FringeReview UK
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FringeReview UK 2025
Emma Wilkinson-Wright is unnervingly close to the pulse of how real this is. A hidden gem.
There’s nothing more charming or endearing in the West End this summer.
We must be grateful for this compelling revival, and wait for more from the National’s Black archive.
There’s a rapt self-communing in this production of Three Sisters. A must-see, it glows long after you’ve left it.
Its claustrophobia overwhelms and moves, whilst leaving Dead Centre room for yet another slant on Ilya Kaminsky’s imaginary.
Steve Coogan reigns supreme, and a cast like John Hopkins then Giles Terera are a gift to both Coogan and the show.
For a bijou summer in a bottle, this can’t be beaten. Exquisite, painfully funny, and hinting at the depths Mackenzie found to his own chagrin. A gem.
Girl from the North Country freights a world in a steam whistle. The sheer punch of talent doesn’t come much greater than this.
If flawed it’s a fascinating, intimate piece given new life and with luck a new performing tradition. The most compelling two-hander now playing.
James Inverne That Bastard, Puccini!
With such a script, cast and production values, this is a sure-fire hit, a gem deserving of longer runs too. Don’t let this be a one-run wonder!
John Joubert Jane Eyre, Grimeborn Opera
A gripping romantic opera premiere emerging right out of Dalston. Arcola’s Grimeborn have scored another first with a future.
ETT’s gallimaufry stimulates, frustrates, occasionally fascinates. A more selective through-line would have revealed a mineral gleam, a new earth of tyranny.
Not even the world theatre powerhouse of the Coronet has hosted anything like this. Mario Banushi must be seen.
Austen fans can feel they’re delivered the story’s heft, if not all its socially pinched circumstance. It’s a small gem.
Do see this particularly for an outstanding performance from Burrows and an exceptionally fine one from Woodhouse. This adaptation remains an exhilarating reminder of what a difference a century makes.
Alastair Whatley takes the joy of the sorrow, and makes it his own. Unmissable if you can squeeze in.
A transfixingly beautiful production, with often superb acting, especially from Lara Manela
Timberlake Wertenbaker Little Brother
bsorbs and remains indelible. Stella Powell-Jones is helming a quietly radical shift in Jermyn Street. And she’s taking the audience with her.
Tolstoy/Phillip Breen Anna Karenina
Potentially a revelation, perhaps a classic: a fully-articulated world around Anna, and not just her ghost.
The most joyous musical of the summer. And it has a summer heart that never cloys. A sizzling must-see.
Vaughan Williams, J.M. Synge Riders to the Sea
Betteridge’s prologue is certainly worth seeing even if you know the work, and won’t need persuading. And after the opera, the rest is surf, and silence.
