Working as a performer in the world of theatre, I know all too well how much goes on to create a finished show. Hours and hours of commitment, months of rehearsals and years of pre-planning are something you just accept is part of the process. So to turn up and watch a suberb show, with brilliant actors, wonderful choreography, fantastic songs and amazing sets and … [Read more...]
London Theatre Reviews - West End & Off West End
Latest London Theatre Reviews
Read our latest theatre reviews and find out what our team of reviewers thought of London's latest productions of plays, musicals and shows.
Review of Maria Shehata: Hero at Edinburgh Fringe
There’s something subversive about Maria Shehata taking phone calls from her father whilst her show is in progress, and I get the feeling that the people most likely to be irritated by this are people who themselves use their phones whilst a performance is in progress. The irony was not lost on the rest of us. There are pleasant introductions, on both sides, before … [Read more...]
Review of Birth at Edinburgh Fringe
Spoken dialogue is scarce in Birth, and where it does exist, it is often drowned out by the show’s music, performed live by its composer, Alex Judd. Private conversations are thus kept largely private, and all that tends to be heard clearly are character names - Katherine, Emily, James, Jasmine. There is commonality between them, as it gradually becomes clear, but the … [Read more...]
The Sea Queen at The Scoop – London’s Free Open Air Theatre
There aren’t many more pleasant ways to spend an hour, in my view, than watching some al fresco theatre, when the sun shining, with a cooling breeze, on the vibrant South Bank of the Thames next to Tower Bridge. Overlooked on one side by the shimmering Shard and on the other by the amusingly lop-sided, apparently drunken, City Hall - a kind of portly leaning tower of … [Read more...]
Do Our Best at Underbelly Cowgate (Iron Belly) – Edinburgh Fringe
Sephie (Remy Beasley) is after a Girlguiding badge for entertainment. The Girlguiding website, which I looked at after the show out of curiosity, does indeed have a Brownies badge for ‘performing’. “Take your seats, the show is about to start,” the website enthuses. “Are you ready to become a performer?” Sephie doesn’t have long to get her badge - there is … [Read more...]
An Audience With Yasmine Day – Edinburgh Fringe
An Audience With Yasmine Day is certainly on at the right time of night for intrepid Edinburgh Fringe punters - it’s the kind of late night over-the-top madness the Fringe does best. The audience has, as ever, suspended disbelief at the door of the theatre, or in this case, the door of the bunker (for those who may not be aware, virtually anything is a Fringe venue, … [Read more...]
Jake Lambert: Never Mak the Same Mistak Twice | Edinburgh Fringe
When I caught Jake Lambert’s Edinburgh Fringe stand up set in 2018, I went on a night when the audience had some characters in it – they were loud and boisterous, in a good way, a real Saturday night crowd. This year, on the night I went, there was talk about a trip to Melbourne, as his girlfriend hails from there: good, decent, friendly people. And then there’s that … [Read more...]
Once On This Island at Southwark Playhouse | Review
Oh, how I love this time of year. Edinburgh in full swing and so the theatres in London are available to groups like the British Theatre Academy who are in residence during August with their version of Lynn Ahrens & Stephen Flaherty’s wonderful tale Once On This Island. On a stormy night in the Antilles archipelago, life goes on pretty much as normal. The … [Read more...]
NewsRevue 2019 at Underbelly George Square Edinburgh
The thing about the current occupants (at the time of writing) of the White House and 10 Downing Street is that it is quite understandable to wonder if there is much point watching musical current affairs satire shows like NewsRevue – one might as well turn on the television news or go to a news website and laugh one’s head off at the ludicrousness of the world in … [Read more...]