2 Star Shows

Handel’s Messiah: The Live Experience

Being dead, the great maestro of late baroque composition has the hope of being raised incorruptible.

Hex

Review
★★
Simon Ximenez
West End
Olivier Theatre
8th Dec, 2022

When you’re a child, Christmas is all about that one big day.

It's a Wonderful Life - English National Opera

Review
★★
Gareth Williams
West End
London Coliseum
27th Nov, 2022

Opening the London Coliseum festive season is the UK premier of It’s a Wonderful Life, based on the classic 1946 Frank Capra movie.

Something in the Air

A note on the back cover of Peter Gill’s latest play, Something in the Air, at Jermyn Street Theatre, claims that the stories of the two old protagonists “flow like mist down t…

Last Sales Conference Of The Apocalypse

Mixing survivalism with psychoanalysis, Dave Bain’s Last Sales Conference of the Apocalypse is a fractured and confused trip that leaves us with more questions than answers.

Antigone

It’s a classic David and Goliath, if by the end, rooting for Goliath seemed like a reasonable thing to do.

Sarah Sherman

Hailing all the way from the bright lights of New York, Sarah Sherman’s self-described horror comedy show - with the emphasis on the horror - is incredibly ghastly and overly gra…

ROOM

Interminable, intellectually pretentious and self-indulgent, former circus performer James Thiérrée’s Room produced by his own Swiss Compagnie du Hanneton, is presented as phys…

Madagascar Jr

Madagascar Jr is the stage musical version of the 2005 children’s movie, a charmingly simple story of friendship amongst lovable animals.

Prometheus Bound (Io’s Version)

Prometheus Bound (Io’s Version) finds itself in a double bind.

The After-Dinner Joke

The After-Dinner Joke doesn’t quite land.

Let's Try Gay

The Edinburgh Fringe may have a porn addiction.

Flesh

Whilst it may be apt to stage John Montgomery and Derek Batchelor’s Flesh - a musical about Burke and Hare - at Surgeon’s Hall, the novelty stops there.

Spank!

For regular Fringegoers who aim to tick all the most talked-about and cultest shows off your list, I’m going to make a prediction: you’ve seen Spank! before.

A Dark Place

A Dark Place by Boreas Productions at Pleasance Courtyard is an insight into the relationship between friends, Ash and Sam, and how Sam’s mental health struggles have twisted the…

Room – A Room of One's Own

Adaptation can do more than reproduce.

7 Seventeen-Year-Olds in a Screwed-Up World

You can have too many carrots in one show.

Waterloo

Waterloo is a whacky, one-woman show by Bron Batten detailing her affair with a conservative military official.

The Land of Lost Content

The end of show speech to an audience.

Today I Killed My Very First Bird

Today I Killed My Very First Bird, a piece of new writing by poet, playwright and performer Jason Brownlee and directed by Lee Hart, is a strange beast.

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

Whether it was the book or movie, C.

Starcrossed

Shakespeare knew what it took to pen a romantic tragedy when he wrote Romeo and Juliet and hence carefully structured all the ingredients to meet the demands of the genre and creat…

Fragile

Review
★★
Susanne Crosby
Brighton Fringe
Laughing Horse @ The Walrus (Raised Room)
3rd Jun, 2022

Written and performed by Agustina Dieguez Buccella, Fragile is a one-woman show of how fierce independence is also isolating and can mask loneliness.

Soho Boy

Soho Boy, at the Drayton Arms Theatre, is a new musical, written and composed by Paul Emelion Daly.

For You I'd Wait

One of the best things about theatre, and art in general, is the space it creates for difficult conversations and analysis.

Middle

Review
★★
Simon Ximenez
West End
Dorfman Theatre
6th May, 2022

In 2017, David Eldridge’s play Beginning dramatised an awkward conversation between two white, financially comfortable, urban-dwelling, adult Gen X-ers, caught in that time of em…

The Corn is Green

Review
★★
Simon Ximenez
West End
Lyttelton Theatre
27th Apr, 2022

As a title, The Corn is Green proves the old adage about books, covers and the perils of judging thereof.

Shake the City

If we ever needed more proof as to why second wave or white feminism should no longer be considered relevant, here it is.

Dev's Army

Review
★★
Richard Beck
London Fringe
The Bread & Roses / The London Irish Centre
14th Mar, 2022

Dev’s Army, by Stuart D.

Rain and Zoe Save The World

Rain and Zoe Save the World by Crystal Skillman at Jermyn Street Theatre is an action adventure story that follows two teenage friends as they embark on a journey to disrupt some o…

Krapp's Last tape

Review
★★
Mel Evans
London Fringe
Tower Theatre
26th Jan, 2022

Throughout his life, on his birthday, Krapp records a review of his year using an old fashioned tape recorder.

