Leave memories of Paul Daniels at the door and embrace the sweet deception inside There's nothing quite like magic, live, up close and personal. Sure there are the TV spectaculars, the casin…
James Thierrée joyfully collides together dance, mime, acrobatics, music and more - but what does it all mean? "I feel I owe you an explanation." That much James Thierrée concedes partway …
A multi-layered, multi-generational theatrical epic is one of this year's stand-out offerings First, a bit of housekeeping. Maybe it was the three-and-a-half-hour duration, or maybe the unfa…
Two performer-less shows on the theme of work set the audience to - well, work Temping, Assembly George Square Studios ★★★★ Sarah Jane is away in Hawaii. But don't w…
War as entertainment, Die Hard as an epic poem, and a potted biography Afghanistan Is Not Funny, Gilded Balloon ★★★★
Theatre about theatre? There's plenty of it about at the Fringe: here are two fine examples Every Word was Once an Animal, Zoo Southside ★★★★
Francesca Martinez's debut play about disability politics entertains " and frustrates Has the pandemic made us more angry? Although Francesca Martinez's debut play, which is at the National …
Three shows at the Traverse take in gritty realism and no-holds-barred farce The Last Return, Traverse Theatre ★★★★★
A musical whodunnit and an ovine origin story Kathy and Stella Solve a Murder!, Summerhall ★★★★★
Two shows at Summerhall explore issues of identity - though with contrasting outcomes Boy, Summerhall ★★★★ Nature or nurture? It's the perennial question behind so m…
Strong constituent parts in Alan Cumming's Burns dance show - but do they add up? In retrospect, all the clues were there. A star actor embarking on a new performance genre; a fresh reapprai…
'World king' as a young man; and a comedy legend Les Dawson: Flying High, Assembly George Square ★★★  Any opportunity to watch impressionist Jon Culshaw at work i…
If you think a fat man wearing yellow swimming trunks is funny, you're on the right island Alexei Sayle, in his angry young man phase, once said that you can always tell when you're watching…
After a hard-hitting 'Oklahoma!', the latest Rodgers & Hammerstein revival stays on the sunnier side How old is Emile de Becque? Perhaps because my first Emile was the 1958 film version'…
Long-aborning musical still has a leg or two further to go There's further training, shall we say, still needed on 101 Dalmatians, the much-delayed show that marks the second consecutive mu…
Kate Fleetwood as Cruella de Vil in a show in need of further shaping
★ TASTING NOTES New musical set in a wine bar should have stayed in the cellar Not much goes right for a show whose characters are similarly ill-fated LJ's dream has come tr…
Multi-talented musical cast delivers va-va voom in Sally Cookson's reimagined Narnia This bold reimagining of Sally Cookson's innovative 2017 production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardro…
★★★★ SISTER ACT THE MUSICAL Event theatre and a sensational lead performance make the trip worthwhile Crowdpleasing musical retains its glitz and charm (and cheese…
New award-winning political play is warmly idealistic, if a bit too obvious While Britain is experiencing a "summer of discontent", with inflation, strikes and other conflicts, it is odd th…
Last summer's hit Cole Porter revival is itself now revived, now with Kerry Ellis as Reno Sweeney, replacing Sutton Foster
★★★ THE DARKEST PART OF THE NIGHT, KILN Issues-led drama has its heart in the right place The didactic vies with the dramatic in Zodwa Nyoni's incident-packed new play Mu…
Simon Godwin delivers an unexpectedly conventional production, larky and fluffy After gender-flipping the National's Malvolio, the director Simon Godwin might have been expected to be equall…
★★★★CLOSER, LYRIC HAMMERSMITH Still sordid and sexy 25 years on Lovers come together, split apart and come together again Drama is writing in thin air, its content i…
Caroline Quentin leads a sparkling cast in Richard Bean's latest comedy romp Can a comedy have too many jokes? That may seem an odd question, but one that applies to this latest high-octane…