Theatre

If only Caryl Churchill’s plays were as thrillingly macabre as her debut

28 October 2023 9:00 am

The first play by the pioneering feminist Caryl Churchill has been revived at the Jermyn Street Theatre. Owners, originally staged…

Scherzinger is superb but why’s the set so dark and ugly? Sunset Boulevard, at the Savoy Theatre, reviewed

21 October 2023 9:00 am

Sunset Boulevard is a re-telling of the Oedipus story set in the cut-throat world of Hollywood. Pick a side in…

As gripping as an Agatha Christie thriller: Shooting Hedda Gabler, at the Rose Theatre, reviewed

14 October 2023 9:00 am

The unlovely Rose Theatre in Kingston is a modest three-storey eyesore. The concrete foyer looks like an exercise area on…

Godot with gags: It’s Headed Straight Towards Us, at Park200, reviewed

7 October 2023 9:00 am

It sounds like a barking-mad student sketch but the final product is marinated in wisdom and maturity. It’s Headed Straight…

Cheesy skit: A Mirror, at the Almeida Theatre, reviewed

23 September 2023 9:00 am

The playwright Sam Holcroft likes to toy with dramatic conventions and to tease her audiences by withholding key information about…

Watch three irascible women screaming at each other: Anthropology, at Hampstead Theatre, reviewed

16 September 2023 9:00 am

Anthropology is a drama about artificial intelligence that starts as an ultra-gloomy soap opera. A suicidal lesbian, Merril, speaks on…

Lacks any air of mystery, foreboding or darkness: Macbeth, at the Globe, reviewed

9 September 2023 9:00 am

Macbeth at the Globe wants to put us at our ease and make us feel comfortable with the play’s arcane…

Like an episode of Play School: Dr Semmelweis, at the Harold Pinter Theatre, reviewed

2 September 2023 9:00 am

Bleach and germs are the central themes of Dr Semmelweis, written by Mark Rylance and Stephen Brown. The opening scene,…

Two very long hours: The Effect, at the Lyttelton Theatre, reviewed

26 August 2023 9:00 am

Lucy Prebble belongs to the posse of scribblers responsible for the HBO hit, Succession. Perhaps in honour of this distinction,…

Bizarre and outdated: Word-Play at the Royal Court reviewed

5 August 2023 9:00 am

The Royal Court’s new topical satire, Word-Play, opens with a gaffe-prone Tory prime minister giving a TV interview in which…

Finally an entertaining play at the Royal Court: Cuckoo reviewed

29 July 2023 9:00 am

The boss of the Royal Court, Vicky Featherstone, will soon step down and she’s using her final spell in charge…

Forgettable stuff: The Crown Jewels, at the Garrick, reviewed

22 July 2023 9:00 am

In the 1990s, the BBC had a popular flat-share comedy, Men Behaving Badly, about a pair of giggling bachelors who…

Kwame Kwei-Armah’s embarrassing update of Love Thy Neighbour: Beneatha’s Place, at the Young Vic, reviewed

15 July 2023 9:00 am

Beneatha’s Place, set in the 1950s, follows a black couple who encounter racial prejudice when they move to a predominately…

A naked pamphleteering exercise: Idiots Assemble: Spitting Image The Musical, at Phoenix Theatre, reviewed

8 July 2023 9:00 am

Nothing demonstrates the inanity of profanity like an undercooked comedy. The famous Spitting Image puppets have returned in a political…

A play that explains why England’s football team are so lousy: Dear England, at the Olivier Theatre, reviewed

1 July 2023 9:00 am

James Graham’s entertaining new play looks at the England manager’s job. Everyone knows that coaching the national side is just…

An unreliable history: When Winston Went to War with the Wireless, at the Donmar, reviewed

24 June 2023 9:00 am

When Winston Went to War with the Wireless is the clumsy and misleading title of a new play about John…

Like attending a joyous religious service: We Will Rock You, at the Coliseum, reviewed

17 June 2023 9:00 am

One of the earliest jukebox musicals has returned to the West End. When the show opened in 2002 the author,…

Hamlet fans will love this: Re-Member Me, at Hampstead Theatre, reviewed

10 June 2023 9:00 am

A puzzle at Hampstead Theatre. Literally, a brain teaser. Its new production, Re-member Me, is a one-man show written and…

Much better than the film: Mrs Doubtfire, at Shaftesbury Theatre, reviewed

3 June 2023 9:00 am

Mrs Doubtfire is a social comedy about divorce. We meet Miranda, a talentless, bitter mother, who tires of her caring…

Ugly and humdrum: Brokeback Mountain, at @sohoplace, reviewed

27 May 2023 9:00 am

Brokeback Mountain, a play with music, opens in a scruffy bedroom where a snowy-haired tramp finds a lumberjack’s shirt and…

Sad, blinkered and incoherent: Arcola’s The Misandrist reviewed

20 May 2023 9:00 am

A new play, The Misandrist, looks at modern dating habits. Rachel is a smart, self-confident woman whose partner is a…

Riveting and sumptuous: The Motive and the Cue, at the Lyttelton Theatre, reviewed

13 May 2023 9:00 am

The Motive and the Cue breaches the inviolable sanctity of the rehearsal room. The play, set in New York in…

Upstart Crow without the jokes: RSC’s Hamnet, at the Swan Theatre, reviewed

6 May 2023 9:00 am

The Swan Theatre has reopened after an overhaul and praise god: they’ve replaced the seats. The Swan is a likeable…

So good it would have made Ibsen envious: Dixon and Daughters, at the Dorfman Theatre, reviewed

6 May 2023 9:00 am

Dixon and Daughters is a family drama that opens on a note of sour mistrust. We’re in a working-class home…

Famine zones are more fun than this play: Dancing at Lughnasa, at the Olivier Theatre, reviewed

29 April 2023 9:00 am

Snowflakes, an excellent title, rehashes The Dumb Waiter by Harold Pinter. A guest in a hotel room is visited by…