Wilf

Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre continues its tradition of being non-traditional this Christmas season.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

There are few things worth travelling the length of the Jubilee Line for on a cold and wet rush-hour on a December night.

Accidental Birth of An Anarchist

Review
★★
Richard Beck
London Fringe
The Space
12th Nov, 2021

Luke Oldfield’s Accidental Birth of an Anarchist at The Space on the Isle of Dogs tells of two novice activists from The People’s Movement to Protect the Planet who get jobs on…

Joe & Ken

A stony silence filled the air at the end of act one of Joe & Ken at The Old Red Lion Theatre, Islington, the old stomping ground of the eponymous couple who lived just down th…

The Witchfinder’s Sister

The Salem witch trials are well known, perhaps in large part due to Arthur Miller’s outstanding play The Crucible that put the Massachusetts town on the map.

Ida Rubinstein: The Final Act

How do you successfully relate the biography of a theatrical legend, tell the history of a remarkable period in the development of the arts, create portraits of the famous names of…

Alexithymia

Alexithymia is a short play about conflicting human emotions and the disability to connect with your inner feelings.

Intricate Rituals

Intricate Rituals by York DramaSoc at theSpace Triplex is a monologue with alternating actors.

The Bank Job

What are the ingredients for a bank robbery comedy? A ragtag criminal gang, a double serving of double-crossing, a training montage, and many pairs of dark sunglasses.

Laura McMahon, One of the Gals

Review
★★
James Macfarlane
Edinburgh Fringe
PBH’s Free Fringe @ Banshee Labyrinth / PBH’s Free Fringe @ The Street / Yotel Edinburgh
14th Aug, 2021

One of the Gals is completely packed.

Smile Like You're Happy

Smile.

Femme Ta Bouche

Femme Ta Bouche: a gender-bending cabaret star with cancer, cooped up in rural Arkansas, wants to make a statement.

A Weekend Away at the Hotel Decevoir

Chalkhill Theatre Ltd currently has a double debut with the company’s first appearance at the Festival Fringe and the premiere of their new play.

Fugue in Two Colors

If Carl Knif’s Fugue in Two Voices is a joke, then it’s a dud.

Theatre-19 Presents: John

Described as a ‘wonderfully chaotic and colourful tragicomedy’ Theatre-19 Presents: John is a particularly silly devised piece at [email protected] Hall from a group of Bristol…

Oleanna

Review
★★
Simon Ximenez
West End
Arts Theatre
31st Jul, 2021

“Misogynist Mamet.

Exile

Exile at the Southwark Playhouse, by JoMac Productions Limited & Blue Heart Theatre, is an interestingly constructed piece consisting of two life-crisis monologues by individu…

Retrogression: A Horror Play

An escape room style experience with a paranormal twist, Retrogression is about a ghost who scares visitors to the Brighton Toy Museum and needs to be released.

Make-up

One day perhaps someone will write a play about a drag queen where, beneath the frock and below the wig, above the high heels and under the layers of slap exists a man who is happy…

Divorced, Beheaded, Survived: An Audience with King Henry VIII

Period music greets loyal subjects as they enter the Friends Meeting House to attend Divorced, Beheaded, Survived: An Audience with King Henry VIII, written and directed by John Wh…

Ancient Antics: Mock the Greek

Mock the Greek was a show that sent up the myths and legends of Greece.

Jerk

If you took the E4 teen drama Skins and combined it with Disney’s Inside Out, the by-product would be something similar to that of Jerk.

Séance

It’s Halloween evening at the Brighton Open Air Theatre and what better time for a séance? Even if it has to be a socially distance séance – there’s no hand holding or grou…

Lady M

In Nia Williams’ upcoming new musical, Lady Macbeth is a creepy life coach who takes advantage of the collective incapacity of lockdown to bring her own particular brand of… we…

Haunted

Review
★★
Rebecca Vines
Online & Broadcast
Thespace
15th Aug, 2020

The chaos of a house move.

Lady Wank (And Other Fairytales For Adults)

Marketed as a comedic, feminist fairytale mashup, the concept of Lady Wank (And Other Fairytales For Adults) offered much potential.

Mrs Puntila And Her Man Matti

Mrs Puntila and her Man Matti is that relatively rare thing for the Royal Lyceum Theatre—a star vehicle, rather than an ensemble production, that happens to have two audience fav…

My Brilliant Friend

The challenge in attempting to adapt Elena Ferrante's 10 million-selling quadrilogy, The Neapolitan Novels lies not in finding the time to read through the 1,600 pages of sourc…

Call of Cthulhu: A Cold Case

As a horror fan, I approached this performance with high expectations; I wanted to be scared, disturbed or mildly agitated at the very least.

