Genre: Drama 0
Review: The Needle Room
An intriguing and beguiling look at the past which is eerily reminiscent of our present.
Review: A. A. Milne The Truth About Blayds
A classic revival of a minor classic. Pacily directed and with a consummate cast, this production couldn’t be bettered
Review: David Lan The Land of the Living
The most moving and theatrically gripping new play I’ve seen for a long time, it’s also the most layered and completely realised. A world that invites ours to ask where on earth we come from.
Review: Hamlet
An outstandingly thought-through Hamlet though, with more of the prince and play in it than I’ve seen. And Giles Terera’s is with the best of recent decades.
Review: Miller The Crucible
It’s almost sold out. If there’s a cancellation on any night, you must see this.
Review: Benny Ainsworth Vermin
The most riveting two-hander you’ll see this year; it’s not for the faint-hearted. Writing, acting and burned-off minimal staging draw us into hell, and its epiphanies. Outstanding.
Review: The Chaos That Has Been and Will No Doubt Return
It’s hard not to love this exuberant 75-minute romp through Luton’s urban sprawl. It’s both exuberant and serious, warm and yet with a chill undercurrent of deprivation
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: Her Raving Mind
An exploration of childhood emotional abuse and its long-lasting consequences
Review: Woman in the Arena
In her debut show, DiGiacomo has found a distinctive voice in her writing.
Review: Second Class Queer
A moving one man show about being an outsider due to ethnicity and sexuality.
Review: Rugburn
What happens when you’ve built a glittering life on a foundation of unresolved shame and perfectly upholstered defences begin splitting at the seams?
Review: Dear Annie, I Hate You
Fantastic performances and quality script in this riveting true life tale
Review: Les Misérables
There’s not enough adjectives left to praise this. But there is a verb phrase: see it!
Review: Make It Happen
The rise and fall of RBS told through by men who caused it, and those that tried to stop it.
Review: Between The River And The Sea
Stories depicting the complexity of identity, truth, and family life of Palestinian-Israeli actor Yousef Sweid.
Review: Shake Rag Hollow
Deft writing, powerful performances. Theatre magic in an unassuming container on George St!
Review: Who We Become Part 1: The Moonshot Tape
A fantastically performed story which creeps into you and hits hard.
Review: All In
A sparky relationship drama with the intrigue of a crime thriller by a promising new writer
Review: 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.
Review: Letters to Joan
An aspiring young playwright interrogates her grandpa about her grandmother's thwarted ambitions
Review: Role Play (or The Hottest day in Belgian History)
Cameron goes for it full tilt and we are on a rollercoaster that hardly lets up.
Review: God, the Devil and Me
It is great to see a young company come to Edinburgh with a team of five actors, taking on the risk and having an adventure.
Review: Short Plays 2025
Enough here to engage and make anyone who’s not yet ventured to NVT to keep coming back. Do see this collation of crazies.
Review: La Guerre de Troie n’aura pas lieu
An engaging play about the manipulation of public opinion to satisfy the taste for war of a tiny elite
Review: A Man For All Seasons
A must-see, one of the very finest plays to have reached the theatre this year.
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: 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!
Review: Lynn Nottage Intimate Apparel
Everything built up, like a corset, is unloosed. What we thought we knew we don’t. Outstanding.
Review: Sean Daniels The White Chip
The most entertaining life-saver you’ll see, whether you need it or not.
Review: Tim Price Nye
Through choreographic sweep, Tim Price crafts a necessary, traditional warning. A must-see with the finest last line since Good.
Review: Girl from the North Country
Girl from the North Country freights a world in a steam whistle. The sheer punch of talent doesn’t come much greater than this.
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: 4.48 Psychosis
Sold out at the Court (you might queue for returns), but worth any pilgrimage to Stratford for.
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: Sarah Ruhl Eurydice
Sam Chittenden coaxes provisional miracles from her cast and space. The medium’s playful, even fun. The message though is bleak; and love is still in the letting go.
Review: Tolstoy/Phillip Breen Anna Karenina
Potentially a revelation, perhaps a classic: a fully-articulated world around Anna, and not just her ghost.
Review: Joan Littlewood Oh What a Lovely War
The Merry Roosters forget who they are and come together, awed by the transcendent theatre they’ve invoked. See it.
Review: Mario Banushi Taverna Miresia
Not even the world theatre powerhouse of the Coronet has hosted anything like this. Mario Banushi must be seen.
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: Sophocles Electra
The end is set. Conor Baum directs that ratcheting-up inexorably: never hurried, never static. The audience holds its breath. So will you. 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: Ibsen Ghosts
A triumph of staging, fine acting and in Sarah Tansey a central performance to rival any Helene Alving I’ve seen.
Review: 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.
Review: Athena Stevens Diagnosis
Over 50 minutes, a compelling, unique and disturbing vision unravels: prophesying prophesy is invisible. That’s why as many as possible should see it.
Review: After Agincourt
"... a compelling show which has wit, gritty reality, and pertinent quotes from the play. A tour de force."
Review: Jon Fosse Einkvan
An opaque, compelling gem from Det Norske Teatret and its director Horn; and the wonderful Coronet.
Review: Jez Butterworth Parlour Song
A probing revival, James Hadrill’s production and Emily Bestow’s set inject a haunting into these people. A cooling tower about to implode: it’s Naveed Khan’s gaunt intimation of Ned’s soul that lingers.
Review: Robert Khan and Tom Salinsky The Gang of Three
The wittiest, wisest play I’ve seen this year, it deserves a long run, not least so we can absorb its lessons. Unmissable.
Review: Corrina O’Beirne With Ruby & I
Corrina O’Beirne ‘s a name to seek out in future and in Kempell and her cast and creatives, she’s found first-rate advocates. A must-see.
