Review: The Watsons
A few words blown away on a blustery evening makes little difference with this company: always riding the whirlwinds of drama, and luckily here directing the storm-clouds. A must-see.
Genre: Costume 0
Review: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
An outstanding production. Don’t even think of journeying to the West End.
Review: War Horse
An astonishing spectacle that still moves and will forever craze the idiocy of war on the retina like an iced-over No-Man’s Land.
Review: My Fair Lady
Kavanagh’s production is in every way outstanding, I’m not sure there’s been a finer – or at least more believable - My Fair Lady conceived and staged as here.
Review: Tender
With such terrific performances you root for this not-yet-couple right to the blackout.
Review: -320°F
If you’ve not seen a Noda production, see it. If you have, see it. It’s still the most intelligent spectacular I’ve seen in recent times.
Review: Wife to James Whelan
It should transfer, though nothing can beat this space for delivery. Outstanding, a must-see if ever there was one.
Review: Caterpillar
This is a richly freighted drama: all the issues around loss, abuse, displacement and ideation circle in two-hours-twenty with interval.
Review: Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
With a re-think more thorough than a new fuel-tank for Priscilla, it’s now an outstanding show.
Review: The Spy Who Came In From The Cold
This desperate elegy of betrayal, straight from Le Carré’s own hurt, will haunt you with the truth of its despair.
Review: The P Word
A bold yet tender exploration of what it is to be gay, Asian and humane. You come out cheering. A must-see.
Review: Mother Courage and Her Children
Brecht’s ferocious message that those who seek profit from war are often its victims too is driven home in the weight of dropped bodies, and Michelle Terry’s outstanding performance.
Review: Operation Mincemeat
This is the finest new musical I’ve seen for many years. End of. The hype, the Oliviers and Tony call it right. See it.
Review: The Dasslers
The Dasslers wields a potential beyond its current limitations – both in this brief production and in its current form. And Radford, clearly setting out his dramatic stall in history’s cross-currents, is a voice to watch.
Review: Sherlock Holmes vs Arsène Lupin: A Drag Crime Caper
A legendary detective meets a master criminal . . .
Review: The Love We Think We Deserve
It could grow into something both exceptional and even more necessary.
Review: Godot’s To-Do List, Krapp’s Last Tape
A performance of lessness writ large: a man shrinking from his environment, the memories taking over and kicking Krapp’s mere organic matter out.
Review: Murder, Margaret and Me
Brave, bold and really worth seeing above much else: even in a busy Festival.
Review: Evangeline
First-rate Fringe music-theatre. Artistic content, particularly songs and verse, as well as direction and acting ensures this will clearly travel. Do see it.
Review: Magic
Brave, timeless, and troubled, Magic sometimes refuses to give up its secrets too. Absorbing.
Review: Chekhovian
See it for the Chekhov, and come away forgetting for the most part these are students. They’re already Chekhovian.
Review: The Waves
A mostly outstanding – and theatrical - adaptation of an almost impossible-to-adapt novel.
Review: The Choir of Man
The Choir of Man brings us joy whilst bursting with talent. But it’s a timely reminder of what’s at stake.
Review: Playhouse Creatures
This version is never done because the all-female five-hander is easier: so do see it. A triumph.
Review: Heart Wall
One of the most remarkable reveals in recent theatre, and makes this play an absolutely compelling must-see.
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: Falstaff
Mike Stoneham deserves acclaim for this one-man tour-de-farce, that keeps the Rabelaisian fires burning.
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: 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: After Miss Julie
Provocative, absorbing take on Strindberg’s 1888 masterpiece. Fine cast led by Liz Francis make much of demob denouements.
Review: Jerusalem
This flawless production of weight and substance calling on NVT’s resources is a triumph.
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: 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: 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: The Mask Policy
Tianjiao Tan’s crafted a unique, witty take on an industry with little exposure as it were. A revelation.
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: Duty
A fresh and urgent play, Duty should tour as a salutary reminder of how war impacts community, divides war-influenced majority from the few who see through war.
