2 Star Shows

London Tide

Review
★★
Simon Ximenez
West End
Lyttelton Theatre
19th Apr, 2024

Standing ovations, once reserved to acknowledge only the highest calibre of performance, are now part of the theatre routine.

My Beautifull Laundrette

Hanif Kureishi’s adaptation of his screenplay for My Beautiful Laundrette was at the Liverpool Playhouse as part of its UK tour, courtesy of the Theatre Nation Partnerships conve…

Foam

Harry McDonald’s Foam, at the Finborough Theatre, is a chronological series of snapshots that capture events in the life of Nicky Crane (1958-1993).

Dear Octopus

Review
★★
Simon Ximenez
West End
Lyttelton Theatre
17th Feb, 2024

As a title, there’s something intriguing about Dear Octopus, now playing the National Theatre’s Lyttelton stage.

Till the Stars Come Down

Review
★★
Simon Ximenez
West End
Dorfman Theatre
9th Feb, 2024

Before digital TV made it a thing, “watching on catch-up” used to mean spending your Sunday afternoon in front of the EastEnders omnibus.

The House with the Chicken Legs

There’s a famous quote by Winston Churchill that says that Russia “is a riddle wrapped in a mystery wrapped in an enigma”.

The Homecoming

Review
★★
Isabella Thompson
West End
Young Vic
12th Dec, 2023

The Homecoming, as with much of Harold Pinter’s work, is a timeless play, charged with machismo, pride and tension.

I’m Sorry Prime Minister I Can’t Quite Remember.

There are four strong performances in I’m Sorry Prime Minister I Can’t Quite Remember at the Cambridge Arts Theatre, written and directed by Jonathan Lynn, following the passin…

The Confessions

Review
★★
Simon Ximenez
West End
Lyttelton Theatre
27th Oct, 2023

Written and directed by “l’auteur du naturalisme”, Alexander Zeldin, The Confessions feels like a too-small show on a too-big stage.

Trueman and the Arsonists

Review
★★
Richard Beck
London Fringe
Roundhouse
1st Nov, 2023

Writer Simon Stephens has taken Max Frisch’s 1953 Biedermann und die Brandstifter, variously translated as The Fireraisers or The Arsonists and given it a heightened absurdist in…

The Threepenny Opera

Review
★★
Richard Beck
London Fringe
The Cockpit
13th Oct, 2023

Taking on The Threepenny Opera can be a precarious business, as OVO demonstrate, without flinching from the challenge.

Sunset Boulevard

Review
★★
Pete Shaw
West End
Savoy Theatre
14th Oct, 2023

Thirty years ago I stood on The Strand in a queue for eight hours intent on getting my hands on early tickets for the first production of Sunset Boulevard.

Boys From The Blackstuff

The extent to which you appreciate James Graham’s adaptation of Boys from the Blackstuff might depend partly on how well you know Alan Bleasdale’s original television series.

Rebecca

After all the hype from it’s reception elsewhere in Europe combined with the legacy of the original film version, the intriguing yet simple plot and the clear characterisation in…

God of Carnage

Who has not experienced a situation in which a surmountable incident escalates out of all proportion? Then, on the way to resolving it, further baggage accumulates around the subje…

A Teacher's Lament

A Teacher’s Lament is not the revolutionary political statement that we would expect a show of this nature to be.

Vocal Vengeance: A Murder on the Stage Floor

Steelworks A Cappella group presents a murder mystery, Vocal Vengeance, which is like an musical version of Cluedo.

The Father

It isn’t easy representing old age on stage.

My Life Online

My Life Online is an incredibly well performed piece of modern opera, with an unfortunately lacklustre story.

Here You Come Again

Creating an effective vehicle for performers, be it musical, play, comedy set or improv format, is arguably the most challenging task a creative artist can undertake.

Losing the Plot

Losing The Plot is a new queer jukebox musical comedy, jam-packed with top hits from the 70s and 80s, Originally performed in Manchester and has now come to the Fringe this year.

Alice in Wonderland Musical

Lewis Carroll is turning in his grave at Tim Nelson’s Alice in Wonderland.

Pandemonium – The Musical

Written and composed by Bethany, Cameron and Natasha Lythgoe, Pandemonium is a biblical musical of mundane proportions built upon a confusing amalgamation and re-telling of stories…

Lucky Pigeons

The true judges of any show aimed at children are the children in the audience, and the kids at Lucky Pigeons at Underbelly’s Circus Hub seemed to have a good time.

Report to an Academy

Review
★★
M Johnson
Edinburgh Fringe
Zoo Southside
13th Aug, 2023

Report To An Academy is not Franz Kafka’s best work, but Robert McNamara brings the elusive central character with precision and animal rage that is very watchable.

Trust

People You Know Productions are going for a cross between Posh, and an Agatha Christie novel, except that nobody here actually wants to work out who the killer is.

Peer Gynt: A Jazz Revival

Peer Gynt: A Jazz Revival by Cambridge company Phonofiddle! comes with an intriguing proposition: taking Ibsen's complex work and transmuting it into an hour of jazz-infused th…

Ripper

Ripper is an unfortunate example of a show that may have promise, but not quite the ability to realise it.

