It's more adult panto than mature musical, with the sauce liberally ladled on If you are hoping for some harmless fun at The Great British Bake Off Musical, probably with a few dodgy jokes a…
A vivacious cast are great fun to hang out with Can a play ever be a bit too much like real life? The thought came to me while watching Matilda Feyisayo Ibini's entertaining new play Sleepo…
Michael John O'Neill's debut stirs up questions but not emotions Michael John O'Neill's first full-length play, premiering at the Hampstead's studio space downstairs, is a puzzler. There's t…
Affecting revival of Tom Kempinski play about an ailing musician and her therapist This 1981 two-hander was opened out for a film in 1986, starring Julie Andrews no less, with all its offst…
The dark arts of diplomacy get a makeover as a comedy workshop Who better to write a piece about the game-playing of a peace-talks negotiation than a former peace-talk negotiator, Daniel Tau…
Danny Robins' clever play gains a creditable star turn in its fifth run The set of 2:22 A Ghost Story is open to the auditorium when we arrive and locates us at once in gentrification-land. …
Shakespeare's tragedy as a tight thriller, with its racist elements fully exposed Frantic Assembly's Othello, originally co-developed with the Lyric in 2008, is back in its third iteration, …
Told by an Idiot return with a celebration of silent-movie antics and daft gags Imagine what would have happened if the young Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel were cabin-mates on a transatlan…
A cast with an infectious gift for fun give this French confection a touch of stage magic First came Yasmin Reza's 1994 long-runner Art; now another French hit, The Art of Illusion, has arri…
Clint Dyer's new take makes Othello a victim of mob mentality Clint Dyer is the first black director of Othello at the National Theatre, a venue that once staged the piece with its actor …
Jonathan Slinger commands the stage in this dark, funny monologue The American author of The Sarah Book, on which the monologue Sarah is based, is called Scott McClanahan, as is his main cha…
Tania Nwachukwu creates a warm hour of music and memories with hidden bite The Bush studio space is proving a fruitful launch pad, not just for new writing but for new performers. It previo…
Absurdly romantic notions about love and war have never been funnier For his final bow as artistic director of the Orange Tree, Paul Miller has decided to go out with a bang, amid much gigg…
Frank McGuinness's new play about T S Eliot and Groucho Marx is a poetic puzzle The set at the Arcola for Frank McGuinness's Dinner with Groucho naturally features a table with two place set…
★★★★ ELEPHANT, BUSH STUDIO Stirring solo show from rising star Anoushka Lucas A beguiling debut play with both charm and an angry message It lasts only an interval-fr…
Pearl Cleage's play about thwarted dreams in Prohibition era Harlem gets a stellar production The cynical might think Pearl Cleage's play had been expressly written to address the over-ridin…
Jack Thorne's wickedly funny play offers plum roles to two riveting disabled actors This is not a play for the squeamish: here be blood and cum and unsavoury descriptions of genitalia, male …
Tanya Barfield reconstructs a simple plot as an absorbing puzzle A tender love story has arrived at the Kings Head theatre from the US, where its author, Tanya Barfield, is an award-winning…
Mrs Thatcher and Elizabeth II slug it out again in this 2013 classic It's only nine years since Moira Buffini's Handbagged had its premiere at Kilburn's Tricycle theatre (renamed the Kiln i…
Dipo Baruwa-Etti pits a fiery outsider activist against the British-Nigerian middle-class As Dipa Baruwa-Etti's latest play, The Clinic, reminds us, the Tory party has a strong showing of B…
After a hard-hitting 'Oklahoma!', the latest Rodgers & Hammerstein revival stays on the sunnier side How old is Emile de Becque? Perhaps because my first Emile was the 1958 film version'…
Simon Godwin delivers an unexpectedly conventional production, larky and fluffy After gender-flipping the National's Malvolio, the director Simon Godwin might have been expected to be equall…
A brilliant balance of raucous comedy and immense pathos Where should Leila live " Ilford or Kent? It doesn't sound like an earth-shattering decision for a 15-year-old to make, but the stake…
An entertaining but not quite convincing makeover for a tricky play There probably isn't a more able translator of vintage drama than Martin Crimp, the playwright whose 2004 version of Pierr…
Playwright Beru Tessema makes a striking stage debut We are in a room in a simply decorated house in northwest London, where an Ethiopian-British family is gathering for a funeral "tea" for…