FringeReview UK

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

This surely is the greatest Dream since Peter Brook’s landmark 1970 production.

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A Midsummer Night’s Dream

A theatrical arcady on our doorstep

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Amadeus

In the most spectacular production imaginable, Lucian Msamati’s supremely crafted lead sets off the quicksilver of his rival Adam Gillen.

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Andrew Lloyd-Webber 50th Birthday Live from the Royal Albert Hall, 1998

The great discovery was the multi-roling Marcus Lovett, sexy and lethal, able to attack several roles and convince you he was born for them, even into them.

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Antony and Cleopatra

Supremely worth it to see a pair so famous weighing equal in their own balance, perhaps for the first time.

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As You Like It

Heartwarming, giddyingly vital yet clear with its own truth.

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Barber Shop Chronicles

Barber Shop Chronicles is a breath-taking revelation for those of us who had small inkling of a world in miniature.

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By Jeeves!

A thoroughly enjoyable period-style musical.

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Coriolanus

A Coriolanus memorable for politics sinewed with personal forces: an active interrogation of democracy. And in Josie Rourke’s production Tom Hiddleston’s someone riven by intimations of his true self

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Henry VI

The most effective condensation of the pith of the trilogy we’re likely to see.

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Jane Eyre

You’ll never see a better adaptation of this classic

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Kunene and the King

A strain of greatness.

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Les Blancs

A superb realization of Lorraine Hansberry's unfinished masterpiece - a classic of Ibsenite proportions

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Love Never Dies

One of the most fascinating dark-hued musicals Lloyd-Webber’s written

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Much Ado About Nothing

A blissfully alive production.

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One Man, Two Guvnors

Outstanding. An immediate comic classic.

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Romeo and Juliet

Completeness is just one reason to cherish this clean-driven clear-headed production

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Small Island

A reboot for the future, a passport for change.

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The Merry Wives of Windsor

One of the two most cogent, most fun Merry Wives of recent years.

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The New Tomorrow

There’s a generosity here, a big hug. Theatre itself affirms the value of life to those who might yet shape it for the better.

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The Official Dick Whittington – A Pantomime for 2020

It’s a joyous confection out of thin lockdown.

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The Phantom of the Opera

The Albert Hall’s sovereign production, unlikely to be surpassed particularly with the special encore.

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The Sound of Music

Phenomenal singing all round. A more than solid recommendation for that alone.

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The Taming of the Shrew

See it and you’ll never think of the Shrew without this groundbreaking stab at the dreams of men.

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The Two Noble Kinsmen

We’re looking at a bright Book of Hours. Barrie Rutter’s done it profound service, adding a warmth and agency that opens up this pageant. This is hopefully just the first of many such he’ll bring to the Globe.

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The Visit

Kushner’s just brought The Visit home with him.

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The Welkin

Already a contender for one of the best plays of 2020.

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The Winter’s Tale

Enjoy its slow burn miracles.

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The Winter’s Tale

Far more than a curate’s egg, this production reveals things we’ve never seen

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This House

Vibrant proof as to why it’s been called the play of the decade

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Treasure Island

First-rate theatre. In Joshua James’ Ben Gunn and above all Pasy Ferran’s Jim, we see stars rising quicker than Arthur Darvill’s superb Silver can point them out.

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Troilus and Cressida

We’re privileged to see this rarely-performed work moulded by OFS. A play for our times.

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Twelfth Night

Tamsin Greig’s extremes as Malvolia mark the first intimations of the terrible and define this production. The ground’s shifted.

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Women Beware Women

A stylish, timely production which redefines how we experience Middleton.

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Wonderland

Outstanding. Surely the definitive study of the dignity of physical labour, and breaking of its amity.

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You Stupid Darkness!

Bleakly funny, with flickers of tragedy, to make you see how redemptive kindness is

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