UK / West End Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 10

Review: THE DAO OF THE UNREPRESENTATIVE BRITISH CHINESE EXPERIENCE, Soho Theatre
by Josh Maughan - June 26, 2024

From the minute Daniel York Loh finished his opening monologue in Kakilang’s The Dao of the Unrepresentative British Chinese Experience, I knew this would be a piece of theatre that wouldn’t allow me to remain comfortable, drift off or stop questioning my own beliefs for a second....

Review: LEA SALONGA: STAGE, SCREEN & EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN, Theatre Royal Drury Lane
by Franco Milazzo - June 25, 2024

With a cry of “honey I’m home!”, international musical theatre icon Lea Salonga returns to the stage that launched her career over three decades ago....

Review: UNCANNY: I KNOW WHAT I SAW, Theatre Royal Drury Lane and On Tour
by Cindy Marcolina - June 26, 2024

Back in 2021, Danny Robins spoke to the void in the shed in his garden asking “Do ghosts exist?”. The world of paranormal podcasts never was the same. People were quick to join in online, sending reports and building a network of experiences, lifting the series to a cult media of sorts. Robins went ...

Review: THE CONSTITUENT, The Old Vic
by Aliya Al-Hassan - June 26, 2024

Matthew Warchus' production focuses on a single back-bench MP trying to balance help and professional distance with her increasingly unstable constituent....

Review: MY FATHER'S FABLE, Bush Theatre
by Cheryl Markosky - June 25, 2024

If you're after tension, you'll find it aplenty in Faith Omole's new play at the Bush Theatre....

Review: ACROBATIC SWAN LAKE, Sadler's Wells
by Franco Milazzo - June 24, 2024

Zhang Quan’s Acrobatic Swan Lake is so much more than its title suggests. The show originated in China in 2004 and, in the intervening decades, has travelled the world and was updated in 2019 under director Yan Hongxia. As choreographer and artistic director, Quan has created a work which seamlessly...

Review: THE MARYLIN CONSPIRACY, Park Theatre
by Cindy Marcolina - June 29, 2024

The production is frankly unnecessary, too long, and way too slow for what it really is. The characters (publicist Pat Newcomb, actor Peter Lawford and his wife Patricia Kennedy, Marilyn’s psychiatrist and his spouse, her physician, and her housekeeper) go around in circles like Masterson’s revolvin...

Review: HEDDA GABLER, Glasgow Botanic Gardens
by Natalie O'Donoghue - June 22, 2024

Recently married and just returned from her honeymoon, Hedda ought to be looking forward to a life of security and domestic bliss – but something isn’t right. Happiness seems entirely out of her reach....

Review: THE BECKETT TRILOGY, Coronet Theatre
by Alexander Cohen - June 21, 2024

Persevere with its mercilessness and you will be richly rewarded...

Review: THE NEW GENERATION FESTIVAL - THE ROYAL BALLET SCHOOL, Royal Opera House
by Matthew Paluch - June 20, 2024

The Next Generation Festival at the Royal Opera House continues with the first outing for The Royal Ballet School's annual performance dates...

Review: SOME DEMON, Arcola Theatre
by Cindy Marcolina - June 20, 2024

Laura Waldren lifts the veil off an eating disorder unit. While the characters try hard to cope with an alienating structure that fails many of its patients, Waldren examines institutional callousness and human failure. Chosen from a staggering 1,468 scripts, Some Demon it’s an excellent pick. Thoug...

Review Roundup: Did KISS ME, KATE Delight the Critics?
by Aliya Al-Hassan - June 19, 2024

A new production of Cole Porter’s Kiss Me, Kate, starring Adrian Dunbar and Broadway Royalty and Tony Award Winner Stephanie J. Block, making her West End debut, has now opened....

Review: THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, Shakespeare's Globe
by Alexander Cohen - June 19, 2024

Jude Christian's new production playfully inverts Shakespeare's misogyny...

Review: KISS ME, KATE, Barbican Theatre
by Gary Naylor - June 18, 2024

Adrian Dunbar is the starriest of a starry cast, but lacks the specific experience required to lead the show to its fullest potential...

