Olivier Award-winner Paul Jesson explains how Richard Nelson came to write a solo play for him In September 2022 I had an email from my American friend Richard Nelson: "Would you like me to…
Gemma Whelan discovers a mean streak under Charlotte's respectable bonnet The Brontë sisters and their ne'er-do-well brother will always make good copy. The brilliance of the women constr…
Patricia Clarkson powers the latest iteration of this great, grievous American drama Memory is a confounding thing. By way of proof, just ask the Mary Tyrone who is being given unforgettable…
Sheridan Smith gives it her all against near-impossible odds Is there a more purely likeable actress than Sheridan Smith, the performer who was still a teenager when she stole the show at t…
Awkward mix of knockabout laughs, heartfelt tribute and feminist messaging never quite settles There are genres of theatre that demand buy-in from the audience " musicals, opera and the…
Greg Hicks shines as Dostoevsky's defiantly optimistic dreamer Like all great literature, Fyodor Dostoevsky's final, eccentric, playfully wondrous short story seems to have been written just…
It's a great song and dance evening, but the story is an empty one In a secret chamber somewhere, the producers of MJ the Musical may be keeping a portrait of the King of Pop that has ac…
'Gunter' co-creator and historian connects a 1604 witch hit to the world today I first read Anne Gunter's story about five years ago, when I was in my first year of university at Oxford, lit…
★★★★ FOAM, FINBOROUGH THEATRE Skinhead finds his feet (in a pair of DMs) then leads double life as street thug and gay cruiser Infamous neo-Nazi brought to life in co…
The author of 'Power of Sail' sets the scene for his play's UK premiere I'm writing this in the lobby of the Menier Chocolate Factory a couple of hours before the first preview. I was last …
Director Rachel O'Riordan finds lighter moments in a tale of grief Brian Friel's Faith Healer isn't noted for its laughs, but Rachel O'Riordan has found more than most directors do in this …
Focused on young life in south London, this hit is as energetic and joyful as ever The reviews of Tyrell Williams' debut play on its first and second outings at the Bush Theatre were univer…
THISISPOPBABY serves up a joyous tapestry of Ireland contemporary and traditional In what feels like the beginning, or at least the Old Testament, there was Riverdance. Now, ready to flow th…
Billy Crudup essays multiple characters as a fake Englishman abroad Is it just coincidence, or something about the post-Covid theatrical landscape, that one-person shows are becoming commonp…
Trevor Nunn, age 84, makes a blinding return to form "We all live here in peace and friendship," notes Telegin (David Ahmad), otherwise known as Waffles, early in Uncle Vanya, to which one …
Ryan Calais Cameron brilliantly uses storytelling, music and verse When For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy first moved to the West End in 2023, it felt…
Roy Williams and Ebenezer Bamgboye skilfully bring Sam Selvon's novel to the stage Sam Selvon's 1956 novel about a flotilla of Caribbean migrants who came to London filled with expectations …
Francesca Mills' protagonist is the vivacious, truthful heart of this fascinating production "All discord without this circumference," the Duchess of Malfi tells the good man she's just aske…
Olivier Award-winning musical offers a celebration of community and a stirring exploration of a brutalist building's history Can there be anyone from Sheffield who has not seen Standing at t…
★★★ CRUEL INTENTIONS, THE OTHER PALACE Bad people do bad things, but bangers from Britney and co save the day Jukebox musical gets toes tapping, even if the thrill of t…
Lucy Kirkwood's latest mixes the birth of the NHS with a Brief Encounter-ish romance Keeley Hawes onstage is something to look forward to, so rare are her appearances there. In Lucy Kirkwo…
★★★ NACHTLAND, YOUNG VIC Patrick Marber directs flawed but fascinating disquisition on the past's relevance to the present in art, politics and morality Something to laugh …
The rise of fascism in the 1930s East End is given a human face Hot on the heels of Brigid Larmour's updating of The Merchant of Venice to the East End in 1936, a spirited new musical acr…
New comedy about masculinity and music is predictable and clumsy One island off the coast of Spain has more cultural oomph than all the rest put together. I'm talking about Ibiza, the sun-s…
New play about love and memory is exquisitely written and beautifully acted For the past ten years, Black-British playwrights have been in the vanguard of innovation in the form and content …