London Theatre Reviews

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Review 1996

Who's Afraid of Virgina Woolf? is about a frustrated, explosive woman called Martha, who taunts her quiet, stewing husband, George, about his failures in life. However, when Nick & Honey, a young married couple, come to visit for a drink late in the evening, they get entwined in Martha and George's hurtful games that they play.Edward Albee proves you don't have to have a lot of action in a play to make it effective. You only need great writing, and Albee without doubt wrote a gem with this...

The Play That Goes Wrong Review

The theatre loves nothing more than itself, especially when things aren't going to plan: this kind of self-sustaining narcissism has made hits of everything from The Producers and Spamalot to Michael Frayn's Noises Off. And in The Play That Goes Wrong, we're here to prick the pomposities and artifice of theatre yet again in a bustling portrait of an amateur dramatic company from Cornley Polytechnic, as they attempt to put on a 1920s murder thriller called Murder at Haversham Manor.The result is...

Seven Streams of the River Ota

Conceived by Robert Lepage, the play is in 7 acts covering the period from the bombing of Hiroshima in 1945 to the present day. Lepage used video and images to great effect mixed in with opera singing and some very bizarre scenes.The first four acts are simply superb and gripping . However it's down hill from then on. There were still some great theatre to be had but the last few acts were getting a little off subject and a little harder to understand. I thought all the acts would be connected...

The Pillowman

Profoundly disturbing and intensely macabre, Martin McDonagh's new play provokes an ambivalent response. On the one hand his inventive imagination and ear for naturalistic dialogue is as sharp as ever, commanding both respect and attention but the sheer intensity of the horrors related will curdle all but the strongest of stomachs.As the play opens a young writer sits blindfolded in a cell, clearly awaiting interrogation. A detective (Jim Broadbent) enters and asks the prisoner Katurian (David...

The Phantom of the Opera review from 2000

Next Review by Sven Verlinden Nov 2000 Last week, Scott was off so Richard Halton did all the shows and of course now was the time to see this wonderful actor as the Phantom ! I had been waiting so long for this to happen, and Saturday's matinee I sat dead center Front Row. WONDERFUL seat !!! (B10) Anyway, it turned out to be an "understudies only" day, coz Charlotte, Matt, Scott of course, Shan Cothi, Lee David Bowen and Donald Francke were all off. The 2nd cover Chirstine was on (Ana Marina)....

Bent

The Nazis didn't reserve their highly individual and gruesomely twisted brand of nastiness simply for Jews. Gypsies, Jehovah's Witnesses, the mentally handicapped, intellectuals, vagrants, prostitutes, Freemasons and many others were on the Nazi hit list of 'undesirables' they wanted to eradicate from the planet. Systematically rounding up these groups with meticulous precision and industrial efficiency, and incarcerating them in concentration camps, homosexuals were at the nadir of an enormous...

Much Ado About Nothing Review Wyndhams Theatre 2011

Last week, I saw 'Much Ado About Nothing' at the Globe, and now here's another version playing at Wyndham's, right in the heart of the West End. Comparisons are often invidious, but here's a rare chance to compare two productions of the same play, both on at the same time.This version has the added glamour and audience pulling-power of TV stars in the lead roles. TV comedian and character actress Catherine Tate is Beatrice and a former Dr Who, David Tennant, is Benedick. With a time traveller in...

Matilda The Musical Review

Note: There has been cast changes since this review!We are rapidly drifting into that peculiarly English time of year when even the sanest of actors and production companies seem to take leave of their senses. Men dress up as women, women dress up as men and well-worn jokes that never ought to have seen the light of day in the first place are resurrected with abandon.Yes, panto season is with us once again. But 'Matilda The Musical', even though it is being aired during this silliest of seasons,...

Peter Pan Goes Wrong Review

"This is not a pantomime," says the publicity for Peter Pan Goes Wrong. But it is a farce — and a riotous one — in which, instead of Peter Pan's traditional declaration that to die would be an awfully big adventure, it is more of an awfully big misadventure here.But then Peter Pan was never written by JM Barrie to be performed as a panto — it's actually a rather serious, sometimes brooding and melancholic work about the pains of growing up, as it portrays the story of a boy who refuses to do so,...

Thriller Live Review

There's no question that Thriller Live is a genuine crowd-pleaser. But is it the answer? It depends on what you want the West End to stand for. Is it a place to showcase the best in world theatre, or just a home for mindless but colourful variety spectacles?Actually, let's not to be too snobbish. There's room for both. I may personally miss the fact that the Lyric Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue -- one of the best, most perfectly proportioned playhouses in town -- has been lost to straight plays...