This year's seasonal offering in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre is a grand affair as David Edgar (it was he who famously adapted Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby for the company back in 1980) tackl…
In what is the second collaboration from British writing team Webborn and Finn, Animus delivers a cleverly constructed plot including complex characters and a chilling mystery that keeps one…
Many years ago Winston Churchill famously described the Russians as "a riddle wrapped in an enigma". Well, London's theatre scene has a similar riddle.
Much like a luxuriously fruited and brandy drenched Christmas pudding, Simon Callow's voice (surely a national treasure in itself) serves up the festive fable in a recording that lasts a tou…
With the festive panto season finally on the horizon, why not consider skipping the traditional fairy-tale dames and instead head towards the Union Theatre for a snatch of Simon Green's take…
It all makes for classic festive fayre with Leslie Bricusse's original work, last seen some 15 years ago, being subtly re-engineered for this revival. Jasper Britton heads the cast in the ti…
In what seems a lengthy two and a half hours, Campling takes us through not only Ali's own marital strains with husband Victor (Gary Webster), but also her counselling of another client who'…
As one of Oscar Wilde's most famous plays, one wonders if The Importance of Being Earnest's aged humour and possibly outdated social values will stand the test of time. Thankfully, here, in …
The evening's star performance comes from Haydn Gwynne who brings a strength and elegance to Volumnia. Playing the ever loving yet overbearing mother of Coriolanus, she dreams of success and…
Camel coated Christian Slater (who bears more than a hint of Tony Blair in his appearance) is Ricky Roma, the alpha-male of the pack. Canny and mercenary, Roma's senses and reflexes are razo…
Josie Lawrence is an absolute triumph, embracing the audience on her journey from cocky tradeswoman to a woman that Mother Courage would be ashamed of, so downtrodden is her outlook and situ…
We worked a few scenes during the audition run, including the iconic movie moment where Regan spins her head around. I made sure I told our director Sean Mathias that my neck was extremely f…
Harry Blumenau's production at the Union manages to shed the show's previous blunders, succeeding in telling a harrowing and touching story with tenderness and care in a production that is f…
The script is beautifully crafted, moving at a pace that flits between thundering forward to reflect the fast passage of time and pulling back to uncover a multitude of truths.
Like The Producers before it, Young Frankenstein hails from a Brooks movie of some 40 years earlier with the veteran writer/director reframing the comedy-horror flick around his own composit…
King Lear is the jewel in the crown of Daniel Evans' opening year as Chichester's Artistic Director. Ian McKellen is every inch a king in Jonathan Munby's production that is currently playin…
There's a charming treatment of Ahrens and Flaherty's Lucky Stiff, currently playing at the Union Theatre. The musical is a short slight piece, set in a minimalist stage design, but with an …
Bleak statistics show that a person commits suicide on Britain's rail network every 31 hours and, as we learn in the play, for every fatality there are another three people who attempt to ta…
Transferring down from Manchester's Hope Mill Theatre, Jonathan O'Boyle's production of Hair is an exciting revival of a show that was to define so much of the 1960s.
It is a delight to review Dan Burton's debut album Broadway Melodies. As choreographer Stephen Mear has long known, Burton is currently amongst the finest of musical theatre "triple threats"…
As The Toxic Avenger returns to London's Arts Theatre, Jonathan Baz spoke with composer and Bon Jovi keyboards ace, David Bryan. David , what attracted you to write The Toxic Avenger...
It's nigh on forty years since this reviewer first clapped eyes on Patti Boulaye. Her braided hair in tight plaits, Boulaye lit up our TV screens on a Saturday evening.
What Shadows from Chris Hannan is a well-researched fiction that weaves its narrative around the closing chapters of the real life of Enoch Powell.
It's no small tale they have to tell, as small-town nerd Melvin takes on the corrupt establishment of New Jersey (Who Will Save New Jersey) who are taking bribes from the Manhattan elite so …
There is a magic that pervades Nikolai Foster's production of Sunset Boulevard, and it flows from leading lady Ria Jones. Twenty-six years after creating the role of Norma Desmond for Andrew…