Intriguing Cold War thriller Anna is thoroughly immersive, but lacks a convincing sense of historical reality.
‘Scoring top marks across the board’: FOLLIES – National Theatre ★★★★★
Eighteen months on and with a couple of well-placed casting changes Stephen Sondheim’s Follies returns to the National Theatre with the excellence of this devastating musical a breath of fresh air amidst a slew of disappointing recent openings in the capital.
‘Dazzlingly complex & immensely provocative piece of new writing’: When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other – National Theatre
Martin Crimp’s new play, When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other at the National Theatre, has been hyped because of its star, Cate Blanchett, and rightly so: it’s a five-star show.
Wise Children ‘has blossomed into a show as joyous as I’ve come to expect from Emma Rice’
he beauty of seeing a show several times is that you can take in so many different things across the hours you spend in a theatre with it. With it being Emma Rice (and, let’s face it, Katy Owen) I’d booked four tickets in advance of seeing Wise Children.
‘A great statement of intent from Emma Rice’: WISE CHILDREN – The Old Vic ★★★★
Wise Children is a beautifully designed and performed show, that’s faithful to the source material without ever feeling constrained by it – a great statement of intent from Emma Rice.
‘Sublimely atmospheric opera’: LESSONS IN LOVE & VIOLENCE – Royal Opera House
Lessons in Love & Violence is a deliciously cool, intellectually stimulating and tremendously suggestive reading of a brilliant piece about the politics of power, the confusion of desire and the horror of violence. If love can make us human, so can murder.
NEWS: Hamilton, Follies, Bryan Cranston & full Critics’ Circle Awards results
Opening just before Christmas to rave reviews, the London version of the multi-award-winning Broadway hit Hamilton has won its first major prize outside the USA – Best Musical at the 2017 Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards.
‘Theatre design of the highest order’: FOLLIES – National Theatre
I know I’m late to the party with Follies but what can I do? Such was the demand for tickets that I only finally saw it a few days ago. But, my god, was it worth the wait, or what.
FOLLIES – National Theatre ★★★★
It’s been 30 years since a fully staged production of Follies has been seen on a London stage so there’s been a huge buzz surrounding the current production at the National Theatre, which boasts a stellar cast.
FOLLIES – National Theatre ★★★★★
It’s been a while since the National Theatre last revived a great song and dance extravaganza and a Sondheim one at that. But with Dominic Cooke’s production of Follies, the NT’s reputation as one of the nation’s finest creators of musical theatre is restored.
OIL – Almeida Theatre
New epic about mothers and daughters in the age of oil is wonderfully ambitious, but deeply unhistorical.
THE PLOUGH & THE STARS – National Theatre
Revival of Sean O’Casey’s modern classic shows its continued relevance, but is a bit meticulously sombre.
HERE WE GO – National Theatre
Latest short from the fab Caryl Churchill is a surprisingly intense and uncomfortable play about death, reviewed on the last night of its short season at the National’s Lyttelton Theatre.