London Theatre

Pity

Statistics show that last year the most common reason cited in UK divorce papers was "irreconcilable bathroom habits”.

Barry Humphries Weimar Cabaret

Ernst Krenek, Erich Korngold, Frank Schreker, Erwin Schulhoff and Mischa Spoliansky were not household names in the late 1940s when a young Barry Humphries in Melbourne, Australia …

Instructions for Correct Assembly

If The Royal Court’s reputation for producing work that’s a little ahem, “arty” has put you off making a visit recently for fear of Death by Pretension, then the enjoyable …

Beginning

Two desperately lonely people open up to each other at the end of a house warming party and eventually become a couple.

The Rat Pack - Live from Las Vegas

Tribute show The Rat Pack - Live From Las Vegas lights up the West End at Theatre Royal Haymarket, transporting audiences back in time to a fictional night at the Sands Hotel hoste…

Bananaman

This show is ‘appeeling’ to all.

Christmas With The Rat Pack

In the early 1960s the Rat Pack quintet (then including Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop) performed in the Sands Casino in Las Vegas.

The Woman in White

A single flickering lantern situated centre stage is an appropriately Gothic opening to the first London revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Woman in White.

The Red Lion

Patrick Marber’s The Red Lion transfers to Trafalgar Studios, bringing us closer to an understanding of the devastating reality of England today within the confines of a sweaty&…

The Toxic Avenger

The Toxic Avenger – The Musical doesn’t take itself seriously.

Jane Eyre

The year for the National Theatre so far has been beset by the dramas over the dramas on its programme – depending on your viewpoint, it either doesn’t contain enough classics o…

Oslo

Review
★★★
Simon Ximenez
West End
National Theatre / The Harold Pinter Theatre
19th Sep, 2017

The challenge with any dramatisation of an historic moment is in trying to appeal to the people for whom the event just ‘rings a bell’ right up to those whose lives were dire…

Barber Shop Chronicles

The Barber Shop Chronicles takes place in barber shops across the world, in Lagos, in Johannesburg, in Accra, in London and beyond.

Salome

“There is no language for what happened that night,” states Salome in narration as her older self shortly after beginning this new, happily more feminist, retelling of the myth s…

The Ferryman

Review
★★★★★
Simon Ximenez
West End
Gielgud Theatre / The Royal Court Theatre
4th May, 2017

If populism breeds cynicism, then there’s a high quota of cheap shots that could be made towards the Royal Court’s latest offering.

Guards at the Taj

Only a few weeks ago, the Bush Theatre emerged from its year-long renovation, boasting a revamped auditorium and studio space, alongside open-air decking for those all-important …

Twelfth Night

It’s said that one first eats with one’s eyes.

Ugly Lies the Bone

It’s great to see new writing being performed at one of the National’s bigger spaces and there are big themes at play here in writer Lindsey Ferrentino’s National Theatre and UK …

Thriller Live

Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough should be the new tagline for the musical which has just become the 15th longest running show in West End history.

Travesties

I have an inherent discomfort with theatre that requires a certain knowledge or level of intelligence in order to appreciate it (reference my ongoing debate with the current Royal …

The Kite Runner

This adaptation of Khaled Hosseini’s best-seller was written back in 2006, a year before the filmic representation.

Death Takes A Holiday

Based on the 1920’s Alberto Cassella play La Morte in Vacanza, Death Takes A Holiday is a chamber musical with a book by Thomas Meehan and Peter Stone, music and lyrics by Maur…

Bianco

Review
★★★
Cal Kenny
West End
Southbank Centre
4th Dec, 2016

NoFit State is a circus company with serious personality.

This House

Taking place over the five years in the seventies that turned out to be the last Labour Government for nearly 20 years and that led to the Thatcher era, the politics being manage…

The Children

If the purpose of life is to continue its perpetuity, the implication is that those of us who spawn children are naturally superior to those who don’t.

Peter Pan

Review
★★★★
Simon Ximenez
West End
Multiple Venues
3rd Dec, 2016

There must be little more that can raise the spirits of young or old than the idea of flying free through the skies.

Buried Child

Estranged grandson Vince returns to his idealised family home in rural Illinois in the hopes of re-establishing a connection with the life he left behind six years previously.

Half a Sixpence

Whilst this latest in a long line of Chichester transfers may be a new reworking of the classic Tommy Steele vehicle – with new songs, music and deeper characterisation added �…

School of Rock

Review
★★★★
Simon Ximenez
West End
Gillian Lynne Theatre / New Victoria Theatre
17th Nov, 2016

The opening minute or so of School of Rock immediately sets the stall for what to expect and what to accept in order to enjoy the rollicking fun show ahead.

Side Show

Daisy and Violet Hilton were real-life Siamese twins in Texas plucked from relative freak-show obscurity and who rose to a dazzling but fleeting stardom.

The Comedy About A Bank Robbery

Halfway through The Comedy About A Bank Robbery, I am laughing so much I have to take a moment to recompose.

Escaped Alone

Review
★★
Simon Ximenez
West End
Royal Court Theatre / The Royal Court Theatre
2nd Feb, 2016

Caryl Churchill rarely does interviews and never discusses the meanings behind her plays (even her stage directions are scant) - so I would be building myself up for a fall if I …