Sunday, February 2, 2025
★★★★★ PLAY ON!, LYRIC HAMMERSMITH The Bard and The Duke in perfect harmony!
Super performances deliver magnificent entertainment
If you saw Upstart Crow on tele…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 09:54PM[SHARE]Friday, January 24, 2025
★★★ AN INTERROGATION, HAMPSTEAD THEATRE Detective gets her man, but at what cost?
Rosie Sheehy and Jamie Ballard shine in Edinburgh Festival import
In a dingy room with …
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 09:42PM[SHARE]★★★ CYMBELINE, SAM WANAMAKER PLAYHOUSE Patriarchy defeated!
A new, if not as radical as once it were, take on Shakespeare's cross-dressing call to arms
There's not much…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 11:42AM[SHARE]Thursday, January 23, 2025
★★★★ THE LONELY LONDONERS, KILN THEATRE A beautifully realised stage adaptation
Memories, frustrations and hopes in a city emerging from post-war austerity
As som…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 03:18PM[SHARE]Sunday, January 12, 2025
★★★★ THE MAIDS, JERMYN STREET THEATRE Master and Servant, poison & procrastination
Class, in its 21st century manifestation, colours much performed play
There ar…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 09:18PM[SHARE]Thursday, January 9, 2025
★ TITANIQUE, CRITERION THEATRE Celine! Tina! Jack and Rose! But no wit at all
Affectionate piss-take set for cult status at best
This Celine Dion jukebox musical has been a big hit in …
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 09:24PM[SHARE]Saturday, December 21, 2024
★★★ TWELFTH NIGHT The winter comedy provides more chills than chuckles despite a funny fool
Too much thinking; not enough laughing
It is not just Twelfth Night, it's Twe…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:42PM[SHARE]Tuesday, December 17, 2024
★★★★ NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812, DONMAR WAREHOUSE Broadway show takes eight years to traverse the Atlantic, but proves worth the wait
War and Pe…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 03:02PM[SHARE]Friday, December 6, 2024
★★★ HANSEL AND GRETEL, SHAKESPEARE'S GLOBE More wicked witch, less sunny siblings please
Songs and sweeties, but insufficient sourness and sadism for fans of fairytales
…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:18PM[SHARE]Saturday, November 30, 2024
★★ THE LIGHTNING THIEF, THE OTHER PALACE One for fans of the franchise
Myths and monsters make for a curiously bland and bloodless musical
Percy Jackson is neither the missing…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 03:48AM[SHARE]Sunday, November 24, 2024
★★★ ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, SAM WANAMAKER PLAYHOUSE Despite its compansations, the play is hard to watch
New production lands on shaky ground in 2024
"All's well that…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 10:48PM[SHARE]Friday, November 22, 2024
★★★★ KING JAMES, HAMPSTEAD THEATRE Two Cleveland lads bond, break and bond again in perceptive dramedy
Beautifully crafted play tracks two men's relationship, as LeBr…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 09:31PM[SHARE]Tuesday, November 19, 2024
★★★★ [TITLE OF SHOW], SOUTHWARK PLAYHOUSE Two decades on, this meta-musical retains its charm
Revival of New York show lifts the spirits
Not just a backstage musica…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 09:36PM[SHARE]Sunday, November 10, 2024
★★★★ BURNT-UP LOVE, FINBOROUGH THEATRE Ferocious three-hander finds love too hot to handle
Super writing and acting jolts us out of complacency
Mac is in prison for …
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 09:06PM[SHARE]Wednesday, October 30, 2024
★★★ HOW TO SURVIVE YOUR MOTHER, KING'S HEAD THEATRE Jonathan Maitland writes of his mother, but should we laugh or cry?
Lots of heartache, but a strange void where the hear…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 09:42PM[SHARE]Friday, October 25, 2024
★★★★ THE FORSYTE SAGA PARTS 1 AND 2, PARK THEATRE Epic adaptation falls away a little, but still packs a punch
Joseph Millson leads a super cast in a classy produ…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 09:06PM[SHARE]Monday, October 21, 2024
★★★ AUTUMN, PARK THEATRE Adaptation of Ali Smith's acclaimed novel drifts when it should bite
Promising production, beautifully acted, slides into side plots and confusi…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 12:02AM[SHARE]Thursday, October 17, 2024
★★ LAND OF THE FREE, SOUTHWARK PLAYHOUSE Good timing, but clunky structure and plodding pace limits appeal
A president shot, as a divided country seeks political solutions
Str…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 09:06PM[SHARE]Wednesday, October 16, 2024
★★★ KNIFE ON THE TABLE, COCKPIT THEATRE London teenagers pulled into gang culture's world of drugs, knives and miseryÂ
This is exactly the kind of play that should be…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:54PM[SHARE]Thursday, October 10, 2024
★★★★ THE LEHMAN TRILOGY The rise and rise and rise of an iconic Wall Street institution - and its collapse Â
Sensational stagecraft elevates familiar tale o…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 09:12PM[SHARE]Tuesday, October 8, 2024
★★★ FRENCH TOAST The English and the French, the men and the women, the young and the old, lock horns in 70s farce Â
Comedy gains momentum when characters are roun…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 09:18PM[SHARE]Tuesday, September 24, 2024
★★★ HERE IN AMERICA David Edgar's new play sounds a warning from the pastÂ
When political expediency intervenes in a personal and professional friendship, what should…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 09:48PM[SHARE]Thursday, September 19, 2024
★★★ THE TRUTH ABOUT HARRY BECK Nostalgic comedy about the man who originated an everyday design classic
An English eccentric quietly re-invents our view of the capital
I…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 09:42PM[SHARE]Saturday, September 14, 2024
★★★ THE BAND BACK TOGETHER AGAIN The perils of turning back the clock laid bare
The second album is still tough, even if you never recorded the first
We meet Joe first a…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 10:42PM[SHARE]Friday, September 13, 2024
★★★ KIM'S CONVENIENCE, Gentle comedy delivers laughs, but proves too safe and too predictableÂ
The play that inspired a Netflix series is heartwarming, but needs more…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 09:36PM[SHARE]Thursday, September 12, 2024
★★★ WHY AM I SO SINGLE?, GARRICK THEATRE Six's writers lay bare their souls in new musical
Marlow and Moss are back with deeply personal exploration of how lives are liv…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 09:36PM[SHARE]Friday, September 6, 2024
★★★★ THE SILVER CORD, FINBOROUGH THEATRE Narcissism up-close and disturbingly relevantÂ
Beautifully staged and acted revival of Sidney Howard's century-old blac…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 09:36PM[SHARE]Thursday, September 5, 2024
★★★★ ART, THEATRE ROYAL BATH Three men fall out over a painting in a very French comedy
Male friendships buckle as egos clash, with a resonance for today's culture…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 09:32PM[SHARE]Friday, August 23, 2024
★★★★ SHIFTERS, THE DUKE OF YORK'S THEATRE Winning and witty 21st century love story
Only the third West End written play by a black woman will not be the last
Pete…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 12:42AM[SHARE]Tuesday, August 20, 2024
★★ THE FABULIST, CHARING CROSS THEATRE Plenty of ambition, but achieves very little
Beautiful music, but curious decisions in scripting and staging sink the show
On opening ni…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 09:18PM[SHARE]Friday, August 16, 2024
★★★★ THE BIRTHDAY PARTY, USTINOV STUDIO, THEATRE ROYAL BATH Landmark play revived to shock and surprise all over again
Jane Horrocks garners the laughs in a very d…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:06AM[SHARE]Loading more stories…