Review: The Line of Beauty
Not the most theatrical story, it’s a heady narrative. A dance to the music of a time that marred us, this still compels
Review: The Talented Mr. Ripley
A must-see. Minor caveats aside it’s as absorbing as some productions recently have plodded. This isn’t just any Ripley….
Review: Keep Your Sunny Side Up
In nearly every way exceptional. Hampshire is consummate and sets off Rouselle as worthy to inhabit Fields.
Review: Natasha Cottriall (God Save My) Northern Soul
Time will deepen the shadows and writer/actor Natasha Cottriall shows this in the very last moment
Review: Natasha Cotriall (God Save My) Northern Soul
Time will deepen the shadows and writer/actor Natasha Cotriall shows this in the very last moment.
Review: Deaf Republic
Its claustrophobia overwhelms and moves, whilst leaving Dead Centre room for yet another slant on Ilya Kaminsky’s imaginary.
Review: Death Comes to Pemberley
Stylishness in the fixtures, truth in the lower orders, some superb acting by the likes of Berger, Boyce, and Faulkner, as well as two couples with chemistry.
Review: Suddenly Last Summer
Conor Baum and his company are carving out a record of distinction. We’re lucky it’s started in the south east. Outstanding.
Review: Twelfth Night
The most exuberant Shakespeare out there, and a summer last-blast to make Malvolio weep.
Review: The Wild Washerwomen, Brighton Open Air Theatre
Ella Turk-Thompson has scored something special here.
Review: Adrian Lukis Being Mr Wickham
There’s nothing more charming or endearing in the West End this summer.
Review: Les Misérables
There’s not enough adjectives left to praise this. But there is a verb phrase: see it!
Review: The Midnight Bell
An outstanding ballet by any standards. One that like its inspiration Patrick Hamilton will last.
Review: Top Hat
The most joyous musical of the summer. And it has a summer heart that never cloys. A sizzling must-see.
Review: Chiara Atik Poor Clare
Sassy yet profound, probing yet exuberant, it asks all of us: No, don’t look at me. Look at you. A quiet must-see this summer.
Review: The Merry Wives of Windsor
Sean Holmes has conjured the most intelligently re-thought Merry Wives of recent years with a convincing take on Mistress Ford. The last few gestures in this show change everything that might follow.
Review: Lynn Nottage Intimate Apparel
Everything built up, like a corset, is unloosed. What we thought we knew we don’t. Outstanding.
Review: Ghost Stories
Pure scary, not horror. There’s reasons Ghost Stories is on its second tour out of the West End. Here’s a convenient (and reasonable) way to see why.
Review: Sheridan The Rivals
This company re-thinks Sheridan in his spirit: clear and steady as lead-crystal struck through with sun. The inventiveness of filleting the text to guy the fact of a five-strong cast is part of their distinction. It’s a must-see.
Review: Cruel Intentions
If ever you’ve been crossed in love, double-crossed yourself, or just crossing through, then this is for you. It’s June’s sizzle, all the way to Six, this September.
Review: Charlie Josephine: I, Joan
Daisy Miles, supremely, Laurits Hiroshi Bjerrum and Rhys Bloy excel in a fine cast and prove this clarion of a play can rise again triumphantly.
Review: In Praise of Love
There’s every reason to see this rare gem, now added permanently to Rattigan’s finer plays.
Review: Tim Coakley In Search of the Dance
Tim Coakley has a potential minor masterpiece on his hands, as he searches for that perfect crashed chord.
Review: The Inseparables
A transfixingly beautiful production, with often superb acting, especially from Lara Manela
Review: Dr Strangelove
Steve Coogan reigns supreme, and a cast like John Hopkins then Giles Terera are a gift to both Coogan and the show.
Review: Dear England
With its nimbus of inevitability as national storytelling, it’s still groundbreaking.
Review: Playhouse Creatures
When Doll Common claims “Life’s like a storm. Don’t get in its way” one thinks of the stoicism of those in the eye of it, and their audience. A consummate revival.
