From its rock fest opening to its fast and furious battle finale, Nicholas Hytner’s modern-dress Julius Caesar packs a powerful punch.
‘In need of an overhaul’: The Rat Pack Live From Las Vegas – West End ★★★
It’s been 12 years since I first saw The Rat Pack Live and not much has changed. That’s not a bad thing if you’re going to see this tribute show for a love of the music.
BELLEVILLE – Donmar Warehouse ★★★★
James Norton and Imogen Poots find disappointment as Americans In Paris, in Amy Herzog’s shocking, disturbing and riveting drama, Belleville.
A CHRISTMAS CAROL – Old Vic ★★★★
The Old Vic’s gloriously exuberant production is a wonderful combination of classic Dickens with a touch of Brucie’s Generation Game thrown in. Presiding over it all is the belligerent Ebenezer Scrooge played to gleeful excess by Rhys Ifans.
THE WOMAN IN WHITE – Charing Cross Theatre ★★★
The Woman In White, a play about a vulnerable woman, preyed upon by a powerful man, couldn’t be more timely with strong performances from its cast.
THE SECRET THEATRE – Sam Wanamaker Playhouse ★★★★
Patriotism, propaganda and paranoia are played out in the shadowy and thrilling tale of spies and intrigue in Anders Lustgarten’s The Secret Theatre.
THE RETREAT – Park Theatre ★★★
Peep Show co-creator Sam Bain’s first play, The Retreat, opened at London’s Park Theatre this week and carried huge promise from the outset.
THE RED LION – Trafalgar Studios ★★★★★
The Red Lion is more than a play about football – thank god. It is terrifically well written, beautifully acted by all three men but particularly the outstanding Tompkinson, and superbly directed by Max Roberts.
THE EXORCIST – West End
With Stage Review’s editor, Anne Cox, still too traumatised from seeing the film as a teenager more than 40 years ago (yes, it’s true – ed), I was packed off, with nerves of steel and crucifix in pocket, into the pitch-black, creaking, dress circle of London’s Phoenix Theatre for The Exorcist.
THE EXORCIST – West End
With Stage Review’s editor, Anne Cox, still too traumatised from seeing the film as a teenager more than 40 years ago (yes, it’s true – ed), I was packed off, with nerves of steel and crucifix in pocket, into the pitch-black, creaking, dress circle of London’s Phoenix Theatre for The Exorcist.
WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION – County Hall
What better venue to have the protagonists in this enthralling production play to the gallery? Literally. The impassioned arguments from the immaculately spoken David Yelland and his nemesis, Philip Franks, as silks Robarts and Myers, fill the room and echo down the corridors.
VENUS IN FUR – West End ★★★★★
Sizzling with eroticism, this provocative, highly seductive two-hander sees Natalie Dormer and David Oakes exquisitely deliver pleasure & pain.