Theatre

Stylish facsimile of Carol Reed’s film: Oliver!, at the Gielgud Theatre, reviewed

8 February 2025 9:00 am

Oliver! directed by Matthew Bourne is billed as a ‘fully reconceived’ version of Lionel Bart’s musical. Very little seems to…

An excellent sixth-form drama project: Santi & Naz, at Soho Theatre, reviewed

1 February 2025 9:00 am

Santi & Naz is a drama set in the Punjab in 1947 that uses an ancient and thrilling storyline about…

Pious bilge: Kyoto, at @sohoplace, reviewed

25 January 2025 9:00 am

The West End’s new political show, Kyoto, can’t be classed as a drama. A drama involves a main character engaged…

Cheerless and fussy: The Tempest, at Theatre Royal Drury Lane, reviewed

18 January 2025 9:00 am

The Tempest is Shakespeare’s farewell, his final masterpiece or, if you’re being cynical, the play that made him jack it…

Exquisite: Tom Stoppard’s The Invention of Love, at Hampstead Theatre, reviewed

11 January 2025 9:00 am

The Invention of Love opens with death. Tom Stoppard’s play about A.E. Housman starts on the banks of the Styx,…

Brutal and brilliant portrait of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford

4 January 2025 9:00 am

The Last Days of Liz Truss? is a one-woman show about the brief interregnum between Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak.…

A miracle at the RSC: genuinely funny Shakespeare

4 January 2025 9:00 am

Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale? Most subsidised theatres hanker for…

Sumptuous but musically unmemorable: Elton John’s The Devil Wears Prada musical reviewed

14 December 2024 9:00 am

The Devil Wears Prada is a fairy tale about an aspiring female novelist, Andy, who receives a job offer from…

This Muslim playwright believes Yorkshire is headed for civil war

7 December 2024 9:00 am

Expendable, at the Royal Court, is an urgent bulletin from the front line of the grooming gang scandal in the…

Wonderful comedy of manners: Kiln Theatre’s The Purists reviewed

30 November 2024 9:00 am

A slice of the ghetto arrives at the Kiln Theatre in Kilburn. The Purists is set on the stoop of…

Heart-warming but safe biographical drama: Going for Gold, at Park90, reviewed

23 November 2024 9:00 am

Going for Gold is a biographical drama about a forgotten star of the 1970s. Frankie Lucas was a middleweight boxing…

A flop: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, at Ambassadors Theatre, reviewed

16 November 2024 9:00 am

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button carries a strap-line, ‘an unordinary musical’. Perhaps the word ‘extraordinary’ is simply too banal…

A riveting show crammed with the kind of risky gags rarely heard on stage these days

9 November 2024 9:00 am

How To Survive Your Mother is a play based on a memoir by political dramatist Jonathan Maitland. He portrays himself…

Is Coogan’s Dr Strangelove as good as Sellars’s? Of course not

2 November 2024 9:00 am

Stanley Kubrick’s surreal movie Dr Strangelove is a response to the fear of nuclear annihilation which obsessed every citizen in…

Revenge tragedy for kids: The Duchess [of Malfi], at Trafalgar Theatre, reviewed

26 October 2024 9:00 am

The Duchess [of Malfi] has been partially updated by Zinnie Harris in a puzzling modern-dress production. The set by Tom…

Almeida’s Look Back in Anger is flawless

19 October 2024 9:00 am

Strange title, Juno and the Paycock. Sean O’Casey’s family drama is about a hard-pressed Dublin matriarch, Juno, whose husband Jack…

How is Arnold Wesker’s Roots, which resembles an Archers episode, considered a classic?

12 October 2024 9:00 am

The Almeida wants to examine the ‘Angry Young Man’ phenomenon of the 1950s but the term ‘man’ seems to create…

Faultless visuals – shame about the play: the National’s Coriolanus reviewed

5 October 2024 9:00 am

Weird play, Coriolanus. It’s like a playground fight that spills out into the street and has to be resolved by…

The show belongs to Jonathan Slinger and Ben Whishaw: Waiting for Godot reviewed

28 September 2024 9:00 am

Waiting for Godot is a church service for suicidal unbelievers. Those who attend the rite on a regular basis find…

A massive, joyous, sensational hit: Why Am I So Single? reviewed

21 September 2024 9:00 am

Why Am I So Single? opens with two actors on stage impersonating the play’s writers Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss.…

The rise of soapy, dead-safe drama: The Band Back Together reviewed

14 September 2024 9:00 am

The Band Back Together is a newish play, written and directed by Barney Norris, which succeeds wildly on its own…

Dazzling: Stoppard’s The Real Thing, at the Old Vic, reviewed

7 September 2024 9:00 am

The Real Thing at the Old Vic is a puzzling beast. And well worth seeing. Director Max Webster sets the…

Artistically embarrassing but a hit: Shifters, at Duke of York’s Theatre, reviewed

31 August 2024 9:00 am

Shifters has transferred to the West End from the Bush Theatre. It opens at a granny’s funeral attended by the…

The cast mistake screaming for comedy: Cockfosters, at Turbine Theatre, reviewed

24 August 2024 9:00 am

The Turbine Theatre is a newish venue beneath the railway arches of Grosvenor Bridge in Battersea. The comfy auditorium is…

This Edinburgh Fringe comedian is headed for stardom

17 August 2024 9:00 am

Dr Phil Hammond is a hilarious and wildly successful comedian whose career is built on the ruins of the NHS.…