2 Star Shows

Heart of the Country

There’s a version of Heart of the Country that I’d love to have seen.

Murder at the Manor

Murder at the Manor starts strong with a witty nod to 1940s film noir, complete with detective narration and moody intrigue.

Becoming Maverick

Starting with a child discovered locked in a trunk in 1919, this one-woman show tells a hard-hitting story of triumph over adversity.

The Lightning Thief

When the historically worst ever book-to-film adaptations for Percy Jackson are your frame of reference (so bad they were disavowed by the author) the bar is set very low.

Birthday Fish

Birthday Fish is an absurdist physical exploration of the feeling of being a ‘fish out of water’.

Outing

Written and directed by L.

Too Close to the Sun

Wrong Tree’s Too Close to the Sun follows three groups of people on the edge of apocalypse.

The Comings and Goings at No 10

In a weird way, this Fringe (and this year) has seemed to be a bit of a moment of reflection.

Edinburgh Tales

They are called Edinburgh Tales but are not really about Edinburgh, in the same way the model for this show, The Canterbury Tales, is not actually about Canterbury.

Things We Will Miss

The show is an intelligent, serious meditation on the most serious of subjects: the climate crisis.

Dan Lees: Vinyl Reflections

Charity shops are amongst the last bastions of recycling society’s unwanted items for one to stumble across a precious find.

Alice in Wonderland

Nardone’s Academy of Performing Arts has brought its production of Alice in Wonderland to theSpace’s thrust stage in the Upper Theatre this year.

If I Only Could

These young actors have energy and plenty of charisma and the script has many flashes of originality and fun – the death scene of the older sister Joan is cleverly done, as is th…

It's Not My Body Chapter 3.5 / This Is

This bill consists of two conceptual pieces, connected by an emphasis on the body in space.

Malion

I was intrigued by the idea of a feminist interpretation of Pygmalian myth because it's seen now as one of the classic stories about men being pigs; and by modern standards it …

CSI: Crime Scene Improvisation

If you’re bringing improvised sketch comedy to Fringe, it has to be truly exceptional to compete with the multitude of renowned acts that return year after year.

Cosmos

I wanted to be able to recommend this performance.

Conversations We Never Had, As People We'll Never Be

A couple has thirty minutes to decide whether to erase the memory of their failed relationship.

Nerine Skinner: The Exorcism of Liz Truss

If you're known for impersonating a particular public figure, it can be difficult to shake that typecasting; a fact Nerine Skinner is all too aware of.

The Bookies

A routine day at a rundown bookmakers on an Edinburgh high street.

Jessie Cave: An Ecstatic Display

Jessie Cave says she would like to be remembered as a “fun mum”, which we certainly get aglimpse of in An Ecstatic Display at Assembley Roxy.

Sherlock Holmes and the Man Who Believed in Fairies

The game is afoot, this time it’s not murder that Holmes is solving but a case of deceit perpetrated against his own creator - Arthur Conan Doyle.

Frankenstein (On a Budget)

What if Mary Shelly’s gothic horror classic Frankenstein was resurrected as a campy one-man musical? An interesting premise explored by LampHouse Theatre in their new show playin…

FREAK OUT!

Drawing from their research into UK communities affected by coastal erosion, Coin Toss Collective’s Freak Out! investigates the small town of ‘Portsford’, which is fighting a…

You Can't Escape an Aussie Boy

Hailed by the company as ‘loud, obnoxious and darkly humorous’, one is left wondering what happened to those elements in You Can’t Escape an Aussie Boy.

Gloria's Gift?

Wouldn’t it be lovely to place the blame for all the world’s current woes, from war and inequity to the threat of the climate crisis, at the feet of an almighty creator? Gloria…

The Hot Wing King

Review
★★
Simon Ximenez
West End
Dorfman Theatre
20th Jul, 2024

A white man saying he has many black friends is a poor defence against racism.

Red Speedo

As the Summer Olympics approach, the UK première of Lucas Hnath’s Red Speedo at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond comes with timely prescience of the almost inevitable doping sc…

Getting Over Hugh

Described as a supernatural rom-com, Getting Over Hugh might better be expressed as a fabulous hot mess of a show.

