London Theatre Reviews - West End & Off West End

This performance of Messiah promised to “immerse audiences in a powerful and theatrical new setting....... imaginative lighting design, visual effects, choreography and staging”. In the programme, the conductor, Gregory Batsleer says that in 2022 “classical music is regarded as dull and stuffy..... this isn’t about dumbing down”. For this particular performance, the eighty-strong London Symphony Chorus was seated raked upstage on Drury Lane’s stage, not an ideal venue for a choir as much … [Read more...]

Orlando sees many things in many ways, as a man and as a woman, but even by the end of the play is left grasping at ideas of who they are and what they want. This new adaptation by Neil Bartlett brings to Virginia Woolf's tale of an individual loving through time desperately trying to find themselves. The play opens with Virginia Woolf, split nine times, discussing what will come. The stage is stumbled onto by a fifteen-year-old Orlando, who proceeds to crash his way through a snippet of … [Read more...]

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when theatres were closed, and we had to spend Christmas isolating ourselves from everybody else, English actor and TV presenter Peter Duncan decided to do something to save the panto season and bring some joy to everybody: he filmed a pantomime in his garden and made it available online. It was a wonderful idea for those like me starved of theatre; since then, Duncan has repeated the endeavour in 2021 and again this year with the production of Pantoland. … [Read more...]

It wasn’t that long ago when anyone who gave warnings about Sleeping Beauty would be dismissed as more than a little ridiculous. The concern is that the story is, in part, about a man kissing a woman who isn’t able to give explicit consent. After all, if the prince doesn’t kiss the princess, she dies, so the better option is to proceed, and the princess isn’t exactly upset or angry about the kiss after it happens. I can’t help but agree with those who assert that implied consent is there, … [Read more...]

'Tis the season to panto and the Hackney Empire joins the festive fray with Clive Rowe’s (director and panto dame extraordinaire) production of Mother Goose. This is classic panto: beat by beat, it obeys the century-old formula whilst inserting its own take - with a groovy full band in the pit and one splendid and surprising costume (designed by Cleo Pettitt) after another. For fans of the ultimate British cheesy yuletide tradition, Mother Goose does the business. For about £40 for the best … [Read more...]

Alby hates themself, but can't work out why, and that irks them, even if they don't quite realise it. In this witty, occasionally unsubtle, but touching confessional monologue, we see Alby reckon with their trauma and self-loathing. The spiralling monologue rolls into rhythm with Alby having just hooked up with a socially anxious middle-aged accountant, who is unsettlingly emotionally intrusive. Despite mediocre sex and strange irksome questions from our anxious accountant, Alby feels … [Read more...]

I have seen some outstanding acting recently at the intimate Finborough Theatre, and this new play is no exception. The highly talented cast quickly and skilfully draws the audience in so that we feel fully involved in the epic tale they are unfolding. The story of 12:37 begins in 1935 in Ireland where two Irish Jewish brothers are forced to leave and move to England. We follow their lives and loves during World War Two ending in Palestine in 1946 and the creation of the state of Israel … [Read more...]