Beehavioural Problems: Something Something Autism

As comedian Stephen Catling ambles onto stage, clad in a novelty dog head, it's apparent that we're sitting in an absurdist comedy show.

Eulogy

The company Darkfield are a Fringe regular now, known for their shows housed in completely dark shipping containers.

Bacon

Review
★★
Ben Ludlow
Edinburgh Fringe
Summerhall
20th Aug, 2023

A good story is surely one that absolutely demands to be told.

Sophie Santos… is Codependent

Sophie Santos…Is Codependent details Santos’ journey through their breakup, narrating the tale combining both comic storytelling and song, embodying conversations with their pe…

Lady Inger

Review
★★
Richard Beck
London Fringe
The Space
3rd Jul, 2023

Ottisdotter theatre company’s production of Lady Inger provides a rare opportunity to see one of Henrik Ibsen’s earliest, least performed and less well-known works.

Some Enchanted Evening with Alissa Finn

From the outset the jazz club on the top floor of Toulouse Lautrec appears to have a cosy rustic atmosphere, like one that we'd associate with a gazebo.

Roald Dahl’s Charlie and The Chocolate Factory – The Musical

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is one of Roald Dahl’s best known books, which is why the expectations are high for James Brining’s tour.

Self Tape

Jonas (Michael Batten) would ideally like to be in full-time employment as an actor on stage.

Robin Hood: The Legend. Re-written

The myth of Robin Hood has been told and re-told through the centuries, and in the oral tradition, each storyteller has put their own spin on the tale.

Sweeney Todd - the Victorian Melodrama

Opera della Luna's latest production of Sweeney Todd will show you the barber as you have never seen or heard him before.

Jules and Jim.

In a rather surprising debut choice, Stella Powell-Jones has commenced her incumbency as Artistic Director of Jermyn Street Theatre with Timberlake Wertenbaker’s uninspired adapt…

Trumpets and Raspberries

Given the vast repertoire of plays available to theatre companies one often wonders how they decide on what to perform next and why: in this case, the somewhat lesser-known work by…

Dixon and Daughters

Review
★★
Simon Ximenez
West End
Dorfman Theatre
30th Apr, 2023

The National Theatre continues its support of new writing at the Dorfman with Dixon and Daughters: an emotional play dealing with the far-reaching effects of historic child abuse.

Macbeth

A Macbeth that features only the eponymous hero and his wife is an opportunity to define the characters and chart the shifting balance of power between them as the tragedy unfolds.

Rebus: A Game Called Malice

The Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch has opened its Spring 2023 season with the world premiere of Ian Rankin and Simon Reade’s Rebus: A Game Called Malice.

SMOKE

Too many cooks, so the saying goes, can spoil the broth.

We’ll Always Have Paris

The Mill at Sonning is a quaint venue that provides all the amenities for a great theatre trip.

Hamlet

There are time when you wonder, “Why?” Lazarus Theatre Company’s Hamlet at the Southwark Playhouse, Borough, is one of those.

Handel’s Messiah: The Live Experience

Being dead, the great maestro of late baroque composition has the hope of being raised incorruptible.

Hex

Review
★★
Simon Ximenez
West End
Olivier Theatre
8th Dec, 2022

When you’re a child, Christmas is all about that one big day.

It's a Wonderful Life - English National Opera

Review
★★
Gareth Williams
West End
London Coliseum
27th Nov, 2022

Opening the London Coliseum festive season is the UK premier of It’s a Wonderful Life, based on the classic 1946 Frank Capra movie.

Something in the Air

A note on the back cover of Peter Gill’s latest play, Something in the Air, at Jermyn Street Theatre, claims that the stories of the two old protagonists “flow like mist down t…

Last Sales Conference Of The Apocalypse

Mixing survivalism with psychoanalysis, Dave Bain’s Last Sales Conference of the Apocalypse is a fractured and confused trip that leaves us with more questions than answers.

Antigone

It’s a classic David and Goliath, if by the end, rooting for Goliath seemed like a reasonable thing to do.

Sarah Sherman

Hailing all the way from the bright lights of New York, Sarah Sherman’s self-described horror comedy show - with the emphasis on the horror - is incredibly ghastly and overly gra…

ROOM

Interminable, intellectually pretentious and self-indulgent, former circus performer James Thiérrée’s Room produced by his own Swiss Compagnie du Hanneton, is presented as phys…

Madagascar Jr

Madagascar Jr is the stage musical version of the 2005 children’s movie, a charmingly simple story of friendship amongst lovable animals.

Prometheus Bound (Io’s Version)

Prometheus Bound (Io’s Version) finds itself in a double bind.

The After-Dinner Joke

The After-Dinner Joke doesn’t quite land.

Flesh

Whilst it may be apt to stage John Montgomery and Derek Batchelor’s Flesh - a musical about Burke and Hare - at Surgeon’s Hall, the novelty stops there.

Spank!

For regular Fringegoers who aim to tick all the most talked-about and cultest shows off your list, I’m going to make a prediction: you’ve seen Spank! before.

Let's Try Gay

The Edinburgh Fringe may have a porn addiction.