Coleridge-Taylor of Freetown

We meet George Coleridge-Taylor terrified and hiding while bullets are heard loudly around him.

The Elagabalia

The Elagabalia explores the idea of where we all belong as people.

The Government Inspector

Bribery and corruption, greed and stupidity dominate Nikolai Gogol’s The Government Inspector.

London Tide

Review
★★
Simon Ximenez
West End
Lyttelton Theatre
19th Apr, 2024

Standing ovations, once reserved to acknowledge only the highest calibre of performance, are now part of the theatre routine.

My Beautifull Laundrette

Hanif Kureishi’s adaptation of his screenplay for My Beautiful Laundrette was at the Liverpool Playhouse as part of its UK tour, courtesy of the Theatre Nation Partnerships conve…

Foam

Harry McDonald’s Foam, at the Finborough Theatre, is a chronological series of snapshots that capture events in the life of Nicky Crane (1958-1993).

Dear Octopus

Review
★★
Simon Ximenez
West End
Lyttelton Theatre
17th Feb, 2024

As a title, there’s something intriguing about Dear Octopus, now playing the National Theatre’s Lyttelton stage.

Till the Stars Come Down

Review
★★
Simon Ximenez
West End
Dorfman Theatre
9th Feb, 2024

Before digital TV made it a thing, “watching on catch-up” used to mean spending your Sunday afternoon in front of the EastEnders omnibus.

The House with the Chicken Legs

There’s a famous quote by Winston Churchill that says that Russia “is a riddle wrapped in a mystery wrapped in an enigma”.

The Homecoming

Review
★★
Isabella Thompson
West End
Young Vic
12th Dec, 2023

The Homecoming, as with much of Harold Pinter’s work, is a timeless play, charged with machismo, pride and tension.

I’m Sorry Prime Minister I Can’t Quite Remember.

There are four strong performances in I’m Sorry Prime Minister I Can’t Quite Remember at the Cambridge Arts Theatre, written and directed by Jonathan Lynn, following the passin…

The Confessions

Review
★★
Simon Ximenez
West End
Lyttelton Theatre
27th Oct, 2023

Written and directed by “l’auteur du naturalisme”, Alexander Zeldin, The Confessions feels like a too-small show on a too-big stage.

Trueman and the Arsonists

Review
★★
Richard Beck
London Fringe
Roundhouse
1st Nov, 2023

Writer Simon Stephens has taken Max Frisch’s 1953 Biedermann und die Brandstifter, variously translated as The Fireraisers or The Arsonists and given it a heightened absurdist in…

The Threepenny Opera

Review
★★
Richard Beck
London Fringe
The Cockpit
13th Oct, 2023

Taking on The Threepenny Opera can be a precarious business, as OVO demonstrate, without flinching from the challenge.

Sunset Boulevard

Review
★★
Pete Shaw
West End
Savoy Theatre
14th Oct, 2023

Thirty years ago I stood on The Strand in a queue for eight hours intent on getting my hands on early tickets for the first production of Sunset Boulevard.

Boys From The Blackstuff

The extent to which you appreciate James Graham’s adaptation of Boys from the Blackstuff might depend partly on how well you know Alan Bleasdale’s original television series.

Rebecca

After all the hype from it’s reception elsewhere in Europe combined with the legacy of the original film version, the intriguing yet simple plot and the clear characterisation in…

God of Carnage

Who has not experienced a situation in which a surmountable incident escalates out of all proportion? Then, on the way to resolving it, further baggage accumulates around the subje…

A Teacher's Lament

A Teacher’s Lament is not the revolutionary political statement that we would expect a show of this nature to be.

The Father

It isn’t easy representing old age on stage.

Vocal Vengeance: A Murder on the Stage Floor

Steelworks A Cappella group presents a murder mystery, Vocal Vengeance, which is like an musical version of Cluedo.