Review: THE TRIALS AND PASSIONS OF UNFAMOUS WOMEN, Brixton House Theatre
by Niamh Jones - June 18, 2024

A courtroom is a place of tradition, of cold reason rather than emotional responses. This is a fact which is highlighted in The Trials and Passions of Unfamous Women, a new play produced by LIFT, Brixton House and Clean Break, a company which works to bring the stories of women who are criminalised ...

Review: DROP THE DEAD DONKEY: THE REAWAKENING, Richmond Theatre
by Aliya Al-Hassan - June 19, 2024

Starring original cast members Susannah Doyle, Robert Duncan, Ingrid Lacey, Neil Pearson, Jeff Rawle, Stephen Tompkinson and Victoria Wicks, this new stage version sees the team are thrust back together in the world of 24-hour rolling news, social media and algorithms at a new TV station with the di...

Review: THE BOUNDS, Royal Court Theatre
by Cindy Marcolina - June 18, 2024

Written by Stewart Pringle, The Bounds takes punters to 1553, “the true Golden Age of English football”, when matches could last hours or days and rules were, though relaxed, quite severe. While people are playing in the distance, our protagonists of humble Northumbrian origins end up debating a lot...

Review: SISTER ACT THE MUSICAL, Dominion Theatre
by Aliya Al-Hassan - June 18, 2024

After a gruelling few years of cancellations and Covid, Bill Buckhurst's production of Sister Act The Musical was first enjoyed at the Hammersmith Apollo in 2022. Having opened in March 2024 at the Dominion Theatre, a new cast continues the success of this pacy, slick and hugely enjoyable production...

Review: A CHILD OF SCIENCE, Bristol Old Vic
by Tim Wright - June 14, 2024

Ultimately, A Child of Science offers a vivid portrayal of the intersection between scientific pursuit and human longing. It’s a testament to the extraordinary efforts behind ordinary miracles. And how the path to creating life can be as intricate and moving as the lives it aims to bring into the wo...

Review: SWAN LAKE IN-THE-ROUND, Royal Albert Hall
by Vikki Jane Vile - June 14, 2024

Derek Deane’s Swan Lake has quite the reputation. First premiered in 1997 it became known for its corps de ballet of 60 swans (with freelancers hired to beef up ENB’s ranks) and then in 2010, a BBC documentary tracked its rehearsals and opening night, not always depicting everyone in the most flatte...

Review: GIFFORDS CIRCUS: AVALON, Chiswick House and Gardens
by Kat Mokrynski - June 15, 2024

Written and Directed by Cal McCrystal, Avalon is the 2024 show for Giffords Circus, a village-green travelling circus that follows the belief of ther founder, Nell Giffords, that “Art is Love.” The tents and caravans feel as though they have been pulled from a classic movie....

Review: L'AMORE DEL CUORE (HEART'S DESIRE), Coronet Theatre
by Cindy Marcolina - June 14, 2024

The Coronet might be the most internationally inclined venue in London. From hosting Japanese companies to putting on an entire programme of Taiwanese work, they stage remarkable projects. Once the home of the Italian Theatre Festival, the theatre is now presenting a translation of one of Britain’s ...

Review: ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, Formosa Gardens
by Kat Mokrynski - June 17, 2024

All’s Well That Ends Wells, a production by Shakespeare in the Square and directed by Sioned Jones, is a touring version of Shakespeare’s work, being performed in gardens across the UK. The tale tells the story of Helena, a young woman living under the guardianship of the Countess of Roussillon who ...

Review: VEGETABLES, Secret Location In Clerkenwell
by Cindy Marcolina - June 13, 2024

Either the immersive industry is floundering, or the craze has passed. Only last year, the most simple in-the-round staging was deemed immersive. These days, we’ve returned to a reduced scene, with only Punchdrunk hitting the news and Phantom Peak continuing its winning streak. Something smaller and...

Review: TWELFTH NIGHT, Shakespeare North Playhouse
by Sarah OHara - June 12, 2024

Award winning Theatre company Not Too Tame return with their latest production - William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night - and I can say without a doubt, that it is the best Shakespeare production you will see this year....