Sunday, January 14, 2018
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, Royal Court, LondonThe naturally comic Patsy Ferran shines in Anoushka Warden’s punchy autobiographical monologue about growing up the child of a cult followerAno…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AMJerwood Theatre Downstairs, Royal Court, LondonAfter all the controversy surrounding this revival of Andrea Dunbar’s memorable play, it adds nothing that’s newRita, Sue and Bob Too comes…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:55AMSunday, December 24, 2017
Donmar Warehouse, LondonJames Norton and Imogen Poots paint an intense picture of a couple in a violent but entirely predictable marriage crisisDoors are battered, blood is spattered, a per…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:12AMYoung Vic, LondonTestimony from Calais refugees makes vital drama in a compelling but unsentimental document of our timesThe Jungle is one of the most vital productions of the year. Desperat…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:12AMVictoria Palace, LondonLin-Manuel Miranda’a smash Broadway musical about one of America’s founding fathers now breaks new ground in the West EndYes it is. Worth the wait. Yes it does. Sp…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:12AMSunday, December 17, 2017
National Theatre, LondonThe almost-real boy and adorably annoying cricket win hearts and minds in John Tiffany’s skilful, subtle adaptationIt is easy to draw up a list of items that make P…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:24AMSwan, Stratford-upon-AvonRobert Harris’s trilogy springs fully to life in Mike Poulton’s two-part epic – but where are the meaty parts for women?There are, well, a legion of reasons fo…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:24AMAlmeida, LondonThe supernatural stories of the mid-20th century TV show have lost some of their bite in adaptation, but none of their deadpan charmCan irony and fear coexist in the theatre? …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:18AMSunday, December 10, 2017
Young Vic, LondonAn Edinburgh fringe hit, this spangled tale of the cross-dressing fifth marquis of Anglesey charms even as it cajolesI bet most of the audience in How to Win Against History…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:48AMMenier Chocolate Factory, LondonMarcus Brigstocke stars in a revival of the Broadway musical that brings the big top to fire-eating life, if not the showman himself“Humbug” at this time …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:48AMHot-off-the-press plays thrust the personal and the political centre stage, while Bob Dylan had a moment• Observer critics’ reviews of the year in fullWhat a terrific turnaround year. At…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:42AMSunday, November 26, 2017
Apollo, LondonThere’s wit and heart galore in Tom Macrae and Dan Gillespie’s musical inspired by a teenage boy who wanted to dress in girls’ clothesWho could resist Everybody’s Talki…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:18AMYoung Vic, LondonAeschylus speaks directly to us in David Greig’s electrifying adaptationFierce and crystal-clear, The Suppliant Women arrives in London like an arrow shot into the he…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:18AMSunday, November 19, 2017
Wales Millennium Centre, CardiffCardiff’s fabled docks are given the Les Mis treatment in a hulking, lacklustre new musical graced by some exceptional voicesIt is my favourite place name. …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:33AMMinerva, ChichesterThis acute take on the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? cheating case looks set to be another West End transfer for the playwrightJames Graham’s Quiz is an oblique look at…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:33AMLyttelton, LondonCranston is compelling as the TV anchorman-gone-rogue in Ivo Van Hove and Lee Hall’s dazzling stage version of the 1976 filmFlesh and gizmo. Substance and reflections. Wat…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:33AMSunday, November 12, 2017
The Other Palace, LondonKelsey Grammer plays a father recovering from a stroke in this soppy, short-lived Broadway showJohn August and Andrew Lippa’s musical Big Fish, adapted from Daniel …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:48AMRoyal Exchange, ManchesterWith its ‘no future’ message, Chris Goode’s riotous update of Derek Jarman’s punk film Jubilee rings trueOf course it is meant to be a mess. A coherent, rat…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:48AMThe Yard, London E9Jay Miller directs an exemplary production of Rita Kalnejais’s bittersweet love story set in occupied FranceWhen people grumble about theatre being middle-aged they aren…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:48AMSunday, November 5, 2017
Hampstead theatre, LondonFenella Woolgar excels in an adaptation of Patrick Hamilton’s wartime tale that doesn’t quite capture the novel’s subtletiesEmbarrassment and anxiety shiver th…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:24AMSam Wanamaker Playhouse, LondonRice bows out as artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe in bravura style with a touching musical about two painfully shy chocolate-makersEmma Rice ends at …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:24AMSunday, October 29, 2017
Nicholas Hytner and Nick Starr’s intimate new South Bank theatre, where the focus will be on new writing, opens in riotous, melancholy style at home with Karl MarxLondon’s newest theatre…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:33AMSunday, October 22, 2017
Almeida; Vaudeville; Donmar, all LondonMike Bartlett conjures a potent state of the nation address while Wilde and Ibsen’s wronged heroines still resonateRarely has so baggy a play burned …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:06AMSunday, October 15, 2017
Lyric Hammersmith, LondonLesley Sharp’s Irina moves from delight to despair in Simon Stephens’s incisive 21st-century versionSo Masha has become Marcia. She is not subjected to the most …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:24AMEveryman, LiverpoolKneehigh are on top form in Carl Grose’s audacious Günter Grass adaptationA grand old place has been ransacked. In the background, faded ochre walls and windows precari…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:24AMWyndhams, LondonSimon Stephens’s May-to-September love story is beautifully played by Anne-Marie Duff and Kenneth Cranham in Marianne Elliott’s inspired productionSimon Stephens’s new …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:24AMSunday, October 8, 2017
Menier Chocolate Factory, LondonFlorian Zeller’s tricksy, philosophical new play finds two couples debating the ethics of falsehoodFlorian Zeller and his translator Christopher Hampton bro…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:54AMNoël Coward theatre, LondonJames Graham’s new play, starring Martin Freeman as a Blairite MP and Tamsin Greig as his old-school constituency agent, cleverly illuminates party divisionsFiv…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:54AMMiverva, ChichesterAlongside Sinéad Cusack, Dervla Kirwan and Phil Daniels, McKellen is deftly authoritative as Lear in a production full of fine performances and clever touchesSome of the …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:54AMSunday, October 1, 2017
Gate; Barbican, LondonAn exciting rising star and imaginative production make for an enthralling trip to The Unknown Island, and a take on Bergman is stylish but slow-movingIf I were a casti…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:33AMSunday, September 24, 2017
Young Vic, LondonThe actor gives an extraordinary performance, but even she cannot quite convey the turmoil of a woman who has suffered a strokeSometimes Juliet Stevenson looks like a parach…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:18AM 