My Life Online

My Life Online is an incredibly well performed piece of modern opera, with an unfortunately lacklustre story.

Here You Come Again

Creating an effective vehicle for performers, be it musical, play, comedy set or improv format, is arguably the most challenging task a creative artist can undertake.

Losing the Plot

Losing The Plot is a new queer jukebox musical comedy, jam-packed with top hits from the 70s and 80s, Originally performed in Manchester and has now come to the Fringe this year.

Alice in Wonderland Musical

Lewis Carroll is turning in his grave at Tim Nelson’s Alice in Wonderland.

Pandemonium – The Musical

Written and composed by Bethany, Cameron and Natasha Lythgoe, Pandemonium is a biblical musical of mundane proportions built upon a confusing amalgamation and re-telling of stories…

Lucky Pigeons

The true judges of any show aimed at children are the children in the audience, and the kids at Lucky Pigeons at Underbelly’s Circus Hub seemed to have a good time.

Peer Gynt: A Jazz Revival

Peer Gynt: A Jazz Revival by Cambridge company Phonofiddle! comes with an intriguing proposition: taking Ibsen's complex work and transmuting it into an hour of jazz-infused th…

Report to an Academy

Report To An Academy is not Franz Kafka’s best work, but Robert McNamara brings the elusive central character with precision and animal rage that is very watchable.

Trust

People You Know Productions are going for a cross between Posh, and an Agatha Christie novel, except that nobody here actually wants to work out who the killer is.

Ripper

Ripper is an unfortunate example of a show that may have promise, but not quite the ability to realise it.

Beehavioural Problems: Something Something Autism

As comedian Stephen Catling ambles onto stage, clad in a novelty dog head, it's apparent that we're sitting in an absurdist comedy show.

Sophie Santos… is Codependent

Sophie Santos…Is Codependent details Santos’ journey through their breakup, narrating the tale combining both comic storytelling and song, embodying conversations with their pe…

Eulogy

The company Darkfield are a Fringe regular now, known for their shows housed in completely dark shipping containers.

Bacon

A good story is surely one that absolutely demands to be told.

Lady Inger

Review
★★
Richard Beck
London Fringe
The Space
3rd Jul, 2023

Ottisdotter theatre company’s production of Lady Inger provides a rare opportunity to see one of Henrik Ibsen’s earliest, least performed and less well-known works.

Some Enchanted Evening with Alissa Finn

From the outset the jazz club on the top floor of Toulouse Lautrec appears to have a cosy rustic atmosphere, like one that we'd associate with a gazebo.

Roald Dahl’s Charlie and The Chocolate Factory – The Musical

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is one of Roald Dahl’s best known books, which is why the expectations are high for James Brining’s tour.

Self Tape

Jonas (Michael Batten) would ideally like to be in full-time employment as an actor on stage.

Robin Hood: The Legend. Re-written

The myth of Robin Hood has been told and re-told through the centuries, and in the oral tradition, each storyteller has put their own spin on the tale.

Sweeney Todd - the Victorian Melodrama

Opera della Luna's latest production of Sweeney Todd will show you the barber as you have never seen or heard him before.

Jules and Jim.

In a rather surprising debut choice, Stella Powell-Jones has commenced her incumbency as Artistic Director of Jermyn Street Theatre with Timberlake Wertenbaker’s uninspired adapt…

Trumpets and Raspberries

Given the vast repertoire of plays available to theatre companies one often wonders how they decide on what to perform next and why: in this case, the somewhat lesser-known work by…

Dixon and Daughters

Review
★★
Simon Ximenez
West End
Dorfman Theatre
30th Apr, 2023

The National Theatre continues its support of new writing at the Dorfman with Dixon and Daughters: an emotional play dealing with the far-reaching effects of historic child abuse.

Macbeth

A Macbeth that features only the eponymous hero and his wife is an opportunity to define the characters and chart the shifting balance of power between them as the tragedy unfolds.

Rebus: A Game Called Malice

The Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch has opened its Spring 2023 season with the world premiere of Ian Rankin and Simon Reade’s Rebus: A Game Called Malice.