Elektra starring Brie Larson is a strange, boring play February 7, 2025 Elektra at the Duke of York’s Theatre | ★★☆☆☆ After two and a half millennia, Sophocles can still pull in a crowd. This week saw the opening of Oedipus at the Old Vic, in which professional Creepy Lil’ Guy Rami Malek drawled his way through a thrilling evening of EDM and interpretive dance. In recent [...]
Oedipus at the Old Vic review: A freaky fever dream February 6, 2025 You can perform impossible feats, be a wise and respected leader, even solve the riddle of the Sphinx – but if you end up shagging your mum, that’s the only thing people will remember. This delirious reimagining of Sophocles’ tragedy of Oedipus, king of Thebes, is a freaky fever dream, told here from the point [...]
Mamma Mia and Hamilton help Cameron Mackintosh’s West End empire towards £200m January 3, 2025 The continued popularity of Les Miserables, Mamma Mia and Hamilton has helped push sales the West End theatre empire run by Sir Cameron Mackintosh to almost £200m. For the year to 31 March, 2024, Sir Cameron’s group has reported a turnover of £199.1m, up from the £185.8m it posted for the prior 12 months. Newly-filed [...]
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child maker remains in the red amid West End troubles December 20, 2024 The company behind the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child stage play remains in the red amid falling sales and show closures, it has been revealed. The joint venture which produces the show across the world has reported a turnover of £41.3m for the year to 31 March, 2024, down from the £45.2m it achieved [...]
The Unseen at Riverside Studios review: Prison drama goes at full-throttle December 8, 2024 With flavours of existential Samuel Beckett play Waiting for Godot and Stanley Kubrick psychological thriller A Clockwork Orange, The Unseen is an intense examination of incarceration, inspired by the real-life stories of Russian freedom fighters imprisoned by the state. The show’s grip tightens before you enter the theatre: as you walk into the Riverside Studios [...]
The Devil Wears Prada musical review: Meryl Streep is missing December 6, 2024 The Devil Wears Prada musical review and star rating: ★★★☆☆ Despite her many more serious, grown up roles, Meryl Streep has become defined by The Devil Wears Prada. Such is the fascination with enigmatic Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, who Streep plays a fictionalised version of in the film. Both Wintour and the character Miranda Priestly are [...]
75 litres of fake blood splattered my shoes in London’s most eccentric show November 20, 2024 Blood Show at the Battersea Arts Centre review and star rating: ★★★★ 75 litres of fake blood. Four different varieties of fake blood to make the liquid more realistic. Blood Show, playing a short run at the Battersea Arts Centre until this Saturday, is London’s most eccentric show – and well worth your time. Somewhere in-between [...]
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button musical review: Intriguing but exhausting November 14, 2024 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button musical review: ★★★★ Let’s face it, when thinking about classic novels that stir the soul, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is among the weirdest. The idea of a bloke who ages backwards is unnerving, but nevertheless the novel – and subsequent film with Brad Pitt [...]
Barcelona play review: Lily Collins can’t save bland two-hander October 31, 2024 Barcelona with Lily Collins, review and star rating: ★★☆☆☆ Emily in Paris star Lily Collins makes her West End debut opposite Spanish heavyweight Álvaro Morte in Barcelona, a two-hander set in a soon-to-be demolished apartment in the Spanish city. Writer Bess Wohl has on-boarded Lynette Linton, Artistic Director of the Bush Theatre, and the visionary behind [...]
The Buddha of Suburbia has the most amazing sex scenes I’ve seen in London theatre October 30, 2024 The Buddha of Suburbia review and star rating: ★★★★★ Only London theatre titan Emma Rice could convince an audience to suspend their disbelief when a party popper symbolises someone ejaculating. Of course – why wouldn’t it? Freshly arriving in London after a run at The RSC Swan, Stratford upon Avon earlier this year, The Buddha [...]