Vassa

In a rare proscenium-style presentation at the Almeida Theatre, director Tinuke Craig offers Maxim Gorky’s Vassa as her debut production for the venue in a new adaptation by Mike…

Velvet

To compile his one-man show, Velvet, Tom Ratcliffe combined personal experience and the disturbing revelations that emerged as the #MeToo movement gathered momentum.

Brooklyn The Musical

Set in the shadow of Brooklyn Bridge on a shabby corner, Brooklyn The Musical is a play-within-a-play staged by a rag-tag bunch of street performers who call themselves the Ci…

Fatherland

Review
★★
Monica Yell
Brighton
The Old Market
25th Sep, 2019

It seems like a few years now that people have been saying virtual reality is the future of theatre.

Youth Without God

Youth Without God at the Coronet Theatre is heralded as ‘a dark fable about the individual conscience in a time of social uncertainty’ and the 1937 novel by Ödön von Horváth…

Everyman

As the saying goes, "The path to hell is paved with good intentions".

Rattigan's Nijinsky

Written by Nicholas Wright for the Chichester Festival, Rattigan’s Nijinsky explores sexuality, privacy, autonomy and unconditional love within the central conceit of why the dyi…

Buzzing

Buzzing is the story of Julie, a 50-something recent divorcee who is wanting to discover herself and “find meaning”.

Rock'n'Roll Girls

When so many songs written by men are condescending (Wake Up Little Susie), dangerously demeaning (Blurred Lines) or darn right creepy (Every Breath You Take) towards women, it is …

This Island's Mine

The Italia Conti Ensemble changes its membership every year as another cohort passes through the famous drama school.

The Heresy Machine

The Heresy Machine, by Seth Majnoon, claims to be about Alan Turing.

21 Futures by Olly Hawes

At the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, there is a work by the artist Robert Montgomery, a large piece of signage that declares ‘THERE WILL BE NO MIRACLES HERE’.

Suicide Pact

Any piece of art that tackles a complicated subject like mental health is worthwhile.

Well That's Oz

Review
★★
Richard Beck
Edinburgh Fringe
Venue 13
11th Aug, 2019

Absurdism runs amok in Well That’s Oz, one of four plays in this year’s programme from CalArts at Venue 13.

Miss AmeriKa

Review
★★
Jane Prinsley
Edinburgh Fringe
Summerhall
20th Aug, 2019

If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.

Parasites

Seesome Theatre’s new production Parasites is presented as an issue play, getting to the heart of problems with the welfare state, domestic abuse and teenager stuck in an unforgi…

Cabaret of Curiosities

Tatwood Puppets make their Edinburgh Fringe debut with the perfectly titled Cabaret of Curiosities.

Meatball Séance

As the caffeine levels increase and you approach the final week of the Festival Fringe, it is a fair observation to make that your shock tolerance increases.

Landscape (1989)

With its eclectic composition of scenes, monologues, choreography and voice-over, Landscape (1989) is a genuinely intriguing production full of interesting elements – although th…

Stepping Out

Stepping Out, performed by Stage Avenue Performing Arts at theSpace @ Nidry Street, is a serviceable production of the British comedy originally written in 1984 by Richard Haaris.

Romeo & Juliet

A classic retelling of Shakespeare’s tragedy, this piece is brought to us by Guy Masterson, TTI in association with Maverick Theatre Co.

Apollo: Take 111

James Stuart – or Stuart James – is passed out at his desk as the audience file into the space.

Taiwan Season: Monster

Monster choreographed and performed by Yen-Cheng Liu of Dua Shin Te Production is a show about the monster within us but the trouble with alienation is that it alienates the audien…

Monica: This Play Is Not About Monica Lewinsky

In order for theatre to be political, it certainly does not have to make any truly profound statement on the state of the world.

The Perfect Body

The Perfect Body is a one woman show written and performed by Lavinia Savignoni.

The Domestic

To make a piece of gig theatre work, you need to find a musical genre or vibe that can imbue the show with energy, and you need to find a story and a storyteller that can harness t…

Tom Lenk Is Trash

Rarely is a title so apt.

The Female Role Model Project

The Female Role Model Project is just that, a project.

Google Me

Google Me is the new offering from 2018 Fringe debut comedian Eleanor Colville.

Friendsical: A Parody Musical About Friends

Friendsical is billed as a ‘musical parody’ of Friends and unfortunately it fails to hit the mark on both counts.

Inspirational India

With over 4000 shows to contend with, including some of the largest exhibitions and names in the art world, it’s understandably difficult to stand out from the crowd.

Bismillah! An ISIS Tragicomedy

Review
★★
Sophia Charalambous
Edinburgh Fringe
Underbelly, Bristo Square / Underbelly, Cowgate
10th Aug, 2019

The premise of Bismillah! An Isis Tragicomedy, in the Fringe guide, "a story of radicalisation, disenfranchisment and the rock band Queen" was compelling enough to want t…

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