★ HERE, Southwark Playhouse Characters drown in a surfeit of issues The prestige of the Papatango Prize cannot rescue a play that fails to transcend its inexplicable limitations The k…
Super songs can't quite rescue an ill-focused story and sparse staging Whorehouses, gay prostitution and suicide " you can see why James Jones' bestselling 1951 novel was bowdlerised by the …
★★★★ TAMMY FAYE, ALMEIDA THEATRE The rise and fall of a iconic figure whose reach stretched across late 20th century American culture Plenty of heart and bite in a…
★★ THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE, ROSE THEATRE Uncompromising adaptation of Brecht outstays its welcome Carrie Hope Fletcher one of few bright sparks on a tough evening for the audi…
★★★ IPHIGENIA IN SPLOTT, LYRIC HAMMERSMITH THEATRE Howl of protest at the cost of austerity leads to a different conclusion seven years on Timely revival of Gary Owen's sol…
★★★★ THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISSOCIA, THEATRE ROYAL STRATFORD EAST The landscape of mental health explored in surreal comedy A woman confronts her neuroses in a ph…
★★★ CLUTCH Odd couple in a Corsa drive in fourth gear for comedy but second gear for pathos After a strong start, newly commissioned play takes a wrong exit from the rounda…
Funny, poignant and stimulating, a delightfully welcome piece of intellectual escapism It can't have been an easy pitch. "Popes. Both foreign, yes. German and Argentinian " sorry, can't cha…
★★★★ RIDE New musical about a difficult, charismatic, barrier-breaking woman freewheels into the West End New musical about a barrier-breaking woman freewhe…
★★★★★  INTO THE WOODS Breathtaking production captures the unease at the heart of this fairytale musical Prepare to be dazzled and disoriented in a phanta…
★★★  TREASON THE MUSICAL IN CONCERT Semi-staged production shows promise - and problems Semi-staged production shows promise - and problems A semi-staged concert perform…
Leave memories of Paul Daniels at the door and embrace the sweet deception inside There's nothing quite like magic, live, up close and personal. Sure there are the TV spectaculars, the casin…
If you think a fat man wearing yellow swimming trunks is funny, you're on the right island Alexei Sayle, in his angry young man phase, once said that you can always tell when you're watching…
★ TASTING NOTES New musical set in a wine bar should have stayed in the cellar Not much goes right for a show whose characters are similarly ill-fated LJ's dream has come tr…
★★★★ SISTER ACT THE MUSICAL Event theatre and a sensational lead performance make the trip worthwhile Crowdpleasing musical retains its glitz and charm (and cheese…
★★★ THE DARKEST PART OF THE NIGHT, KILN Issues-led drama has its heart in the right place The didactic vies with the dramatic in Zodwa Nyoni's incident-packed new play Mu…
★★★★CLOSER, LYRIC HAMMERSMITH Still sordid and sexy 25 years on Lovers come together, split apart and come together again Drama is writing in thin air, its content i…
Fine acting and bleak humour barely ameliorates a grim slog through a broken relationship Rebecca Lenkiewicz's adaptation of August Strindberg's 1900 paean to the power of loathing over lovi…
Claudia Rankine's 2018 play insists on raising difficult questions Art and race intersect to provocative effect We're in New York City, in an upscale loft apartment, with that absence of…
A classic play can still collapse time and space with its heartrending relevance The stage is cluttered with objects; a pianola sits stage left; a large cabinet, soon to be revealed as a di…
 Marina Carr's angry, poetic take on Clytemnestra's story is delivered in all its gory glory Playwrights return to classical myths for two main reasons " to shine a light on how we live …
★★★★ GREASE, Dominion Theatre Nostalgia for the late 1950s and late 1970s underpins an entertaining show Crowdpleaser pleases crowd: this High School musical deliv…
★ JULIUS CAESAR, SHAKESPEARE'S GLOBE Misjudged masterpiece  Intrusive 21st century agenda and dismal staging waste an opportunity With tyrants licking their lips around the worl…
Iconic couple shoot for West End success One of the more irritating memes (it's a competitive field, I know) is the "Name a more iconic couple" appearing over a photo of Posh and Becks, or H…
Swordplay and songs never quite hit their stride Zorro (what a name!) is back, swashing and buckling his way into the West End, 13 years after he left and now not the only one wearing a mask…