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

Review: THE MAIDS, Jermyn Street Theatre
by Alexander Cohen - January 11, 2025

French dramatist Jean Genet is a rarity on British stages, and I can see why. There are more popular writers that do what he does, only better. Genet’s 1947 The Maids is never stark enough to match the claustrophobic brutality of Beckett, nor darkly comic enough to out menace Pinter....

Review: THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 1936, Trafalgar Theatre
by Cindy Marcolina - January 10, 2025

Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts are getting a foothold in London’s East End. Shylock, here a single parent, requests a pound of flesh from Antonio, part of Mosley’s aficionados, in order to clear his debts. The demands of the Jewish moneylender who’s endlessly abused in public by the same people who req...

Review Roundup: Did TITANÍQUE Sink or Swim in the West End?
by Aliya Al-Hassan - January 10, 2025

When the music of Céline Dion makes sweet Canadian love with the eleven-time Oscar®-winning film Titanic, you get Titaníque, New York’s most award-winning splash hit that turns one of the greatest love stories of all time into a hysterical musical fantasia....

Review: TITANÍQUE, Criterion Theatre
by Aliya Al-Hassan - January 10, 2025

What started as one-night showing in Los Angeles, after docking on Broadway, in Canada and Australia, Titaníque has now sailed into London. Based on the idea that global pop icon Céline Dion was actually the hero of the 1997 James Cameron film, Titanic, the absurdity of this dazzlingly camp and fran...

Review: BILL BAILEY: THOUGHTIFIER, Theatre Royal Haymarket
by Aliya Al-Hassan - January 06, 2025

A comedian, a musician, a nature-lover, a philosopher. Bill Bailey has now surely also cemented his status as national treasure. His latest show, Thoughtifier, is about his intriguing thought processes, channelled through music. So nothing new there then. However, Bailey ensures that a show that run...

Review: ROB COPLAND: GIMME (ONE WITH EVERYTHING), Soho Theatre
by Kat Mokrynski - January 06, 2025

Rob Copland: Gimme (One With Everything) begins with quite the introduction, with Copland not actually beginning the storytelling of the show for several minutes. Before the show, I had seen Copland doing some warmup stretches, which quickly made sense once he ran onto the stage, jumping around and ...

Review: FASCINATING AIDA, Royal Festival Hall
by Franco Milazzo - January 03, 2025

And so yet another Fascinating Aïda tour comes to a close. Having already dipped into their latest extended jaunt around the UK a couple of times already, one thing has become abundantly clear: the second best thing about going to see this celebrated cabaret outfit has been experiencing the reaction...

Review: THE NUTCRACKER, Royal Albert Hall
by Franco Milazzo - January 02, 2025

When I first saw The Nutcracker, I was convinced one of these things must be true: either someone had spiked my drink, the cast were all on drugs or we were all in some kind of baffling nightmare. No other explanation seemed plausible to my young mind....

Review: MARIA, in Cinemas and Streaming
by Gary Naylor - December 31, 2024

Angelina Jolie is compelling in a movie that concentrates on the misery to the exclusion of almost everything else in the diva's life...

Review: THESE GAYS! THEY'RE TRYING TO..., The Divine
by Amber-Rae Stobbs - December 31, 2024

Riotous queer theatre show is NSFW - in a good way!...

Review: HANSEL AND GRETEL, Royal Ballet and Opera
by Gary Naylor - December 29, 2024

Macabre and spectacular, this is Christmas fare as it once was and should still be, fully trusting its audience. ...

Review: THE CREAKERS, Southbank Centre
by Christiana Rose - December 30, 2024

Based on Tom Fletcher’s best-selling children’s book and adapted by scriptwriter Miranda Larson, The Creakers musical is an escapade which highlights the very real need for sustainability, through a tale about Lucy and the ‘kidderlings’ of Whiffington. The children wake up to find that all of the ad...

Review: LONDON COMMUNITY GOSPEL CHOIR AT CHRISTMAS, Royal Albert Hall
by Franco Milazzo - December 27, 2024

There’s something about the London Community Gospel Choir that will get any place - even one as large and grand as the Royal Albert Hall - up on their feet, dancing, clapping and singing along as if their entire Christmas was rolled into this one night....

Critics' Choice: Gary Naylor's Best Theatre of 2024
by Gary Naylor - December 26, 2024

There's praise for plays old and new and musicals, well, mainly old...

Review: PLEASE RIGHT BACK, Southbank Centre
by Franco Milazzo - December 23, 2024

Somewhere in that creative space between cinema and live drama, Please Right Back looks at family, fantasy and the place fiction plays in difficult times....

Review: JOHN, Arch Film Studio
by Amber-Rae Stobbs - December 22, 2024

A play that deserves a larger audience in 2025...

Review: SLEEPING BEAUTY, The Bridge House Theatre
by Gary Naylor - December 22, 2024

Traditional fringe panto offers value and and the comfort of familiarity and escapism at Christmas...

Review: PAN, Chickenshed Theatre
by Gary Naylor - December 20, 2024

Pan is back with songs and spectacle and a lesson about what really matters in life...

Review Roundup: What Did the Critics Think of Sigourney Weaver in THE TEMPEST?
by Aliya Al-Hassan - December 20, 2024

The Jamie Lloyd Company presents The Tempest,  the first production in a season of Shakespeare in London’s iconic Theatre Royal Drury Lane....

Review: THE TEMPEST, Theatre Royal Drury Lane
by Alexander Cohen - December 20, 2024

As achingly monotone as it is aggressively monochrome....

Review: DUCK POND, Southbank Centre
by Aliya Al-Hassan - December 20, 2024

When circus is performed well, it is as high an art form as perfectly executed ballet or impeccable Shakespearean oratory. When it falls down in execution, it falls hard. Australian circus company Circa's production Duck Pond unfortunately belongs in the latter camp....

Review: SLAVA'S SNOWSHOW, Harold Pinter Theatre
by Josh Maughan - December 19, 2024

For a family living in London, there is a diverse catalogue of Christmas shows ripe for attendance. With current ticket prices, picking the right show is crucial for both all-round enjoyment and the bank account. Slava’s Snow Show is back in London at the Harold Pinter Theatre, and if you’re looking...

Review: REVEL PUCK CIRCUS: THE RUCKUS, Fellowship Square
by Franco Milazzo - December 18, 2024

With enough vim and vigour to light up the nearby town hall, Revel Puck Circus brings The Ruckus back to their hometown of Walthamstow as part of their Winter Festival....

Review: RICK ASTLEY'S SWINGING CHRISTMAS, Royal Albert Hall
by Laura Jones - December 18, 2024

Rick Astley returns to the Royal Albert Hall for his Swinging Christmas big band concert. Backed by the superb band, Astley delivers a mix of classic jazz, seasonal favourites, and a certain hit of his own, creating a festive evening full of timeless Christmas cheer....

Review: CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, Almeida Theatre
by Gary Naylor - December 18, 2024

Daisy Edgar-Jones and Kingsley Ben-Adir lead a fine cast in an impressive, if gruelling, examination of the destructive power of mendacity...