Sunday, December 19, 2021
Hampstead theatre, LondonAlan Plater’s 60s-set play honouring agent Peggy Ramsay hasn’t aged well – her once maverick ideas now look outmoded
Henry Livings felt that “all plays abo…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:42AMSaturday, December 18, 2021
It was a year of revivals in every sense, as venues threw open their doors again. From fresh takes on classics to blazing new talents and shows that captured the current moment, our critics …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:54AMThursday, December 16, 2021
Ladies and gentleman, please take your seats – for how long? Our chief theatre critic on her Covid-hit week
Until a few days ago, I had a diary rammed with first nights. This week was non-…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:54PMTuesday, December 14, 2021
Menier Chocolate Factory, LondonPatrick Marber revives Alan Bennett’s tiresome 1973 comedy with its trouserless salesman, randy vicar and retrograde Britishness
“From end to end I’ve s…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:24AMSunday, December 12, 2021
The Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse theatre, LondonRedmayne and Jessie Buckley ‘Willkommen’ us into this Weimar-era Berlin nightclub for an evening of flamboyance, menace and magnetism
Thi…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:18PMThursday, December 9, 2021
Dorfman theatre, LondonA play-within-a-play provides an ingenious platform for drama in Alice Childress’s still-pertinent 1955 unpicking of American racism
Race is “an explosive subject�…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:36PMTuesday, December 7, 2021
Bridge theatre, LondonNicholas Hytner brings a dazzling wizard’s touch to this adaptation of Philip Pullman’s fantasy tale
Nearly two decades ago, Nicholas Hytner triumphantly staged Phi…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:06PMMonday, December 6, 2021
As an adaptation of La Belle Sauvage arrives at the Bridge theatre, the author explains why His Dark Materials was better as a play than a film – and how he learned to write for children a…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:03AMSunday, December 5, 2021
Theatre Royal Stratford East, LondonAn eco-themed updating of the fairytale without any bite, this panto has clumsy storytelling and half-hearted smut
Red wears a magic hoodie in this pantom…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:54PMFriday, December 3, 2021
Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, LondonThere are strong performances in this tale of sex, power and morality reimagined by director Blanche McIntyre
If there is a #MeToo moment in Shakespeare’s oe…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:03PMThursday, December 2, 2021
Wyndham’s theatre, LondonThis stage version of Yann Martel’s novel is exquisitely designed but the wonder leaks away in flat-footed storytelling
Life of Pi had a first life as a Booker p…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:48PMTuesday, November 30, 2021
Jermyn Street theatre, LondonPennington plays Prospero in Tom Littler’s production, with a bewitching, naughty Ariel in Whitney Kehinde
This production brings its enchantments but one enth…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:48AMFriday, November 26, 2021
Omnibus theatre, LondonShocking truths are revealed when a middle-aged gay couple bring home a man half their age for a threesome
‘Monogamy is complicated,” says Michael, one half of a g…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:18AMThursday, November 25, 2021
Garrick theatre, LondonBeverley Knight excels as trailblazing manager Faye Treadwell in a musical that skips hastily through history and lacks emotional drama
The idea behind this musical i…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:12PMWednesday, November 24, 2021
Lyttelton theatre, LondonThere is a prevailingly saggy sitcom vibe as characters shelter in an English country house in a production with many failings
Moira Buffini’s new play tries to be…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:06AMTuesday, November 23, 2021
Jacksons Lane, London Through intriguing group scenarios, the impressive Represent cast consider politics and tyranny without resorting to pat solutions
Interruptions interrogates the rights…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:03AMFriday, November 19, 2021
Barn theatre, CirencesterThis bewitching but at times confusing adaptation offers a spin on the familiar story before swerving into panto mode
The Grimm brothers’ Aschenputtel is far from …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:03AMThursday, November 11, 2021
Soho theatre, LondonIfeyinwa Frederick’s monologue is delivered with humour and energy by Joseph Black as a man nearing 30 when depression seeps in
Tunde is turning 30 and there is a fair …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:18PMWednesday, November 10, 2021
Rose theatre, Kingston upon ThamesOverly stylised theatrics mar this revival of Colin Teevan’s monologues featuring Medea, Phaedra and others from ancient tragedies
A fringed curtain of st…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:24PMThe singing sensation belting out big numbers in the veg aisle, Britney’s Oops! redone as vintage jazz, how to flirt if you’re a woman in a musical … our critic takes her seat for thea…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:24AMFriday, November 5, 2021
Finborough theatre, LondonAlana Valentine’s drama about a struggling family in New South Wales is superbly performed
This is an intergenerational story which deals with the devastating eff…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:03PMThursday, November 4, 2021
Ustinov Studio, BathPenhall’s 2000 play, set in the world of psychiatric care, is revived by James Dacre in a production with some riveting debate
When it premiered in 2000, Joe Penhall’…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:12PMWednesday, November 3, 2021
Criterion theatre, LondonRough-hewn but joyous musical take on the classic novel works in everything from Carly Simon to Chris de Burgh
It is a truth universally acknowledged that the Britis…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:36PMNottingham PlayhouseGatiss’s delayed rework amps up the ghostly effects while drawing out the overlooked dark comedy in the classic tale
If it seems premature to be staging Charles Dickens…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:42AMFriday, October 29, 2021
Hampstead theatre, LondonCompelling performances aren’t enough to save Roxana Silbert’s staid restaging of this Pulitzer-winning suicide drama
Marsha Norman’s mother-daughter drama is …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:42AMTuesday, October 26, 2021
Playground theatre, London‘You don’t want to help. You just want to say you’ve helped’ … this series of heated and occasionally heavy-handed dialogues illuminate social hypocrisy a…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:42AMFriday, October 22, 2021
Bristol Old VicRetelling the gothic novel with intelligently charming humour and a live band, this is a bold and ingenious production
Emma Rice calls Wuthering Heights a tragedy in this show…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:24PMThursday, October 21, 2021
Lyric theatre, LondonIt’s the music that carries the emotional weight in this tale of love, loss and roots rock, starring the superb Arinzé Kene
A fortress-like wall of speakers is wheele…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:03AMWednesday, October 20, 2021
Birmingham Repertory theatreThe 18th-century novel and Welsh crooner meet on 1960s Carnaby Street in a spirited jukebox musical
This is a madcap mashup of a musical. Its basic premise is, bi…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:42AMA new female-led festival aims to challenge the sexist tropes and subvert the narratives of scary theatre
Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, Abi Zakarian and Sampira are self-professed horror fiends. All…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:24AMTuesday, October 19, 2021
Bush theatre, LondonShahid Iqbal Khan’s signed play about a young Muslim’s spiritual journey could be fantastic, but it needs a better narrative
It is a tremendous relief to see a play …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:54AM 
