London Theatre Reviews

'Titus Andronicus' review — Jude Christian adds a revelatory sleekness to Shakespeare's bloodiest play

“Hell hath no fury like an angry Goth,” we’re told late in the blistering new production of Titus Andronicus, soon to be joined by The Winter’s Tale in repertory at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. If that line is itself invented, there’s no denying the show’s fidelity to the nihilistic power of Shakespeare’s bloodiest play, which is presented here without a drop of red dye only to acquire an eerie power through its own determined stylisation. Shakespeare’s first tragedy, Titus is often dismissed as...

'Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons' review – Jenna Coleman and Aidan Turner are a charismatic double act

When we talk to one another, what are we really trying to say? The slipperiness and complexity of language gets a rigorous workout in Sam Steiner’s 2015 play Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons, an Edinburgh Fringe hit-turned-buzzy new West End production, featuring the starry casting of Jenna Coleman (Doctor Who) and Aidan Turner (Poldark). They play a couple grappling with a dystopian new law, the Quietude Act, which commands that no one speak more than 140 words a day. That number riffs on...

'Sound of the Underground' review — a full-bodied celebration of the drag scene

It’s party time at the Royal Court, though be aware that this full-bodied, full-throated evening knows a thing or two about pain as well. Not that you’d necessarily expect that from the evening’s ribald, raucous start, whereby the eight drag performers who comprise the cast make their way to the stage from different levels and corners of the auditorium: they’re happy, we’re told, to be “above the ground for once”. That’s to say, occupying a theatre renowned for new writing that usually pays much...

'Dirty Dancing' review — have the time of your life at the musical classic

With its infectious mix of chart-topping tracks, explosive dance routines, and that lift, Dirty Dancing at the Dominion Theatre is a joyous musical tonic. You’ll wish you could book a one-way trip to Kellerman’s. At its heart, Dirty Dancing is about the endearing summer romance between holidaymaker Frances “Baby” Houseman, and the resident dance instructor Johnny Castle. Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze put the Catskills lovers on the Hollywood map, and their spirits resonate in the stage...

'Noises Off' review – Michael Frayn's enduring backstage farce is simply sublime comedy

Putting on Michael Frayn’s peerless Noises Off – the backstage comedy guaranteed to make me cry with laughter, every time – does seem to tempt fate. And, sure enough, on opening night of this latest West End run, the theatre gods added a few more “circumstances beyond our control” in the audience: as the show began, someone accidentally blasted out Blondie from their phone, and an elderly gentleman next to me started a frantic search for his lost glasses. All of which just added to the perfect...

'The Unfriend' review — Steven Moffat's debut play is an irresistible comic thriller

The title of Steven Moffat’s play makes a noun out of one of Facebook’s less delightful actions and it also represents a genuine theatrical rarity, especially these days: a comic thriller, and a truly funny one at that. The result widens the remit of superstar TV scribe Moffat (Sherlock, Doctor Who) to enable him to add the stage to his CV in a transfer from Chichester that includes the playwright’s wife, Sue Vertue, amongst the producers. The creatives represent a cross-section of TV names...

'Alex Edelman: Just For Us' review — a whipsmart blend of personal and political comedy

You might not think that Koko the Gorilla, who died in 2018, would take an interest in the death four years earlier of that fellow Californian, Robin Williams. That tidbit of information comes from the fast-talking Alex Edelman, the sensationally funny and also moving monologist whose well-travelled and wonderful show Just for Us is about an even stranger convergence: the participation of Edelman, an Orthodox Jew, at a meeting of white supremacists in the New York City borough of Queens. (That’s...

'Cirque du Soleil - Kurios' review — the power of humanity comes alive in the Victorian steampunk spectacular

As the clock strikes 11:11 on the Kurios set, a Seeker closes their eyes. Immediately, they’re thrust into a make-believe world with never-ending possibilities. In this cabinet of curiosities, acts defy human boundaries and ask what we can achieve when we let our futures guide us. For Cirque du Soleil’s Kurios, the future is now, and after the pandemic, it’s brighter than ever. The contemporary producer celebrate their 25th anniversary in London with the European premiere of Kurios, a...

'Watch on the Rhine' review — Lillian Hellman's quietly explosive play haunts the mind

What price inaction? That eternal question hovers poignantly over the terrific revival of Lillian Hellman’s rarely seen Watch on the Rhine, which gets 2023 London playgoing off to a truly dynamic start. This airing of Hellman’s quietly explosive 1940 play marks a sterling Donmar debut for the director Ellen McDougall, previously the artistic director of the Gate. And its capacious, uniformly expert cast conjoins veterans like Patricia Hodge, in grand form as a grandstanding American matriarch,...

'ABBA Voyage' review — a multi-dimensional pop concert for the ages

No concert was anticipated quite like ABBA Voyage. The possibility to see the iconic Swedish band on stage once more, not only together again, but appearing as their younger selves, boggled everyone’s minds. But can these ABBA-tars (a colloquial way to describe the quartet’s holograms) entertain audiences as much as seeing the real deal in the flesh? To put simply, yes. ABBA Voyage is a concert for the ages. Over five weeks, 1,000 animators immortalised Agnetha Fältskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad,...