Sunday, November 12, 2023
★★★ THE TIME TRAVELLER'S WIFE, APOLLO THEATRE If Doctor Who did musical romcoms...
Powerhouse performances and visual effects let down by unambitious book and lacklustre so…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 09:12PM[SHARE]Friday, November 10, 2023
★★★★★ NINETEEN GARDENS, HAMPSTEAD THEATRE DOWNSTAIRS Black comedy about transgressive love gone sour proves an accomplished English language debut for prize-win…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:42PM[SHARE]Tuesday, October 31, 2023
The immersive experience makes us both victims of, and perpetrators in, an all too familiar perversion of truth
The day after I saw the show, as went about the mundanities of domestic life,…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 03:25AM[SHARE]Monday, October 30, 2023
Simon Stephens' take on Max Frisch's classic play can hit and miss, but when it hits, it hits hard
A dystopian present. Sirens ring out across the city. Firefighters rush to the wrong locat…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 04:33PM[SHARE]Friday, October 27, 2023
★★★ MANIC STREET CREATURE, SOUTHWARK PLAYHOUSE Songs in the key of a traumatised life
Maimuna Memon sings of the pain mental illness brings, and not just to the person it a…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:07AM[SHARE]Thursday, October 19, 2023
★★★ THE FLEA, THE YARD THEATRE Hotchpotch of influences and tones derails production that exposes hypocrisy in high placesÂ
Victorian scandal meets Ziggy Stardust with a…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:04AM[SHARE]Saturday, October 14, 2023
★★★★ DEAD DAD DOG, FINBOROUGH THEATRE Nostalgia rather than political satire drives charming revivalÂ
A play that will speak to any middle-aged Londoner with roots…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:33AM[SHARE]Thursday, October 12, 2023
★★★ THE CHANGELING, SOUTHWARK PLAYHOUSE Wild ride proves too bumpy to land all its points
An excess of gimmicks and uneven tone unbalance an innovative take on a Jacobean e…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 05:04AM[SHARE]Monday, October 9, 2023
A compelling character gets re-invented in Sinéad Rushe's fascinating production
Shakespeare gives Iago over 1000 lines to implant the jealous rage in Othello, so there's plenty to of raw m…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 05:43AM[SHARE]Saturday, October 7, 2023
John Mortimer creates a dazzling vehicle for a star, alongside one-dimensional supporting characters
Like theatre itself, the law finds its voice in stories, performance and spectacle. Any …
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:37AM[SHARE]Tuesday, October 3, 2023
Big-hearted and necessary play fails to deliver fully on its huge promise
The Royal Court's collaboration with Access All Areas (AAA) may not be theatre's first explicit embrace of the neuro…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:25PM[SHARE]Friday, September 29, 2023
★★★ UNBELIEVABLE, CRITERION THEATRE Entertaining show, but short of a little magic in more senses than one
Pantomime vibe undermines the unique frisson of the magicia…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:03AM[SHARE]Wednesday, September 27, 2023
★★ UNTITLED F*UCK M*SS S**GON PLAY, YOUNG VIC A gruelling watch, but message hits home
Satirical comedy-drama labours its points across an uninterrupted two hours
Seldom can a…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 02:25AM[SHARE]Friday, September 22, 2023
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Austrian musical finally arrives in London to entertain, but not quite thrill
There are times when it's best to know as little as possible before taking one's seat for a show " this new…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 03:25PM[SHARE]Thursday, September 14, 2023
★★★ INFAMOUS, JERMYN STREET THEATRE Caroline and Rose Quentin perfectly cast in mother and daughter play
A clever, sexy, confident woman woos the aristocracy but is diso…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 05:04AM[SHARE]Saturday, August 19, 2023
★★★★ MAKESHIFTS AND REALITIES, FINBOROUGH THEATRE Three one act works revived with a beautiful attention to detail
Plays that show that much may have changed for w…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:19AM[SHARE]Wednesday, August 16, 2023
Feelgood show acquires added poignancy on an emotional night
Forty years ago, the world was very different for gay men. AIDS was devastating their communities around the world, especially …
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 05:19AM[SHARE]Saturday, August 12, 2023
★★ THE SPONGEBOB MUSICAL, SOUTHBANK CENTRE Broadway show drowns in an unsympathetic venue, holed beneath the waterline by a lacklustre book and incoherent score
Fine performan…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 03:19AM[SHARE]Friday, August 11, 2023
★★★ MACBETH, SHAKESPEARE'S GLOBE Stripped back version has plenty of echoes of today's news, but lacks coherence and spectacle
Matti Houghton shines as a grieving, accus…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:33AM[SHARE]Friday, July 28, 2023
★★ THE CROWN JEWELS, GARRICK THEATRE True story, dreadfully low on laughs and drama, in which the only successful heist comes at the box officeÂ
Al Murray and Carrie Hope F…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 04:55AM[SHARE]Monday, July 24, 2023
★★★ ANNIE GET YOUR GUN, LAVENDER THEATRE Corny book still has its problems,. but Irving Berlin's songs are as glorious as everÂ
In fields of lavender flowers, an open ai…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:19AM[SHARE]Thursday, July 6, 2023
★★ MODEST, KILN THEATRE A trans and queer celebration, but not a very good playÂ
Art, songs and a cabaret (indeed, Cabaret) vibe, but the story goes nowhere
Whether you believ…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 12:04AM[SHARE]Tuesday, June 27, 2023
★★★★ STUMPED, HAMPSTEAD THEATRE A smart, funny, and beautifully staged new play
An hour zips by in the company of two playwrights bickering on the boundary edge
Mu…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 10:43AM[SHARE]Monday, June 26, 2023
★ ROBIN HOOD. THE LEGEND. RE-WRITTEN. REGENT'S PARK OPEN AIR THEATRE Play with music lost in a forest of competing genres and tones
New version of old story wastes talent and resources…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 11:04AM[SHARE]Thursday, June 15, 2023
★★★★★ 42nd STREET, SADLER'S WELLS THEATRE Glorious entertainment led by a star in the making
Old show sparkles in astonishing new production that dazzles fro…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:07AM[SHARE]Thursday, May 25, 2023
★★★ A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, SHAKESPEARE'S GLOBE - Hot button issues douse fiery passions
MIchelle Terry steals the show as a Puck who brings a malevolent undertow to the…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:24AM[SHARE]Saturday, May 20, 2023
★★★★ A BRIEF LIST OF EVERYONE WHO DIED, FINBOROUGH THEATRE New play that mines the bittersweet moments of a long lifeÂ
Jacob Marx Rice's new play mines the bitters…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 05:06AM[SHARE]Friday, May 12, 2023
★★★★ THE CIRCLE, ORANGE TREE THEATRE Acerbic reflections on the price paid for love
Jane Asher leads an ensemble cast in Somerset Maugham's comedy of manners
Tom Lit…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 05:18AM[SHARE]Monday, May 1, 2023
FlawBored's meta-theatrical show comforts and then goes in for the kill
Just when you've relaxed a little, privileged duly checked and confident that you won't be guilt-tripped for nipping i…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 04:48AM[SHARE]Thursday, April 27, 2023
Classy new stage adaptation of 1950s French novel proves intellectually rewarding
It's apt that this new play, with characters moving in and out of Paris either side of World War I, is stag…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:42AM[SHARE]Monday, April 24, 2023
Frenetic take on Brecht's tale of doing good in a bad world loses focus
As the UK undergoes yet another political convulsion, this time concerning the threshold for ministers being shitty to…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 04:54AM[SHARE]Loading more stories…
