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]Saturday, April 22, 2023
American show is lost in the West End with only the hits to save it
Ain't Too Proud? Ain't too good either I'm afraid. Which is a shame as there's plenty of the raw material here that powers…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:06AM[SHARE]Friday, April 7, 2023
New production of the West End show based on the Alan Bennett film is perhaps near its sell-by date
People can't find the food they want in the shops. Nobody has enough money. Public service…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:24AM[SHARE]Friday, March 31, 2023
A reprehensible man treats women badly, but the political magic is left entirely unexplored
One wonders if Ricky Simmonds and Simon Vaughan pondered long over their debut musical's title. S…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:42AM[SHARE]Tuesday, March 7, 2023
Evanna Lynch heads up wan troubles-themed dark comedy
"Darkly comic thrillers" (as they like to say) set in Ireland tracking how families, or quasi-families, fall apart under pressure are ve…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 09:24AM[SHARE]Wednesday, March 1, 2023
Ambitious but misconceived take on musical theatre landmark outstays its welcome
It is, perhaps, important to note that this production was first staged in London at the Young Vic, a venue …
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 01:40AM[SHARE]Monday, February 20, 2023
★★★★ STANDING AT THE SKY'S EDGE, NT 60 years in one Sheffield flat tells our nation's story
Chris Bush and Richard Hawley write a love letter to a friendly and fla…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 09:07PM[SHARE]Friday, February 17, 2023
★★★★ SYLVIA, THE OLD VIC Beverley Knight is compelling and complex in suffragette musical
Sylvia Pankhurst suffers for her commitment to votes for women and to soc…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 05:16AM[SHARE]Sunday, February 5, 2023
★★★★★ SMOKE, SOUTHWARK PLAYHOUSE Kim Davies' 2014 play has only grown in relevance for the post #MeToo worldÂ
The perils of navigating power relations whe…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 05:49AM[SHARE]Friday, February 3, 2023
★★ TITUS ANDRONICUS, SAM WANAMAKER PLAYHOUSE Gory play full of murders played with neither gore nor murdersÂ
Tricksy staging distracts and disappoints
If All's Well That…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 03:26AM[SHARE]Friday, January 27, 2023
★★★★ NOISES OFF, PHOENIX THEATRE Michael Frayn's farce about a farce still jars the funny bone
Sure it's overly familiar, but, 40 years on, the laughs keep coming
…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 03:04AM[SHARE]Friday, January 20, 2023
★★★★ ALLEGIANCE, CHARING CROSS THEATRE Beautifully sung show shines light into a dark corner of American history Â
Star Trek's Mr Sulu honours fellow Japanes…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:31AM[SHARE]Friday, January 13, 2023
★★★★ A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, ALMEIDA THEATRE Torment, toxicity and trauma in New Orleans Â
Torment, toxicity and trauma in New Orleans
It's a long way fr…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:20AM[SHARE]Wednesday, January 11, 2023
★★★★ WATCH ON THE RHINE, DONMAR Country house comedy transforms into call to arms
In wartime, when tough actions are needed to back up easy words, what do you do?
…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:15AM[SHARE]Thursday, December 15, 2022
★★★ DOLLY PARTON'S SMOKY MOUNTAIN CHRISTMAS CAROL, SOUTHBANK CENTRE Great songs, but a sanitised book declaws Yuletide parableÂ
Dolly and Dickens team up for dreams a…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 04:42AM[SHARE]Wednesday, December 7, 2022
Victoria Hamilton-Barritt brings superstar quality and emotional depth to villainous ogre
Hovering way, way above us, three aptly named high fairies, in voluminous chiffon, open a show that …
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:06AM[SHARE]Saturday, November 26, 2022
★★★★ ELF, DOMINION THEATRE Plenty of presents for all the family in a spectacular show based on the much loved filmÂ
Buddy the Elf charms everyone on either sid…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:36AM[SHARE]Saturday, November 19, 2022
★★★★ A CHRISTMAS CAROL, RSC Old favourite finds contemporary relevance in sanitised staging
The RSC Christmas show delivers exactly what it promises
Life is full o…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 11:24AM[SHARE]Thursday, November 17, 2022
★ HERE, Southwark Playhouse Characters drown in a surfeit of issues
The prestige of the Papatango Prize cannot rescue a play that fails to transcend its inexplicable limitations
The k…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:54AM[SHARE]Wednesday, November 9, 2022
Super songs can't quite rescue an ill-focused story and sparse staging
Whorehouses, gay prostitution and suicide " you can see why James Jones' bestselling 1951 novel was bowdlerised by the …
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:06AM[SHARE]Thursday, October 27, 2022
★★★★ TAMMY FAYE, ALMEIDA THEATRE The rise and fall of a iconic figure whose reach stretched across late 20th century American culture
Plenty of heart and bite in a…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 12:03PM[SHARE]Friday, October 7, 2022
★★ THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE, ROSE THEATRE Uncompromising adaptation of Brecht outstays its welcome
Carrie Hope Fletcher one of few bright sparks on a tough evening for the audi…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:37AM[SHARE]Saturday, October 1, 2022
★★★ IPHIGENIA IN SPLOTT, LYRIC HAMMERSMITH THEATRE Howl of protest at the cost of austerity leads to a different conclusion seven years on
Timely revival of Gary Owen's sol…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:37AM[SHARE]Saturday, September 24, 2022
★★★★ THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISSOCIA, THEATRE ROYAL STRATFORD EAST The landscape of mental health explored in surreal comedy
A woman confronts her neuroses in a ph…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 09:43AM[SHARE]Thursday, September 22, 2022
★★★ CLUTCH Odd couple in a Corsa drive in fourth gear for comedy but second gear for pathos
After a strong start, newly commissioned play takes a wrong exit from the rounda…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 05:07AM[SHARE]Thursday, September 15, 2022
Funny, poignant and stimulating, a delightfully welcome piece of intellectual escapism
It can't have been an easy pitch. "Popes. Both foreign, yes. German and Argentinian " sorry, can't cha…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 05:33AM[SHARE]Thursday, September 1, 2022
★★★★ RIDE New musical about a difficult, charismatic, barrier-breaking woman freewheels into the West EndÂ
New musical about a barrier-breaking woman freewhe…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 05:07AM[SHARE]Friday, August 26, 2022
★★★★★  INTO THE WOODS Breathtaking production captures the unease at the heart of this fairytale musical
Prepare to be dazzled and disoriented in a phanta…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 05:24AM[SHARE]Thursday, August 25, 2022
★★★  TREASON THE MUSICAL IN CONCERT Semi-staged production shows promise - and problems
Semi-staged production shows promise - and problems
A semi-staged concert perform…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:25AM[SHARE]Wednesday, August 17, 2022
Leave memories of Paul Daniels at the door and embrace the sweet deception inside
There's nothing quite like magic, live, up close and personal. Sure there are the TV spectaculars, the casin…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:07AM[SHARE]Saturday, August 6, 2022
If you think a fat man wearing yellow swimming trunks is funny, you're on the right island
Alexei Sayle, in his angry young man phase, once said that you can always tell when you're watching…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 05:42AM[SHARE]Loading more stories…
