Three-piece repertory is well staged, but the short-play formula doesn't really workHype is a dangerous thing. It often raises expectations beyond the reasonable, and disappointment inevitab…
Play about the Cornish housing crisis isn't so swell Carry on out of London past the Finborough Theatre and you hit the A4. Follow it east as it becomes the M4, take a southern turn at …
★★★★ JULIUS CAESAR, BRIDGE THEATRE Nicholas Hytner's rabble-rousing production pits the ruling elite against populismNicholas Hytner's rabble-rousing production pits …
Nicholas Hytner's rabble-rousing production pits the ruling elite against populismAll hail! Shakespeare's Roman drama may be enjoying something of a resurgence at present, but it rarely prov…
★★★★ THE OPEN HOUSE, THE PRINT ROOM A tyrannical family reunion and a dramatic volte-face in Will Eno's ingenious new dramaA tyrannical family reunion and a dramatic …
A tyrannical family reunion and a dramatic volte-face in Will Eno's ingenious new dramaThe American family has seldom look more desperate. Will Eno's The Open House depicts a gathering …
★★★ THE BELIEVERS ARE BUT BROTHERS, BUSH THEATRE One-man show about political extremism on the internet occasionally disturbsOne-man show about political extremism on the i…
One-man show about political extremism on the internet occasionally disturbs Do boys never leave the playground? Just when I was reasonably sure that the crisis of masculinity was an old-fas…
★★★★ MARY STUART, DUKE OF YORK'S Superb teamwork in Schiller thrillerRobert Icke's production reaches the West End with Juliet Stevenson and Lia Williams tossing…
The spin of a coin decrees which queen will wear the crownCasting decisions do not usually make gripping theatre. But in Robert Icke's version of Friedrich Schiller's 1800 political thriller…
Annie Baker magnifies the indignities of embattled partners in emotional wars of attritionOn their return home from Ohio to New York, young couple Jenny and Elias (Anneika Rose and Tom Mothe…
Wilton's Music Hall first stop for Emma Rice's fresh reincarnation of endung love storyTime flies so much more beguilingly in Daniel Jamieson and Emma Rice's 90-minute musical fant…
David Eldridge's two-hander about sex and solitude sets up home in the West EndAwkwardness is a challenging effect in drama, and one so rewarding when it works. When the movement isn't …
Jennifer Saunders gets laughs, but Kathy Burke's lamentable production misses the pointImagine, if you will, discovering a ninth-rate old melodrama about upper-class nonsense, hiring a …
In his 70th year the actor looks back on Olivier and Gielgud, on the Oscars and his start at Bristol Old VicIn 2016 the Bristol Old Vic turned 250. To blow out the candles, England's oldest …
Toby Jones, Zoë Wanamaker and co breathe vibrant new life into classic Pinter comedy of menaceIs modernism dead and buried? Anyone considering the long haul of Harold Pinter's The Birthda…
Shakespeare problem play gets a spirited reading that chimes with our #metoo timesIt's the people who are problematic, not the play. That's one take-away sentiment afforded by Caroline Byrne…
Andrea Dunbar's Thatcher-era classic is invigorated afresh The revival that almost didn't make it into town has got the Royal Court's 2018 mainstage offerings off to a rousing start. Fo…
Conor McPherson's latest play is blowin' in the windThe rolling stone is now at home in the West End, as Conor McPherson's inimitable dramatic take on Bob Dylan transfers from the …
Athleticism, daring feats, grace and visual poetry in Cirque's animal world exravaganzaFor their eighth debut at the Royal Albert Hall, mesmerising French-Canadian performance art compa…
Autobiographical debut play is sprightly but sketchy, tooThat ages-old dictum "write what you know" has given rise to the intriguingly titled My Mum's a Twat, in which the Royal Court's deli…
Sondheim and Alexander Hamilton sang out, as did a bracing array of new plays Year-end wrap-ups function as both remembrances of things past and time capsules, attempts to preserve an experi…
Lin-Manuel Miranda's hugely anticipated hit musical is a massive achievement"Are you aware that we're making history?" demands Alexander Hamilton in the show that has finally made the lesser…
A slick and youthful rendering of Shakespeare's goriest drama Live theatre, eh? It had to happen. On press night a sound of what seemed to be snoring (the production's really not dull) …
Visually alluring Victor Hugo rewrite needs to go back to the storyboardThese are challenging times for new British musicals. Following quickly on from a Pinocchio that ought to be way more …