, here starring Jim Corrigan, Natalie Simpson, and Nigel Hastings; Chelsea Walker directs.

Pamela Nomvete follows on from Tony winner Phylicia Rashad in Detroit-set Dominique Morisseau play co-starring Racheal Ofori.

Justine Mitchell shines in takeover of Kendall Feaver play whose opening was delayed by a change of leading lady

A quarter-century on from its Salzburg premiere, Simon McBurney's mind-bending show continues to enthrall

Plays take center stage in London this July after a musicals-heavy June, with a host of heavy-hitting American titles leading the charge. A Broadway phenomenon, Slave Play, crosses the Atlantic, this time boast…

Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1980s spectacular skates into a new era The reinvigoration of Andrew Lloyd Webber continues apace. New York is now hosting a ballroom culture, drag-inflected Cats, and the Olivier-laurele…

The men prevail in new play from 2023 Olivier nominee for her acting, Faith Omole

British theater recommendations for visitors and residents of all ages — and inclinations.

Stephanie J Block delivers a knockout UK stage debut in Bart Sher staging of Cole Porter classic

In June, New York may be in thrall to the Tonys, but life on the London stage continues apace. The month ahead promises a broad array of musicals, from a pocket-sized hit of the Edinburgh Festival that's been u…

★★★ ROMEO AND JULIET, DUKE OF YORK'S THEATRE Doomy and deathly, and much-hyped Tom Holland reaches for the stars and makes it to the theatre's roof One of Shakespeare's longest plays gets gets served up …

Olivier winner Cassidy Janson is the standout performer in director Hannah Chissick's production of decades-old Jerry Herman musical revue

Danny Sapani moves on from King Lear at the Almeida to the UK premiere of Stephen Adly Guirgis´s trophy-bearing play, co-starring Ayesha Antoine and Martins Inghambe.

A radiant Nina Hoss, from the film Tar, heads the splendid cast of adaptor-director Benedict Andrews's electrifying reclamation of Chekhov's final play

A stage production of the beloved Studio Ghibli movie is big on spectacle, but rarely grabs the heart.

While Broadway spends the month of May in pre-Tony Awards overdrive, the London theater continues to do what it does so well—namely, offering a broad array of shows to suit all tastes. Some of the theatrical …

A gender-flipped Jodie McNee stars in visually impressive, emotionally subpar adaptation of the same Philip K Dick story that spawned the Tom Cruise film

Charles Edwards shines in overly tricksy, overlong Sam Adamson play tracing a friendship over time

The stunning Anthony Welsh heads a pitch-perfect quintet in UK premiere of 2023 Off Broadway play by Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins and directed once again by Eric Ting.

Our theater critics and a reporter discuss the big winner — “Sunset Boulevard” — and the rest of the honorees at Britain’s equivalent of the Tonys.

In Robert Icke’s adaptation of Parts 1 and 2 of “Henry IV,” the veteran stage actor’s performance belies his age.

Dominic Dromgoole directs UK premiere of Paul Grellong play, wit Julian Ovenden, 2024 Olivier nominee Giles Terera, and Michael Benz

Paul Grellong play delivers in its final passages The Menier Chocolate Factory has made something of a habit of late out of trawling unexpected corners of the contemporary American repertoire.

For him, “art played a particular role in social change,” the director Mehmet Ergen said. “Everything was political.”

Patricia Clarkson powers the latest iteration of this great, grievous American drama Memory is a confounding thing. By way of proof, just ask the Mary Tyrone who is being given unforgettable life by Patricia Cl…

Sheridan Smith gives it her all against near-impossible odds Is there a more purely likeable actress than Sheridan Smith, the performer who was still a teenager when she stole the show at the Donmar in Into th…

New York isn’t the only game in town. London is continually busy, as befits a theater town that thinks not in terms of seasons but of exciting and rewarding shows throughout the year. Just in April, there's E…

Rachael Stirling and Dominic Rowan are in fine, aptly fruity form in April De Angelis play about the legendary British tragedienne

30 years on from the film, Stephan Elliott's road movie is now an excuse to grab some drinks

Henry Lewis and Jonathan Sayer bring their Mischief-inflected silliness back to London after a New York run

Justine Mitchell gives a performance for the ages in superb revival of Brian Friel's onetime Broadway flop, with Nick Holder and Declan Conlon in fine form, as well

Billy Crudup makes his West End debut in David Cale play previously seen Off Broadway

Trevor Nunn, age 84, makes a blinding return to form "We all live here in peace and friendship," notes Telegin (David Ahmad), otherwise known as Waffles, early in Uncle Vanya, to which one is tempted to respon…

Francesca Mills is a first-rate Duchess, with sterling support from, amongst others, Arthur Hughes, Jamie Ballard, and Olivier Huband in Rachel Bagshaw's expert production

Benedict Lombe returns to the site of her award-winning solo play 'Lava' with a follow-up two-hander

Laura Donnelly once again soars in tailor-made part/s scripted by her partner Art makes for unexpected bedfellows, and so it proves in Jez Butterworth's moving if meandering The Hills of California. Butterwort…

At last, a "King Lear" that achieves lift-off, thanks to director Yael Farber, leading men Danny Sapani, Fra Fee, and Clarke Peters, and a thrilling design team

Matt Smith stars in heavy-handed adaptation of Ibsen's 1880s classic, here with onetime Tony nominee Paul Hilton (The Inheritance) in glowering support

Matt Smith gives his all in unyielding adaptation of Ibsen morality play Real life is a helluva lot scarier right now than you might guess from the performative theatrics on display in the new West End version…

A pitch-perfect Lindsay Duncan leads a large and splendid cast in Dodie Smith rediscovery Sisters are doing it for themselves, just as families as a whole are, too, on the London stage these days. Dear Octopus…

Scott Graham directs this latest, language-heavy take on Franz Kafka's seminal 1915 novella, here starring Felipe Pacheco as Gregor Samsa

Ralph Davis stands out as Iago in a new Othello that casts two actors as the jealous Moor: Ken Nwosu and the excellent Ira Mandela Siobhan; Ola Ince directs.

Neil Simon's 1968 play allows for fun, yes, but also sadness Sarah Jessica Parker's screen renown as Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City has made a London event out of the West End revival of Plaza Suite, the …

Sophie Melville and Lucy McCormick shine in rambling if roisterous queer take on the gunslinging wild west

Catherine Tate, David Threlfall, and Grace Molony in Angus Jackson production, whose opening was delayed by a month

The National Theatre fielded hit after hit, and smaller venues scored as well Wait, and your wishes are answered. That seemed to be the case during the theatre year just gone, following on from 2022 when new Br…

Nathaniel Parker, Jacob Fortune-Lloyd and the splendid Nancy Carroll head director Nina Raine's rending reappraisal of Tom Stoppard's 2006 play.

Woody Harrelson marks his third London stage appearance across 21 years in London transfer of David Ireland's 2018 Edinburgh Festival success, here directed by Jeremy Herrin.

Stephen Sondheim's fascinating 1976 show enriches aurally and, this time round, visually This is, by my reckoning at least, the third major London production over the years of Pacific Overtures, Stephen Sondh…