Review: Playhouse Creatures
This version is never done because the all-female five-hander is easier: so do see it. A triumph.
Genre: Theatre 0
Review: Iphigenia
Pacing is fleet, inexorable, even with those frozen minutes of contemporary video. Unmissable.
Review: Heart Wall
One of the most remarkable reveals in recent theatre, and makes this play an absolutely compelling must-see.
Review: The Ballad of Johnny & June
That rare event: a new musical with classic inscribed on it. Outstanding.
Review: John Proctor is the Villain
The apotheosis is both thrilling and more than timely. At a moment where feminism is being closed down, this needs screaming
Review: Two
As fine a revival as you’re likely to see in London or the South. It's a classic that, like Road, is more political as it ages gracefully.
Review: A Doll’s House
The end, a question-mark, leaves a silence where you might hear a door banging three streets away.
Review: Waitress
Hope Fletcher raises soaring music theatre, an ounce of gold in the throat and stars six inches above it.
Review: Falstaff
Mike Stoneham deserves acclaim for this one-man tour-de-farce, that keeps the Rabelaisian fires burning.
Review: Edward II
Alex Pearson has devised an Edward II that’s fleet, clear, crisply compelling and as sly as Marlowe: something other productions could profit from.
Review: The Authenticator
Absorbing, playfully swerving from where it might travel, The Authenticator mildly frustrates, mostly digs you in the ribs with questions. And thoroughly entertains.
Review: A Rollicking Dream of Midsummer
A Dream of Midsummer is a high-energy spin-off of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night's Dream, that works best if you know the original..
Review: Pack of Lies
This one-time hit though now rarely-staged Olivier-winning play is worth tracking down; and you’ve a little more time to find it in Southwick.
Review: The Old Ladies
A small classic, if not on the scale of The Truth About Blayds, it’s yet another gem. And a must-see.
Review: Summerfolk
We need Summerfolk. Sided and slant, this version is a must-see. And almost as much as Chekhov, we need more Gorky.
Review: Vincent in Brixton
An outstanding revival, not least for the quiet blaze between Niamh Cusack and Jeroen Frank Kales, but with a revelatory supporting cast
Review: The Crucible
One of Lewes Little’s finest of recent years; which often happens when they’re ambitious.
Review: The BFG
Evans and his team have transported the magic so completely it’s taken up residence. Both outstanding and a delight
Review: Dear Liar
Stella Powell-Jones and her team make the strongest possible case. A must-see for all lovers of theatre, wit, and wincing put-downs.
Review: The Constant Wife
An outstanding revival and adaptation, a faultless cast, an award-winning set too. Brighton has been lucky in its last three productions. This though is the gem. Outstanding.
Review: The Shitheads
Aa a blazing new voice though The Shitheads packs a flinty punch; and paradoxically heralds a vivid poetic talent. A must-see.
Review: Deep Azure
One of the few moments of Peter Brooks’ term “Holy Theatre” has arrived at the Wanamaker. A must-see.
Review: Embarrassed Naked Female (this show contains nudity)
When life gives you stalkers, make a show with their creepy messages
Review: The Story of Peer Gynt
The Norwegian Ibsen company - and here Kåre Conradi - are doing for Ibsen what Conor Lovett and Gare St Lazare are doing for Beckett. And both are to be found at the Coronet.
Review: After Miss Julie
Provocative, absorbing take on Strindberg’s 1888 masterpiece. Fine cast led by Liz Francis make much of demob denouements.
Review: Glorious!
Wendi Peters sends you out singing: with all the right notes in the wrong order. Solidly recommended.
Review: The Tempest
Orlando Gough’s music stamps this production, and makes the pulleys of reinvention sing despite themselves. For that and the sweep of decolonised languages, a must-see.
Review: Jerusalem
This flawless production of weight and substance calling on NVT’s resources is a triumph.
Review: 1.17am, or until the words run out
A cracking debut that picks you up and never lets go. Like any play that gifts us believable characters, it leaves you wondering what life, not just Hunter Gordon, will do with them. Highly recommended.
Review: Arcadia
As bright as stained crystal and warm as the filament Thomasina reaches for: outstanding.
Review: Dance of Death
Strindberg to live with? Who’d have thought of that? An outstanding must-see. If you can’t get there, tune in to the livestream. This demands a wider audience.
Review: The Gambler
Chiten Theatre intensifies to a point of light here something barbarous, atavistic, and goes to the heart of nihilism. Still outstanding.
Review: Midsomer Murders
Don’t miss this. You’ll be surprised. Particularly if you think you know the badgers.
Review: American Psycho
If you can queue, you’ll be in good company. Jean queued for Les Mis at 6.30 am.
Review: The Lion in Winter
In the main a stupendous feat: two leads at the top of their game and three superb, beautifully detailed actors inhabiting the sons; with two fine supporting ones as siblings Philip and Alais. A must-see.
Review: Mrs President
Mrs President will continue to haunt and I suspect, develop. Be haunted though.
