Theatre Reviews
Much Ado About Nothing, Theatre Royal Drury Lane review - this shamelessly hedonistic production is a triumphThursday, 20 February 2025
Over the last few months, celebrity-driven West End productions have suffered some inglorious crashes - not least Jamie Lloyd's production of The Tempest. So there was a certain degree of trepidation at the opening night for this star vehicle for Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell, which has much of the same cast. Read more... |
Hamlet, Royal Shakespeare Theatre - Luke Thallon triumphs as the state succumbs to stormsThursday, 20 February 2025
The date, projected behind the stage before a word is spoken, is a clue - 14th April 1912. “Why so specific?” was my first thought. My second was, “Ah, yes”. Read more... |
East Is South, Hampstead Theatre review - bewildering and unconvincingWednesday, 19 February 2025
Our humanity is defined not only by our use of language, but also by our sense of the spiritual. Whether you are a believer or not, it’s hard to deny the attractions of religion for billions around the world. Sounds portentous? Yeah. Okay, you’re now in the zone for Beau Willimon’s new play East Is South, currently at the Hampstead Theatre, a work which suggests that the digital world can also be mystical place. Read more... |
Unicorn, Garrick Theatre review - wordy and emotionless desireMonday, 17 February 2025
Since when has new writing become so passionless? Mike Bartlett is one of the country’s premiere playwrights and his new play, Unicorn, is about radical sexuality and desire. It’s already made a big splash by being put straight on in the West End, yet the experience of watching it feels like a real turn off. It’s a masterclass of bad writing and unemotional acting. Read more... |
More Life, Royal Court review - posthuman tragedy fails to come aliveSaturday, 15 February 2025
I always advocate in favour of more sci-fi plays, and over the past decade there have been a gratifying number of them. But one essential element of any futuristic fantasy must be its power to convince. And it is precisely this that is missing from Lauren Mooney and James Yeatman’s More Life, currently in the studio space of the Royal Court. Read more... |
Three Sisters, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse review - Chekhov's anatomy lesson on the human conditionFriday, 14 February 2025
Russia. Read more... |
Churchill in Moscow, Orange Tree Theatre review - thought-provoking language and power gamesThursday, 13 February 2025
Playwrights who work for decades often acquire a moniker. In the case of Howard Brenton, who began his career as a left-winger in the turbulent 1970s, the name is The History Man. Over the past decade, or so, he has written brilliantly about historical figures such as, among others, Anne Boleyn, Charles I, Lawrence of Arabia – and many more. Read more... |
The Years, Harold Pinter Theatre review - a bravura, joyous feat of storytellingMonday, 10 February 2025
Annie Ernaux’s semi-autobiographical book Les Années charts a woman’s life across time and space, history and memory, through what the author describes as a collective consciousness. Perhaps the most satisfying thing about Eline Arbo’s superb adaptation is that it projects this idea through, fittingly, one of the most truly collective performances London has seen in years. Read more... |
Elektra, Duke of York's Theatre review - Brie Larson's London stage debut is angry but inertFriday, 07 February 2025
We live in tragic times given over to cataclysmic events that require outsized emotions in return. That may be one reason to account for the uptick, therefore, in Greek drama, which includes not one but two Oedipi, various adaptations of Antigone, and the arrival on the commercial West End of the obvious companion piece to Oedipus, namely Elektra – the K in the title perhaps nodding to a landscape in which people exist to kill. Read more... |
Oedipus, Old Vic review - disappointing leads in a production of two halvesThursday, 06 February 2025
The opening scene of the Old Vic’s Oedipus is dominated by a giant backdrop of a skull-like face, eyes shut and rock-like. It belongs to the actor playing Oedipus, presumably, Rami Malek. This is as near to a close-up of the title character as we get. Read more... |
Pages
Advertising feature
★★★★★
‘A compulsive, involving, emotionally stirring evening – theatre’s answer to a page-turner.’
The Observer, Kate Kellaway
Direct from a sold-out season at Kiln Theatre the five star, hit play, The Son, is now playing at the Duke of York’s Theatre for a strictly limited season.
★★★★★
‘This final part of Florian Zeller’s trilogy is the most powerful of all.’
The Times, Ann Treneman
Written by the internationally acclaimed Florian Zeller (The Father, The Mother), lauded by The Guardian as ‘the most exciting playwright of our time’, The Son is directed by the award-winning Michael Longhurst.
Book by 30 September and get tickets from £15*
with no booking fee.
latest in today
Help to give theartsdesk a future!
It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.
It followed some...
Zero Day, Netflix review - can ex-President Robert De Niro s...
It seems that esteemed former US President George Mullen is...
Much Ado About Nothing, Theatre Royal Drury Lane review - th...
Over the last few months, celebrity-driven West End productions have suffered some inglorious crashes - not least Jamie Lloyd's production of ...
Noah Davis, Barbican review - the ordinary made strangely co...
In 2013 the American artist, Noah Davis used a legacy left him by his father to create a museum of contemporary art in Arlington Heights, an area...
Hamlet, Royal Shakespeare Theatre - Luke Thallon triumphs as...
The date, projected behind the stage before a word is spoken, is a clue - 14th April 1912. “Why so specific?” was my first thought...
Album: Sam Fender - People Watching
While discourse on many topics grows toxic and polarised, it’s the voices who speak plainly about the reality of everyday lives that provide some...
East Is South, Hampstead Theatre review - bewildering and un...
Our humanity is defined not only by our use of language, but also by our sense of the spiritual. Whether you are a believer or not, it’s hard to...
Hacks, Season 3, NOW review - acerbic showbiz comedy keeps u...
Dying is easy, comedy is hard, according to the Georgian actor Edmund Kean. Luckily, everybody involved with the much-awarded Hacks...
Album: Basia Bulat - Basia's Palace
Canadian singer Basia Bulat has tried on various musical hats...