A Dark Place

A Dark Place by Boreas Productions at Pleasance Courtyard is an insight into the relationship between friends, Ash and Sam, and how Sam’s mental health struggles have twisted the…

Room – A Room of One's Own

Adaptation can do more than reproduce.

Waterloo

Waterloo is a whacky, one-woman show by Bron Batten detailing her affair with a conservative military official.

The Land of Lost Content

The end of show speech to an audience.

7 Seventeen-Year-Olds in a Screwed-Up World

You can have too many carrots in one show.

Today I Killed My Very First Bird

Today I Killed My Very First Bird, a piece of new writing by poet, playwright and performer Jason Brownlee and directed by Lee Hart, is a strange beast.

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

Whether it was the book or movie, C.

Starcrossed

Shakespeare knew what it took to pen a romantic tragedy when he wrote Romeo and Juliet and hence carefully structured all the ingredients to meet the demands of the genre and creat…

Fragile

Review
★★
Susanne Crosby
Brighton Fringe
Laughing Horse @ The Walrus (Raised Room)
3rd Jun, 2022

Written and performed by Agustina Dieguez Buccella, Fragile is a one-woman show of how fierce independence is also isolating and can mask loneliness.

Soho Boy

Soho Boy, at the Drayton Arms Theatre, is a new musical, written and composed by Paul Emelion Daly.

For You I'd Wait

One of the best things about theatre, and art in general, is the space it creates for difficult conversations and analysis.

Middle

Review
★★
Simon Ximenez
West End
Dorfman Theatre
6th May, 2022

In 2017, David Eldridge’s play Beginning dramatised an awkward conversation between two white, financially comfortable, urban-dwelling, adult Gen X-ers, caught in that time of em…

The Corn is Green

Review
★★
Simon Ximenez
West End
Lyttelton Theatre
27th Apr, 2022

As a title, The Corn is Green proves the old adage about books, covers and the perils of judging thereof.

Shake the City

If we ever needed more proof as to why second wave or white feminism should no longer be considered relevant, here it is.

Dev's Army

Review
★★
Richard Beck
London Fringe
The Bread & Roses / The London Irish Centre
14th Mar, 2022

Dev’s Army, by Stuart D.

Rain and Zoe Save The World

Rain and Zoe Save the World by Crystal Skillman at Jermyn Street Theatre is an action adventure story that follows two teenage friends as they embark on a journey to disrupt some o…

Krapp's Last tape

Review
★★
Mel Evans
London Fringe
Tower Theatre
26th Jan, 2022

Throughout his life, on his birthday, Krapp records a review of his year using an old fashioned tape recorder.

Wilf

Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre continues its tradition of being non-traditional this Christmas season.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

There are few things worth travelling the length of the Jubilee Line for on a cold and wet rush-hour on a December night.

Accidental Birth of An Anarchist

Review
★★
Richard Beck
London Fringe
The Space
12th Nov, 2021

Luke Oldfield’s Accidental Birth of an Anarchist at The Space on the Isle of Dogs tells of two novice activists from The People’s Movement to Protect the Planet who get jobs on…

Joe & Ken

A stony silence filled the air at the end of act one of Joe & Ken at The Old Red Lion Theatre, Islington, the old stomping ground of the eponymous couple who lived just down th…

The Witchfinder’s Sister

The Salem witch trials are well known, perhaps in large part due to Arthur Miller’s outstanding play The Crucible that put the Massachusetts town on the map.

Ida Rubinstein: The Final Act

How do you successfully relate the biography of a theatrical legend, tell the history of a remarkable period in the development of the arts, create portraits of the famous names of…

Alexithymia

Alexithymia is a short play about conflicting human emotions and the disability to connect with your inner feelings.

Intricate Rituals

Intricate Rituals by York DramaSoc at theSpace Triplex is a monologue with alternating actors.

The Bank Job

What are the ingredients for a bank robbery comedy? A ragtag criminal gang, a double serving of double-crossing, a training montage, and many pairs of dark sunglasses.

Laura McMahon, One of the Gals

Review
★★
James Macfarlane
Edinburgh Fringe
PBH’s Free Fringe @ Banshee Labyrinth / PBH’s Free Fringe @ The Street / Yotel Edinburgh
14th Aug, 2021

One of the Gals is completely packed.

Smile Like You're Happy

Smile.

Fugue in Two Colors

If Carl Knif’s Fugue in Two Voices is a joke, then it’s a dud.

A Weekend Away at the Hotel Decevoir

Chalkhill Theatre Ltd currently has a double debut with the company’s first appearance at the Festival Fringe and the premiere of their new play.

Theatre-19 Presents: John

Described as a ‘wonderfully chaotic and colourful tragicomedy’ Theatre-19 Presents: John is a particularly silly devised piece at theSpace@Surgeons Hall from a group of Bristol…

Femme Ta Bouche

Femme Ta Bouche: a gender-bending cabaret star with cancer, cooped up in rural Arkansas, wants to make a statement.

Oleanna

Review
★★
Simon Ximenez
West End
Arts Theatre
31st Jul, 2021

“Misogynist Mamet.

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