Everyone, I suppose, has a story to tell, even if not everyone necessarily has the confidence of Angelique (Emma Dennis-Edwards) to tell it. Hers is set against a disadvantaged background – her mother served a long custodial sentence (I couldn’t determine what for) and her father was simply never around. This left Angelique in the hands of the social care network – … [Read more...]
London Theatre Reviews | London West End and Off West End
If you are planning to visit London to see a musical, play, dance, drama or comedy on stage at one of the West End theatres, or a production in one of the many Off West End or Fringe venues, then maybe our London theatre reviews section can be of help? Read one of the latest reviews or use the search button to find and view one of our previous reviews. We use a star rating system on our site. In terms of coverage, our top reviews are often quoted online and on posters. We also review national touring productions. If you would like your production reviewed please follow and message us on Twitter or Facebook, or send us an email.
Awkward Conversations With Animals I’ve F*cked | Review
Ever seen a couple that you know and wondered why they are together? What it is about the other that is attractive? Human attraction to each other is something that is easy to define semantically - the action or power of evoking interest in or liking for someone or something - but very difficult to explain emotionally. However, when the human in question is attracted … [Read more...]
H.M.S. Pinafore at the King’s Head Theatre | Review
The second paragraph of the United States Declaration of Independence starts as follows: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”. Of course, this is rubbish. Men - or more importantly people - are … [Read more...]
Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake at New Wimbledon Theatre | Review
Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, now nearly 25 years old, is as sharp, sexy and silly as ever. Though audiences might be somewhat less shocked than when this show, now a Christmas treat for families, opened, it doesn’t seem to have lost any of its edge, or indeed, darkness. Despite its Christmas associations and deeply romantic narrative, Swan Lake is a gloomy tale of … [Read more...]
Better Than Sex: The Story of Mae West | Review
I’m terrible at flirting. It’s a fact of life and something I’ve had to accept over the course of many failed attempts to catch someone’s eye and get them to want me the way I want them. However, some people can flirt with words or even a glance. They can take the most innocent of sentences and load them full of innuendo and meaning. One such person was Hollywood icon … [Read more...]
The Frogs: Recroaked at Stockwell Playhouse
The opening scene in The Frogs: Recroaked is sufficient to work out, very broadly speaking, what sort of an evening at the theatre a production of this nature is. The audience is told, plainly and simply, that this is all “meaningless” or otherwise “harmless” fun. If there any contemporary links to be made with this adaptation of an ancient Greek comedy, the … [Read more...]
Unsung by Unsung Collective at King’s Head Theatre
Unsung asks the question why are women so underrepresented, undervalued and under-acknowledged? It homes in on the four remarkable women - Countess Ada Lovelace, inventor of the first computer, Sophia Jex-Blake, the first female Doctor, Lillian Bader, the first black woman to serve in the RAF and Andrea Dunbar, working-class female playwright. Although their lives … [Read more...]
Sitting at the Arcola Theatre | Review
An anxious, young man walks onto the stage, picks up a chair and proceeds to nervously take off all of his clothes and sits on the chair naked before addressing an unseen person. He soon realises that he doesn’t need to be naked and gets dressed. The set is fairly minimalist with three chairs, a table, a bench and at the back are some blank artists canvasses. A few … [Read more...]
London Musical Theatre Orchestra’s debut album GIRLFRIENDS
I went along to this concert version of Girlfriends towards the end of 2018 and I must confess I wasn’t exactly blown away – the actors were in fine form, but it felt to me as though this fairly subtle musical would have been better played by a chamber orchestra rather than a full one, and I was most grateful for the spoken narration, by Group Captain Victoria Gosling … [Read more...]
The Tigon and the Liger at Chickenshed | Review
The Tigon and the Liger is an interesting production. It begins like a workshop, where toddlers and very young children walk around amongst the cast participating in various activities, in an extremely relaxed environment. This is a great way to get young children involved and engaged and interested in theatre. To be honest, I was a bit confused, as I wasn’t quite … [Read more...]
The Fatal Eggs at Baron’s Court Theatre | Review
So it Goes Theatre has not only adapted the narrative of The Fatal Eggs but the introductory notes that go with many English translations of the Russian text by Mikhail Bulgakov (1891-1940). Not only is it not necessary to be familiar with the book, but it is not necessarily to be familiar with its author either – both are more than sufficiently introduced, their … [Read more...]
Let Kilburn Shake – part of Mapping Brent Festival
Let Kilburn Shake is a rather ambitious project, starting in 1767 and finishing in 2028. It could have started even further back – Kilburn High Road, according to a paving stone there, was once part of Watling Street, established by the Celts and paved over by the Romans. Another one, towards the southern end of the High Road, reads ‘1770s Kilburn Wells Spa’. The … [Read more...]