Reviews

My Master Builder ★★★★☆

Talk about a star-studded cast. This ambitious reimagining of Ibsen’s The Master Builder shifts the story to contemporary America and, crucially, centres on the women who orbit the title character. Playwright Anna Raicek keeps the bones of the original, but transplants them into a sleek modern drama that speaks to the #MeToo era and the […]

Mrs. Warren’s Profession ★★★★☆

The stage is a picture-perfect English garden, all pastel foxgloves and iced-cake fences. Yet within minutes George Bernard Shaw’s anarchic spirit starts slicing through the prettiness. Director Dominic Cooke delivers the play in a single breath, about one hour forty minutes, stripping away interval niceties so the ideas land before they cool and your bladder […]

The Gang of Three ★★★☆☆

A heavy desk, rows of well thumbed Hansard volumes and the tell tale scent of pipe smoke set the scene of this 1970s political play. Robert Khan and Tom Salinsky unravel their ninety minute political comedy drama The Gang of Three with disarming ease, inviting you to eavesdrop on a trio of Labour heavyweights who […]

Faygele ★★★★☆

‘Faygele’ is Yiddish for ‘little bird’, though it’s more often hurled as a slur against gay men. Shimmy Braun’s script, drawn from personal experience, carves out a bold narrative within the American Orthodox Jewish community – a world rarely seen on stage, and even more rarely with this kind of candour and specificity. Walk into […]

The Deep Blue Sea ★★★★★

Lindsay Posner’s revival of Terence Rattigan’s The Deep Blue Sea has journeyed from a small studio in Bath to the grand Theatre Royal Haymarket, proving once again that the quietest tragedies can command the biggest rooms. From the first moment, as you see the apparent corpse and anticipate its discoverers, a faint smell of gas […]

The Comedy About Spies ★★★☆☆

A Not-So-Secret Spy Caper (Plot Synopsis) It’s London in the swinging 1960s, and a not-so-secret mission is underway. In a swanky hotel straight out of a Bond film, covert agents from the CIA and KGB have converged in pursuit of a rogue British agent and a stolen top-secret file . Add to this mix an […]

Cockfosters ★★★★☆

You shuffle into Southwark Playhouse clutching a free sheet called Retro while a marshal in high visibility orange bellows spoof announcements through a megaphone. Inside the auditorium a battered Piccadilly Line carriage awaits complete with sticky blue seats, route maps and the faint whiff of stale sock thanks to the first passenger who proudly whips […]

The Brightening Air ★★☆☆☆

Imagine an old farmhouse in County Sligo where family resentments simmer beside rumours of miracles. That is the spine of The Brightening Air, Conor McPherson’s first new play in more than a decade, now filling the Old Vic with dread and the tang of peat smoke. You sit down expecting domestic comedy; two hours later […]

Unicorn ★★★☆☆

There’s something a little odd about sitting in a West End theatre, surrounded by the hum of anticipation, and realising you’re about to watch a play called Unicorn. Not a musical, not a revival, just a straight-up new play about sex, marriage, and the sort of midlife malaise that’s probably more common than people admit. I […]

The Best Seats In The House: How To Pick A Great Spot In Any Big West End Theatre

Going to the theatre in London’s West End is more than just buying a ticket—it’s about choosing the right seat. A good seat can make the whole experience amazing, letting you see and hear everything properly. But the wrong seat? It might leave you with a sore neck, a blocked view, or trouble hearing what’s […]