★★ 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 F…
★★★ 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 ai…
Gillian Slovo's incendiary play points a finger at the bureaucrats at the heart of the tragedy The shadow of Grenfell Tower has already produced Nick Kent and Richard Norton-Taylor's dispass…
World premiere of Andrew Stein's slick tech show Plays chronicling the unscrupulous collision of high finance and big tech seem 10 a penny these days. Some writers, such as Joseph Charlton, …
Teatro delle Albe's Don Quixote drama rivals Riccardo Muti's Paths of Friendship concert Came for the music, returned for the theatre. I oversimplify: Riccardo Muti's Roads of Friendship eve…
New comedy explores digital and family alienation, but finds nothing to say Historically, the Royal Court is the venue for cutting-edge new writing " you know, the kind of plays that have s…
Mark Rylance conceived and stars in this stirring, but problematic drama of medical discovery hampered by prejudice As an actor, Mark Rylance specialises in outsiders and eccentrics, outlier…
British premiere by this venue's supremo is thrillingly provocative but also flawed Trauma is the source of identity politics. In the case of African-Americans, the experience of brutal slav…
★★ 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 believ…
Susan Stroman returns to the well, to wondrous results Who says you can't go home again? As proof that you can, and to giddy and gorgeous results, along comes the current West End revival o…
Jack Thorne's play about the BBC informs and educates, but does not really entertain Can things change, or must they always stay the same? The latest history play by Jack Thorne, a man of t…
Two students clash over changing the world with a playlist The revolution in the title of AJ Yi's new play at the Bush is the one activists hoped to set in motion in Hong Kong in 2019, when …
Will Young brings sweetness to a thin scenario Lucky Will Young: the production of the Simon Stephens monologue Song from Far Away that he is delivering at the Hampstead Theatre is directed…
New play about a lesbian love triangle is emotionally true and profoundly theatrical There are some songs, and singers, that make your heart swell. One of them, for me, is Ani DiFranco's 19…
Michael R Jackson's writing talent finds a claustrophobic outlet If you are going to see A Strange Loop, the new American musical trailing a Tony Award and a Pulitzer Prize that has arrived …
We take a journey through the magical land of Glastonbury's theatre, circus and comedy And that's it again for another year. Oh Glastonbury. A fever dream where the time of reality stops as…
★★★★ 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 Mu…
★ 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…
A star turn from Gabriel Vick powers a lively but loud adaptation The heart sinks (mine does, anyway) as the latest film-to-musical adaptation rolls into town, all with similar sound-worlds,…
West End revival of Martin McDonagh's storytelling classic is fun but unconvincing British theatre is getting a bit timid " is that right? Ahead of the opening of this revival of Martin McDo…
James Graham's life-affirming new play locates hope and feeling amid the ravages of defeat "Is everything loss?" the great Oliver Ford Davies once asked on the National's Olivier stage, in …
Pupils at an elite Ghanaian school learn home truths about their country The alternative title of Jocelyn Bioh's 2017 play School Girls, The African Mean Girls Play, might indicate that it's…
Siobhán McSweeney goes way beyond the expected in a transfixing performance Siobhán McSweeney is to be loved as a person for her speech when she received a BAFTA for Best Female Perfor…
The scenes overlap so that characters are besieged by their past, present and future Rebecca Frecknall's Romeo and Juliet burns like ice, paring back and tightening the script so that love a…
Arthur Miller's 1953 play is as compelling as ever in Lyndsey Turner's production Whining Donald Trump and snivelling Boris Johnson claim that they are victims of witch-hunts, although all t…