A Midsummer Night’s Dream review: Fairy punk production doesn’t quite take flight Life&Style A Midsummer Night's Dream is given a Last Dinner Party makeover complete with a punk fairy band, but it doesn't fully capture the magic.
Archduke play at the Royal Court: A fascinating comedy about radicalisation Life&Style Archduke | Royal Court | ★★★★☆ I’m not sure what I expected from this play about the days preceding the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand – the event credited with starting the First World War – but it wasn’t a comedy of errors whose influences run the gamut from Withnail and I to Chris [...]
The Misanthrope at the National Theatre: Sandra Oh shines in a play that flatters to deceive Life&Style The Misanthrope | National Theatre (Lyttelton) | ★★★☆☆ True to its name, this new version of The Misanthrope is a difficult play to love. Mercilessly updated from Moliere’s 17th-century comedy of manners by the mercurial Martin Crimp, it’s a jagged diatribe against… well everything. The literary world, the privileged, the young and the old, the [...]
Glengarry Glen Ross at the Old Vic fails to close June 22, 2026 Glengarry Glen Ross | Old Vic | ★★☆☆☆ David Mamet’s transformation from perhaps the most original and insightful American playwright of the late 20th century to a flag-waving, MAGA-supporting, anti-woke motormouth is… troubling. As a Mamet-head, this must be what it’s like for Trump supporters trying to enjoy 90 per cent of popular culture. It’s [...]
Much Ado About Nothing at the Globe: A silly, frilly production June 22, 2026 This production of Much Ado at Shakespeare's Globe is all light, no shade; it's up to you if you really care, writes Anna Moloney.
Under the Shadow at Almeida: Psychological horror set against Tehran’s 1988 bombing June 11, 2026 Under the Shadow | Alneida Theatre | ★★★★☆ This has been quite a year for horror theatre. In January we saw the UK debut of the Paranormal Activity stage show, dragging the voyeuristic, found-footage franchise kicking and screaming into the West End. And soon after the Hampstead Theatre premiered a more fringe-y affair in the [...]
War Horse gallops triumphantly back to the National Theatre June 3, 2026 War Horse | National Theatre (Olivier) | ★★★★☆ This month has seen the revival of two classic equine plays, one about a young lad who is in love with a horse in a good way (War Horse) and one about a young lad who is in love with a horse in a very, very bad [...]
Beetlejuice musical review: I’ve never heard West End fans scream this loud May 28, 2026 Beetlejuice musical review and star rating: ★★★ It’s rare to experience screaming so loud that it feels as if some terrible force is pressing against your eardrums. It happened at Taylor Swift’s show Wembley Stadium and last night at Beetlejuice: The Musical’s West End premiere, where after every song – whether it was good or [...]
Sherlock Holmes review: The game is afoot in Regent’s Park May 15, 2026 When hailstones were crashing down around Regent’s Park ahead of press night for Sherlock Holmes, it did not take a genius to deduce that we might be in for a rather miserable evening. It is a brave London theatre that relies so heavily upon the weather. But the skies cleared just in time for the [...]
A Doll’s House at the Almeida: Thrilling, steamy and ambitious April 14, 2026 A Doll’s House | Almeida | ★★★★☆ As Oscar Wilde probably never said, “Everything in the world is about sex, except sex. Sex is about power.” I can’t think of a pithier summary of this propulsive, steamy, ambitious retelling of Ibsen’s most enduring play, A Doll’s House. In this thoroughly modern version by Anya Reiss, [...]