Hiran Abeyeskera's childlike prince falls flat in a mixed production The National's latest production of Hamlet opens with a bang: a sureness of style, atmosphere and refreshing comedic effe…
★★★ LEE, PARK THEATRE Earnest treatment of a substantial artist lacks excitement Informative and interesting, the play's format limits its potential Like fellow New …
★★★★★ MEASURE FOR MEASURE, RSC STRATFORD Crystal clear storytelling in a (surely) landmark production Shakespeare, in this adaptation, is at his most percept…
West End transfer of National Theatre hit extravaganza stars Stephen Fry and Olly Alexander Star casting has, since the pandemic, done much to restore the fortunes of commercial theatre. An…
★★★★ GET DOWN TONIGHT, CHARING CROSS THEATRE KC and the Sunshine State If you love the songs of KC and the Sunshine Band, Please Do Go! In a fair few bars around t…
James Graham's play transfixes the audience at every stage For the first part of Punch it feels as if you're riding a roller coaster, watching the world speed and loop past as you see it fro…
Will Lord's promising debut burdens a fine cast with too much dialogue What would it be like to be driven by OCD urges into idolising Elon Musk and aspiring to be one of his tribe of tech b…
A visually virtuoso work with the feel of a gripping French TV drama So often the focus " in the coverage of a royal wedding " is the story of the woman wearing the bridal dress. While every…
★★★ 50 FIRST DATES: THE MUSICAL, THE OTHER PALACE Forgettable, but comforting Date movie about repeating dates inspires date musical About halfway through this world …
Lively star-led revival of Joe Orton's 1964 debut is fun, but raises uncomfortable questions Playwright Joe Orton was a merry prankster. His main work " such as Loot (1965) and What the B…
Indhu Rubasingham's tenure gets off to a bold, comic start The word "after" can be elastic when a modern writer is inspired by a classic. Nima Taleghani here stretches it to breaking point, …
★★★★★ THE HARDER THEY COME, STRATFORD EAST Great story, songs and performances Natey Jones and Madeline Charlemagne lead a perfectly realised adaptation of t…
Three outstanding performances in Conor McPherson's atmospheric five-hander Why are the Irish such good storytellers? The historical perspective is that the oral tradition goes way, way back…
Morgan Lloyd Malcolm's version puts Mina Harkness centre-stage If a classic story is going to be told for the umpteenth time, there is a good bet it will come with a novel spin on it. So it…
Simon Stone refashions Ibsen in his own high-octane image Like the lighting that crackles now and again to indicate an abrupt change of scene or mood, Simon Stone's version of The Lady from…
Tracie Bennett is outstanding as a ribald, riotous Tallulah Bankhead Hot on the heels of Goodnight, Oscar comes another fictional meeting of real entertainment giants in Los Angeles, this t…
★★★ REUNION, KILN THEATRE New play brings a family's old enmities to the surface Beautifully acted, but desperately grim drama If you ever wanted to know what a mash up…
Alice Birch's latest is a wildly epic family drama that is both mind-blowing and exasperating OMG! I mean OMG doubled!! This is amazing! Or is it? Can Alice Birch's Romans: A Novel at th…
★★★★ THE PRODUCERS, GARRICK THEATRE Musical mayhem in Mel Brooks' meisterwerk You probably know what's coming, but it's such great fun! Unexpectedly, there's a sly…
Golda Rosheuvel and Letitia Wright excel in a super new play The Bush is likely to continue its fine recent run of hit plays, with this funny, poignant, culturally authentic and beautifully …
Experimental work about nature led by Katie Mitchell is both extraordinary and banal I love irony. Especially beautiful irony. So I'm very excited about the ironic gesture of staging a show…
Staging of Ukrainian-American Ilya Kaminsky's anti-war poems is too meta-theatrical The Ukraine war is not the only place of horror in the world, but it does present a challenge to theatre …
Broadway's acclaimed Cinderella, Louise, and Amalia reaches Soho for a welcome one-night stand Laura Benanti has been enchanting Broadway audiences for several decades now, and London has t…
Thrilling revival of Philip Ridley's cult classic confirms its legendary status Ever wondered if there was one moment when in-yer-face theatre started? Well, yes there was; there was one pl…
Rival Elizabethan playwrights in an up-to-the-minute encounter The title refers to a line in Henry VI, Part III: the future Richard III boasts that midwives cried, "Oh Jesus bless us, he is …