Review: Cable Street
This is an event. Break in (without breakages!) if you have to, to see this. You’ll be standing in the aisles to swarm the barricades.
Review: The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven
Jo Clifford's classic text performed in a relaxed atmosphere.
Review: The Prince of the Underground
An impressive piece of solo performance which encapsulates the courage and nervousness of someone facing authority
Review: More than Conquerors The Centre for Contemporary Arts Glasgow
A genteel, rather than gentile, musing on the significance of faith that opens up some very interesting and nuanced questions
Review: Guess How Much I Love You?
Rosie Sheehy and Robert Aramayo are phenomenal and wholly believable. Norris’s next play will be worth seeking out, after such an outstanding debut.
Review: The Olive Boy
An extremely fine, and important one-person play, brimming with comedic gambits to open the floodgates.
Review: Safe Haven
There’s a perennial feel not just to the humanity at the play’s core; but the work itself. In these dark days, a must-see.
Review: Deep Blue by Lola Rose Wood
A refreshingly challenging idea that shows us that environmentally, sometimes, we have a struggle to understand what is required.
Review: Stop Look Listen by Elliot Scott
A well performed monologue of a two sided issue of obsession from a single point of view.
Review: Doon Hill – An Inaccurate Retelling by Poppy Hope Smith
A hilarious beginning to an assured plot which engages folk traditions and fairy tales to now.
Review: 4000 Days
There aren’t easy answers here, but there is humour, especially if you’re cheated of consuming 17 boxes of Belgian truffles. A must-see.
Review: Our American Queen
Klingenstein’s attentive, witty above all brilliant re-imagining of two remarkable young people. Exceptional.
Review: Single White Female
There’s potential for this to be a taut-paced thriller with higher stakes than the original. As it stands, this isn’t yet quite ready but there’s months ahead to make it work.
Review: Orphans
No wonder the propulsive energy of Lyle Kessler’s script, knotted with such complexity and switchbacks of violence has held the stage for over 40 years. You must see this.
Review: The Playboy of the Western World
An impossible balance, but having seen Playboy at farce-speed, it’s good to weigh in with a loquacious backbeat of despair. Wholly absorbing.
Review: Beauty and the Beast New Wolsey, Ipswich
Possibly the best pantomime now playing, it proves Stone is currently the queen of writing and scoring pantos.
Review: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
This is a virtuoso production like no other you’ll see in one twice as big with a stage twenty times as huge.
Review: Christmas Day
An absorbing drama, taking risks and never losing its balance. For the most part superbly-crafted, with memorable characters, sparking with urgency and sparkling dialogue throughout. The most exciting new play in London.
Review: Sunny Afternoon
Joe Penhall’s book is outstanding and frankly puts most musical biopics in the shade. His wit and deft charactering of core band and satellites who interact with the complexity of a play, the way the songs move the narrative. Ray Davies’ storytelling and songs are self-recommending. Sunny Afternoon still deserves those awards.
Review: Alice in Wonderland
This 23-strong cast triumph in this cavalcade of Carroll. A must-see and pretty outstanding.
Review: Little Miss Christmas
Little Miss Christmas can develop and this show doesn't outstay it's welcome. And "All I Want for Christmas" is hugely popular with everyone who sings it.
Review: Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson
Don’t expect Sherlock, and you could be entertained by Ms Holmes. And emphatically Ms Watson.
Review: Cockfosters
Fizzing, witty uber-London without Uber and smart without telling us it is. Blissfully recommended.
Review: The Mask Policy
Tianjiao Tan’s crafted a unique, witty take on an industry with little exposure as it were. A revelation.
Review: Nachtland
Janette Eddisford has scored with this outrageously provocative, troubling satire that flays the German soul and hangs up the skins, stretched.
Review: Ballet Shoes
A winter paean to wonder and possibility, Kendall Feaver’s and Katy Rudd’s Ballet Shoes has proved as evergreen as the book itself. Outstanding.
Review: Here & Now
With young talent like this, no-one need worry just yet about British musical theatre. And that is the best reason to see this silly yet warm-hearted pre-Christmas cracker.
Review: Forbidden Places
Tom Stoppard dying the day before recalled Leopoldstraat to many. No-one expected this harrowing slant successor. No wonder the audience were on their feet. Outstanding.
Review: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Certainly builds as the Globe’s strongest – if not truest - Dream since (at least) their 2013 production.
Review: David Copperfield
An outstanding production, a seasonal offering more satisfying than most pantos.
Review: End
Outstanding performances from Clive Owen and Saskia Reeves, and a script fired with conviction and probing tenderness around how we all face death; a must-see.
Review: Jobsworth
A must-see one-person coffee-black comedy, it lasts a full 90 minutes. Libby Rodliffe is a phenomenal performer. And uproarious.
Review: Óran
A powerful immersive reworking of the descent of Orpheus into the underworld for the digital age
Review: Because We Said We Would
A tender and touching exploration of a relationship that spans decades.
