Arts Theatre
Ian McKellen is riveting: Hamlet, at Theatre Royal Windsor, reviewed
Ian McKellen in his early eighties plays the Dane in his mid-twenties. A production with such a strange innovation should…
Extraordinary power and simplicity: Lehman Trilogy reviewed
Stefano Massini’s play opens with a man in a frock-coat reaching New York after six weeks at sea. The year…
Flouncy, tasteless and unsubtle – I loved it: Ruthless! The Musical reviewed
Ruthless! The Musical is a camp extravaganza about ambitious actors stranded in small-town America. Sylvia St Croix, a pushy agent,…
Derek Jacobi as Mercutio is half-genius, half-prank: Romeo and Juliet at the Garrick reviewed
Out come the stars in Kenneth Branagh’s Romeo and Juliet. He musters a well-drilled, celebrity-ridden crew but they can’t quite…
Slapstick enthusiasts will love this Branagh and Brydon farce: The Painkillers reviewed
Sir Ken’s excellent West End residency continues with a sugar-rich confection. Sean Foley has adapted and updated an elderly French farce…
Bad Jews at the Arts Theatre reviewed: strange, raw, obsessive and brilliant
Bad Jews has completed its long trek from a smallish out-of-town venue to a full-scale West End berth. Billed as…
The play to watch if your country is breaking up
Of all the West End’s unloved venues the loveliest is the Arts Theatre. It specialises in creaky off-beat plays like…
