116 stories by "Samuel Sims"
I like neon yellow lights on the front of a Wild West saloon as much as the next theatre critic, but even Mimi Jordan Sherin’s lighting and Miriam Buether’s set design isn’…
Being surrounded by die-hard Michael Ball fans isn't usually something I go for on a Sunday eve (more like a Wednesday) but being present for the second West End Heroes in so many years tota…
I’m wildly impressed when I review a show that requires its otherwise talented cast to perform ‘badly’. It must take a great deal of skill and awareness and a distinct lack…
Up until a month ago I’d never read a book by Jacqueline Wilson; a matter that wasn’t particularly alarming to me as after all, I am not a pre-pubescent girl – the author&#…
There was a wonderful atmosphere and overwhelming feeling of respectful acknowledgement at the Coliseum on Sunday, not least for the great Russian impresario, Sergei Diaghilev but the overal…
I think many of us, and especially veteran theatre-goers, have a definite idea of what a ‘musical’ is. There are usually plenty of big dance numbers and a hefty amount of bruisin…
Luckily, the weather uncharacteristically behaved itself for Friday’s performance of Twelfth Night "Â the latest production at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. What a relief. Th…
Another revival for ENO and one that yet again aims to catapult its audience’s senses into oblivion. But where many of the company’s previous efforts have been mind-blowing, this…
I can’t think of a more perfect setting for such a disturbing and dark opera than this one: Peckham’s eerily atmospheric Asylum, which sits idly and, quite frankly, oddly in the …
There’s something wonderfully appealing about seeing a Hollywood star break away from their pedestal to tread the boards of a small West End theatre. Kathleen Turner, Oscar nominee and…
Bound by disturbing realities and mortifying contrasts, Sean O’Casey’s World War I play, The Silver Tassie has just begun its three month run at the National Theatre. Where Howar…
The Easter holiday is well under way and in theatre world there’s a bunch of really cool things going on. I’ve been to a couple of shows now that are marketed as ‘for…
Coppelia is a comic ballet first performed in Paris in 1870, enjoying great success until the run was interrupted by the Franco-Prussian War and siege of Paris, which ultimately led to the t…
So doctor-turned-comedian Harry Hill has decided to write a musical based not-at-all loosely on industry beast Simon Cowell's The X Factor " and my oh my, what an experience it is. Hil…
I’m always apprehensive walking into an immersive theatre piece, imagining something along the lines of the London Dungeons where the actors jump out and touch you. Philip Pullman's Gr…
Are you ready to be so ferociously scared that you’ve no choice but to shriek like a little girl at regular intervals and maybe dribble a teensy bit? Ghost Stories is back in London to…
I unfortunately missed Damien Tracey's Warde Street, though the excellent reviews he gathered certainly forced me to take notice. Faster, Higher, Stronger, Straighter is Tracey's te…
What an exciting experience it is to bear witness to the first production housed in the new, indoor Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at Shakespeare's Globe, which opened this month. This theatre has …
One might wonder whether creating an opera for very young children is a good idea. It can be hard to follow at the best of times, even with subtitles, and kids aren’t known for their b…
There’s something about going to London’s Coliseum that makes me feel warm and secure, rather like when you’re a kid and there’s nothing to worry about apart from wha…
This is such an intriguing project and, I imagine, a lot of fun for both James Rottger and Kouban productions to create, and then see take off. It’s a massive accomplishment for a musi…
Though Let The Right One In is partially centred on a vampire, it is primarily not a horror or even regarded as particularly supernatural. Like John Ajvide Lindqvist’s original Swedish…
I think everyone will agree that the idea of Christmas without a flying snowman is a horrific and offensive one and, well, actually it’s just blasphemy. Every year Raymond Briggs’…
The English National Opera (ENO) has once again created something unexpectedly modern and beautifully raw with Mozart's The Magic Flute, but how on earth does one create such an exception…
With alumni including Academy- and Olivier-award winner Dame Helen Mirren, James Bond’s Daniel Craig and Downton Abbey‘s Golden Globe nominated Michelle Dockery, the National You…
