Lillian Hellman's family feud set in 1900 Alabama doesn't survive a confused updating The Young Vic has opened under a new artistic director with a puzzle play. The puzzle is, why stage this…
Gig theatre piece about the pain and redemption of a pioneer reggae artist I live in Brixton, south London. To get to the tube, I have to cross Windrush Square. Since 2021, I go past the Ch…
Relaunch of Elton John musical needs further tinkering still It's second time only quasi-lucky for The Devil Wears Prada, the stage musical adaptation of the much-loved Meryl Streep film fr…
This psychedelic mashup conveys a sci-fi-style alternate reality Hermia is a headbutting punk with a tartan fetish, Oberon looks like Adam Ant and Lysander appears to have stumbled out of a …
Director Patrick Marber does Mel Brooks's 1967 musical proud There is something deliciously perfect about the timing of The Producers' arrival at the Menier Chocolate Factory. In these twitc…
★★★ 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 …
Oscar Wilde speaks just as strongly to the 21st century as he did to his own If Harold Pinter's work represents, as he slyly joked, the weasel under the cocktail cabinet, then Oscar Wilde…
Shakespeare's comedy of identity confusion benefits from a 1940s setting It's all too easy to underplay the melancholy of Shakespeare's comedy of divided twins, misplaced " sometimes narciss…
★★ 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…
New play about a paedophile ring foregrounds the voices of British-Pakistani women British theatre excels in presenting social issues: at its best, it shines a bright light on the controver…
Dan McCabe's play about ageing hiphop stars makes a winning European debut Watching Dan McCabe's 2019 play, older folk might be reminded of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band's indelible lyrics, "Ca…
Joyce's great short story fully realised for 'invited guests' by a perfect ensemble James Joyce's Misses Morkan have gone up in the world for their Christmas gathering this year, from the up…
★★★ 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…
★★★★ KING JAMES, HAMPSTEAD THEATRE Two Cleveland lads bond, break and bond again in perceptive dramedy Beautifully crafted play tracks two men's relationship, as LeBr…
Musical theatre behemoth becomes an outsized film - and this is just part one "No one mourns the wicked," we're told during the immediately arresting beginning to Wicked, which concludes tw…
This venue's annual festive classic is seasonally joyous, but its writing is frankly patronizing This Dickens classic is an annual treat, or a Christmas trial " depending on your point of v…
★★★★ [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 musica…
Despite anticipating disaster, this mesmerising voyage is full of hope Picture this: framing the stage are two pearlescent clouds which, throughout the performance, gently pulsate with flic…
New play about young black men and cryptocurrency is sadly predictable Cryptocurrency is like the myth of El Dorado " a promised land made of fool's gold. Despite its liberatory potential, …
★★★★ 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 …
The latest in Forced Entertainment's 40 years of experiment is a thought-tickling farce Can experimental theatre survive the decades? This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Forced Enter…
The 'Emily in Paris' star surrenders to cliche - or does she? The Catalan capital has given its name to a famous number in the Stephen Sondheim musical, Company. And here it is lending geog…
Rajiv Joseph's play pitting beauty against duty gets an impressive staging It's 1648 in Agra, and an excitable young guardsman has come up with an idea: a giant flying platform that he calls…
HELP TO GIVE THEARTSDESK A FUTURE! Support our GoFundMe appeal Support our GoFundMe appeal It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk…
Hanif Kureishi classic gets a compulsively comic makeover from Emma Rice Hanif Kureishi's 1990 novel The Buddha of Suburbia begins like this: "My name is Karim Amir, and I am an Englishman …