Theatre
Two very long hours: The Effect, at the Lyttelton Theatre, reviewed
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Bizarre and outdated: Word-Play at the Royal Court reviewed
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Snowflakes, an excellent title, rehashes The Dumb Waiter by Harold Pinter. A guest in a hotel room is visited by…
London theatre-goers have peculiar tastes
The Secret Life of Bees is a fairy-tale set in the Deep South in 1964. Lily, a bullied white girl,…
An epic bore: A Little Life, at the Harold Pinter Theatre, reviewed
A Little Life, based on Hanya Yanagihara’s novel, is set in a New York apartment shared by four mega-successful yuppies:…
Deeply unsatisfying: Berlusconi – A New Musical, at Southwark Playhouse Elephant, reviewed
Berlusconi: A New Musical, an excellent title, has opened at a new venue in south London, Southwark Playhouse Elephant. The…
Flawless: Accidental Death of an Anarchist, at the Lyric Hammersmith, reviewed
Accidental Death of an Anarchist has been performed all over the world with varying degrees of success. Written by Dario…
Drab by comparison to the film: Bonnie & Clyde, at the Garrick Theatre, reviewed
The murderous odyssey of Bonnie and Clyde is a tricky subject for a musical because the characters are such loathsome…
A ripping production with plenty of laughs: Guys and Dolls, at the Bridge Theatre, reviewed
Further than the Furthest Thing is an allegorical play set on a remote island populated by English-speakers from all over…
Cumbersome muddle: Women, Beware the Devil, at the Almeida Theatre, reviewed
Rupert Goold’s new show, Women, Beware the Devil, has great costumes, sumptuous sets and an intriguing chessboard stage like a…
Approaches perfection: Medea, @sohoplace, reviewed
Winner’s Curse is a hybrid drama by Dan Patterson and Daniel Taub which opens as a lecture by a fictional…
