London Theatre Reviews

'Anything Goes' review — this fabulously escapist Cole Porter musical is still the top

One of the undoubted highlights of 2021 was Broadway director Kathleen Marshall’s sensational revival of Anything Goes. With its gleefully silly ocean liner-set story, thrilling tap dances, irresistible Cole Porter score, and with American star Sutton Foster reprising her Tony-winning performance as Reno Sweeney, it was the perfect “Welcome back” to large-scale live theatre. So, is this returning production, which features significant cast changes like Kerry Ellis taking over from Foster, still...

'Patriots' review — a monstrously entertaining account of Vladimir Putin's kingmaker

Peter Morgan, our well-established chronicler of modern history – from TV dramas The Crown and The Deal to plays like Frost/Nixon and The Audience – now turns his shrewd gaze on Vladimir Putin. Or rather onto the man who claims that he “made” Putin, billionaire oligarch Boris Berezovsky, and who, in the exhilarating Patriots, then battles the President for the soul of Russia. Morgan’s version of events has something of the tragic arc of Frankenstein: the brilliant but arrogant man who rejects...

The Seagull review - Emilia Clarke shines in her West End debut

The Seagull, starring Emilia Clarke, is playing at the Harold Pinter Theatre through 10 Sept.

'The Southbury Child' review — Alex Jennings stars in a reassuringly enjoyable drama

You could say this was a play about a storm in a teacup – and that would be apt, since it’s set in and around the sort of English rural vicarage where tea is reliably the lubricant of parish business. In this case, though, the vicar himself prefers his refreshments considerably stronger. Stephen Beresford’s new drama, a co-production with Chichester Festival Theatre, is about a churchman’s crisis of conscience occasioned by the bereaved mother’s demand for balloons at her daughter’s funeral....

'King Lear' review — 25 years later, Kathryn Hunter still gives an astounding 'Lear'

Can it really be 25 years since Kathryn Hunter first played King Lear, the diminutive but mightily gifted performer blazing a gender-flipped trail for the likes of Glenda Jackson, who would follow in the same role on both sides of the Atlantic two decades later? Astonishingly so, and here Hunter is again undertaking this most momentous of tasks, this time at Shakespeare’s Globe. As it happens, I caught Hunter’s return to the part in the same weekend that saw the passing, age 97, of the great...

'Disney’s Beauty and the Beast' review – a magical tale as old as time feels new

Let’s start off with a confession: I am a glasses-wearing, book-loving woman of a certain age who adored Belle when Beauty and the Beast hit cinemas in 1991. Today, little girls wear Elsa gowns, I wore that iconic yellow dress. (Though if we’re being honest, the blue pinafore is much more my style.) So, it’s a little surprising that last night at the London Palladium was my first time seeing Disney’s Beauty and the Beast onstage. And I felt just like that 5-year-old girl, tearing up because I...

'Mad House' review — David Harbour commands a powerful testament to family grief

When we grieve, what do we think about? We may reflect on the happy memories spent with one another. We may realise just how much somebody meant to us while they were living. But when we’re faced with anticipatory grief, our reactions are equally individual. Over two hours, Theresa Rebeck’s dark comedy, Mad House, explores the ways in which death affects us all, both for the person dying and those who live. And if you’re going through a personal loss, seeing Mad House is cathartic. At multiple...

'That Is Not Who I Am' review — a significant play that deserves attention

Rarely is a review one big spoiler but there’s simply no other way to discuss, or assess, That Is Not Who I Am, the disturbing new Royal Court offering that emphatically Is Not What It Says It Is! Stop here if you want to attend the play in, as it were, a pristine state. But whether you read on or not, this is a significant achievement that deserves attention. Trumpeted as a discovery from the pen of an unknown security industry veteran called Dave Davidson, whose authorial skills come endorsed...

'A Doll's House, Part 2' review — Ibsen meets Rocky in this blistering postmodern drama

It was the door slam heard round the world. In 1879, Henrik Ibsen scandalised society with his climax to A Doll’s House, which saw Nora Helmer leaving her husband and young children – and rejecting conventional marriage. But what happens next? Is Nora truly free, and at what cost? That’s the tantalising premise of Lucas Hnath’s playful, provocative and richly intelligent A Doll’s House, Part 2. We’re back at that door again, this time with Nora knocking and demanding re-entry. It’s 15 years...

'Jitney' review — August Wilson's drama is worth the ride

You’ll be mouthing the words “car service” for some while to come following the vivid Old Vic revival of Jitney, the 1982 play by August Wilson that arrives in London as a co-production with Leeds Playhouse and Headlong and that will continue on tour following this monthlong engagement. (This staging was first seen in Leeds last October.) The play’s previous London incarnation – imported from New York – won the Olivier for Best Play 20 years ago, and if this production doesn’t quite have the...