Wednesday, May 7, 2025
★★★★★ THE GANG OF THREE, KING'S HEAD THEATRE The big beasts banter 50 years ago
Beautifully written and equally well acted play resonates down the decades
There was a time when the…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 02:54PM★★ CONVERSATIONS AFTER SEX, PARK THEATRE Nudity, but nothing new in UK debut
Award-winning Irish play fails to reach a memorable climax
In Dublin, a city that has changed more than most …
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 08:24AMMonday, April 28, 2025
★★★★ MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, RSC, STRATFORD Medieval court's mores translates uncomfortably well to modern football
Garish and gossipy, this new production packs a punch between the…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 03:03PMThursday, April 17, 2025
★★★★★ GHOSTS, LYRIC HAMMERSMITH - Ibsen screams into 2025 in this perfect reimagining
Ten years on, Gary Owen and Rachel O'Riordan top their triumphant Iphigenia in Splott
A singl…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 09:18PMSaturday, April 12, 2025
★ MIDNIGHT COWBOY, SOUTHWARK PLAYHOUSE Ambitious project overwhelmed by challenges
Two misfits misfire in misconceived show
It seems a bizarre idea. Take a pivotal film in American cult…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 09:03PMWednesday, April 2, 2025
★★★★ THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING OSCAR, JERMYN STREET THEATRE One man play from 1960 given a compelling revival
Alastair Whatley honours his subject in a quietly powerful performance
It�…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 02:48PMTuesday, April 1, 2025
★★★★ STILETTO, CHARING CROSS THEATRE Castrato finds comfort by the canals
Quirky, operatic show won't please everyone, but will delight many
That friend you have who hates musicals…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 03:42PMFriday, March 28, 2025
★★★ ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS - THE MUSICAL, THEATRE ROYAL BATH Ambitious new musical isn't slaying 'em in the aisles
1950s America feels a lot like 2020s America in this portmantea…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 10:54PMSunday, March 9, 2025
★★★★ EDWARD II, SWAN THEATRE Rapid and racy adaptation draws on its writer's legend
Putsch in the palace brings down a king who chose the wrong person to love
“Don’t put your c…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 03:06PMWednesday, February 19, 2025
★★★★★ HAMLET, ROYAL SHAKESPEARE THEATRE Rupert Goold's staging lends a gnawing, troubling, transatlantic relevance
The iceberg cometh
The date, projected behind the stage before …
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 08:48PMThursday, February 13, 2025
★★★★★ THREE SISTERS, SAM WANAMAKER PLAYHOUSE Souls dissected in brilliantly conceived and executed production
Russia - but also here, there and everywhere
Russia.
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 08:48PMWednesday, February 5, 2025
★ MRS PRESIDENT, CHARING CROSS THEATRE A widow, a photographer but no soul
Curious play that fails to mobilise theatre's unique ability to tell a story
The phenomenal global success of Si…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 08:42AMTuesday, February 4, 2025
★★★ SECOND BEST, RIVERSIDE STUDIOS First-class performance in a second-class play
Martin is not Harry Potter in the movies, then might be in real life, but proves to be the boy who sur…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 03:06PMSunday, February 2, 2025
★★★★★ PLAY ON!, LYRIC HAMMERSMITH The Bard and The Duke in perfect harmony!
Super performances deliver magnificent entertainment
If you saw Upstart Crow on television or on stage i…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 09:54PMFriday, January 24, 2025
★★★ AN INTERROGATION, HAMPSTEAD THEATRE Detective gets her man, but at what cost?
Rosie Sheehy and Jamie Ballard shine in Edinburgh Festival import
In a dingy room with dilapidated fu…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 09:42PM★★★ CYMBELINE, SAM WANAMAKER PLAYHOUSE Patriarchy defeated!
A new, if not as radical as once it were, take on Shakespeare's cross-dressing call to arms
There’s not much point in ha…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 11:42AMThursday, January 23, 2025
★★★★ THE LONELY LONDONERS, KILN THEATRE A beautifully realised stage adaptation
Memories, frustrations and hopes in a city emerging from post-war austerity
As something of an immig…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 03:18PMSunday, January 12, 2025
★★★★ THE MAIDS, JERMYN STREET THEATRE Master and Servant, poison & procrastination
Class, in its 21st century manifestation, colours much performed play
There are two main reaso…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 09:18PMThursday, January 9, 2025
★ TITANIQUE, CRITERION THEATRE Celine! Tina! Jack and Rose! But no wit at all
Affectionate piss-take set for cult status at best
This Celine Dion jukebox musical has been a big hit in New …
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 09:24PMSaturday, December 21, 2024
★★★ TWELFTH NIGHT The winter comedy provides more chills than chuckles despite a funny fool
Too much thinking; not enough laughing
It is not just Twelfth Night, it’s Twelfth Night, …
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 08:42PMTuesday, December 17, 2024
★★★★ NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812, DONMAR WAREHOUSE Broadway show takes eight years to traverse the Atlantic, but proves worth the wait
War and Peace - but not as y…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 03:02PMFriday, December 6, 2024
★★★ HANSEL AND GRETEL, SHAKESPEARE'S GLOBE More wicked witch, less sunny siblings please
Songs and sweeties, but insufficient sourness and sadism for fans of fairytales
Growing up wit…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 08:18PMSaturday, November 30, 2024
★★ THE LIGHTNING THIEF, THE OTHER PALACE One for fans of the franchise
Myths and monsters make for a curiously bland and bloodless musical
Percy Jackson is neither the missing one from …
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 03:48AMSunday, November 24, 2024
★★★ ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, SAM WANAMAKER PLAYHOUSE Despite its compansations, the play is hard to watch
New production lands on shaky ground in 2024
"All’s well that ends well�…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 10:48PMFriday, November 22, 2024
★★★★ KING JAMES, HAMPSTEAD THEATRE Two Cleveland lads bond, break and bond again in perceptive dramedy
Beautifully crafted play tracks two men's relationship, as LeBron James comes a…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 09:31PMTuesday, November 19, 2024
★★★★ [TITLE OF SHOW], SOUTHWARK PLAYHOUSE Two decades on, this meta-musical retains its charm
Revival of New York show lifts the spirits
Not just a backstage musical, a backroom mu…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 09:36PMSunday, November 10, 2024
★★★★ BURNT-UP LOVE, FINBOROUGH THEATRE Ferocious three-hander finds love too hot to handle
Super writing and acting jolts us out of complacency
Mac is in prison for a long stretch. …
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 09:06PMWednesday, October 30, 2024
★★★ HOW TO SURVIVE YOUR MOTHER, KING'S HEAD THEATRE Jonathan Maitland writes of his mother, but should we laugh or cry?
Lots of heartache, but a strange void where the heart of the pla…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 09:42PMFriday, October 25, 2024
★★★★ THE FORSYTE SAGA PARTS 1 AND 2, PARK THEATRE Epic adaptation falls away a little, but still packs a punch
Joseph Millson leads a super cast in a classy production from Troupe …
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 09:06PMMonday, October 21, 2024
★★★ AUTUMN, PARK THEATRE Adaptation of Ali Smith's acclaimed novel drifts when it should bite
Promising production, beautifully acted, slides into side plots and confusion
Theatre is…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 12:02AMThursday, October 17, 2024
★★ LAND OF THE FREE, SOUTHWARK PLAYHOUSE Good timing, but clunky structure and plodding pace limits appeal
A president shot, as a divided country seeks political solutions
Straddling th…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 09:06PM 
