Tuesday, October 3, 2023
Big-hearted and necessary play fails to deliver fully on its huge promise
The Royal Court’s collaboration with Access All Areas (AAA) may not be theatre’s first explicit embrace of the n…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 08:25PMFriday, September 29, 2023
★★★ UNBELIEVABLE, CRITERION THEATRE Entertaining show, but short of a little magic in more senses than one
Pantomime vibe undermines the unique frisson of the magician's art
Unbeliev…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:03AMWednesday, September 27, 2023
★★ UNTITLED F*UCK M*SS S**GON PLAY, YOUNG VIC A gruelling watch, but message hits home
Satirical comedy-drama labours its points across an uninterrupted two hours
Seldom can a title hav…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 02:25AMFriday, September 22, 2023
Austrian musical finally arrives in London to entertain, but not quite thrill
There are times when it’s best to know as little as possible before taking one’s seat for a show – this…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 03:25PMThursday, September 14, 2023
★★★ INFAMOUS, JERMYN STREET THEATRE Caroline and Rose Quentin perfectly cast in mother and daughter play
A clever, sexy, confident woman woos the aristocracy but is disowned when she …
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 05:04AMSaturday, August 19, 2023
★★★★ MAKESHIFTS AND REALITIES, FINBOROUGH THEATRE Three one act works revived with a beautiful attention to detail
Plays that show that much may have changed for women in the last 1…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 08:19AMWednesday, August 16, 2023
Feelgood show acquires added poignancy on an emotional night
Forty years ago, the world was very different for gay men. AIDS was devastating their communities around the world, especially …
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 05:19AMSaturday, August 12, 2023
★★ THE SPONGEBOB MUSICAL, SOUTHBANK CENTRE Broadway show drowns in an unsympathetic venue, holed beneath the waterline by a lacklustre book and incoherent score
Fine performances cannot…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 03:19AMFriday, August 11, 2023
★★★ MACBETH, SHAKESPEARE'S GLOBE Stripped back version has plenty of echoes of today's news, but lacks coherence and spectacle
Matti Houghton shines as a grieving, accusing, frustrate…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:33AMFriday, July 28, 2023
★★ THE CROWN JEWELS, GARRICK THEATRE True story, dreadfully low on laughs and drama, in which the only successful heist comes at the box office
Al Murray and Carrie Hope Fletcher prov…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 04:55AMMonday, July 24, 2023
★★★ ANNIE GET YOUR GUN, LAVENDER THEATRE Corny book still has its problems,. but Irving Berlin's songs are as glorious as ever
In fields of lavender flowers, an open air show sung we…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:19AMThursday, July 6, 2023
★★ MODEST, KILN THEATRE A trans and queer celebration, but not a very good play
Art, songs and a cabaret (indeed, Cabaret) vibe, but the story goes nowhere
Whether you believe that Ell…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 12:04AMTuesday, June 27, 2023
★★★★ STUMPED, HAMPSTEAD THEATRE A smart, funny, and beautifully staged new play
An hour zips by in the company of two playwrights bickering on the boundary edge
Much of cricket comp…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 10:43AMMonday, June 26, 2023
★ ROBIN HOOD. THE LEGEND. RE-WRITTEN. REGENT'S PARK OPEN AIR THEATRE Play with music lost in a forest of competing genres and tones
New version of old story wastes talent and resources in …
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 11:04AMThursday, June 15, 2023
★★★★★ 42nd STREET, SADLER'S WELLS THEATRE Glorious entertainment led by a star in the making
Old show sparkles in astonishing new production that dazzles from first to last
There…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:07AMThursday, May 25, 2023
★★★ A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, SHAKESPEARE'S GLOBE - Hot button issues douse fiery passions
MIchelle Terry steals the show as a Puck who brings a malevolent undertow to the comic roman…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:24AMSaturday, May 20, 2023
★★★★ A BRIEF LIST OF EVERYONE WHO DIED, FINBOROUGH THEATRE New play that mines the bittersweet moments of a long life
Jacob Marx Rice's new play mines the bittersweet moments of a …
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 05:06AMFriday, May 12, 2023
★★★★ THE CIRCLE, ORANGE TREE THEATRE Acerbic reflections on the price paid for love
Jane Asher leads an ensemble cast in Somerset Maugham's comedy of manners
Tom Littler opens his a…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 05:18AMMonday, May 1, 2023
FlawBored's meta-theatrical show comforts and then goes in for the kill
Just when you’ve relaxed a little, privileged duly checked and confident that you won’t be guilt-tripped for nippi…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 04:48AMThursday, April 27, 2023
Classy new stage adaptation of 1950s French novel proves intellectually rewarding
It’s apt that this new play, with characters moving in and out of Paris either side of World War I, is st…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:42AMMonday, April 24, 2023
Frenetic take on Brecht's tale of doing good in a bad world loses focus
As the UK undergoes yet another political convulsion, this time concerning the threshold for ministers being shitty to…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 04:54AMSaturday, April 22, 2023
American show is lost in the West End with only the hits to save it
Ain’t Too Proud? Ain’t too good either I’m afraid. Which is a shame as there’s plenty of the raw material here tha…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:06AMFriday, April 7, 2023
New production of the West End show based on the Alan Bennett film is perhaps near its sell-by date
People can’t find the food they want in the shops. Nobody has enough money. Public servi…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:24AMFriday, March 31, 2023
A reprehensible man treats women badly, but the political magic is left entirely unexplored
One wonders if Ricky Simmonds and Simon Vaughan pondered long over their debut musical’s title.…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 08:42AMTuesday, March 7, 2023
Evanna Lynch heads up wan troubles-themed dark comedy
“Darkly comic thrillers” (as they like to say) set in Ireland tracking how families, or quasi-families, fall apart under pressure ar…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 09:24AMWednesday, March 1, 2023
Ambitious but misconceived take on musical theatre landmark outstays its welcome
It is, perhaps, important to note that this production was first staged in London at the Young Vic, a venue …
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 01:40AMMonday, February 20, 2023
★★★★ STANDING AT THE SKY'S EDGE, NT 60 years in one Sheffield flat tells our nation's story
Chris Bush and Richard Hawley write a love letter to a friendly and flawed hometown
Buil…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 09:07PMFriday, February 17, 2023
★★★★ SYLVIA, THE OLD VIC Beverley Knight is compelling and complex in suffragette musical
Sylvia Pankhurst suffers for her commitment to votes for women and to socialism
For many ye…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 05:16AMSunday, February 5, 2023
★★★★★ SMOKE, SOUTHWARK PLAYHOUSE Kim Davies' 2014 play has only grown in relevance for the post #MeToo world
The perils of navigating power relations when sexual tension is all …
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 05:49AMFriday, February 3, 2023
★★ TITUS ANDRONICUS, SAM WANAMAKER PLAYHOUSE Gory play full of murders played with neither gore nor murders
Tricksy staging distracts and disappoints
If All's Well That Ends Well, …
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 03:26AMFriday, January 27, 2023
★★★★ NOISES OFF, PHOENIX THEATRE Michael Frayn's farce about a farce still jars the funny bone
Sure it's overly familiar, but, 40 years on, the laughs keep coming
There’s a chance…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 03:04AM 
