Brick lane music hall is a real hidden gem: A converted church out in the wilds of dockland close to City Airport that has been remodeled into a stunning early 20th century style performance space. When I arrived the show was running slightly behind schedule, so I took the opportunity to head to the bar […]
Written on the wall in the foyer of the Pitlochry Festival Theatre are the words, ‘This building is full of magic and joy and mischief and emotion…’ And Alan Cumming is delivering all of these in spades during his exciting first season, not least in the incredible I’ll Be Seeing You, starring Sir Simon Russell […]
Samuel Beckett is not for the feint-hearted. Regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of the 20th century, his plays, such as Krapp’s Last Tape, Waiting for Godot and Endgame, are nevertheless bleak and minimalist and belong to ‘the theatre of the absurd’. They don’t get more absurd than Happy Days, in […]
The cast of Wilko. Photo by Stuart Purfield There is an irresistible story at the heart of Wilko: Love and Death and Rock ’n’ Roll. Dr Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson was given a terminal cancer diagnosis and, rather than retreating from life, responded by embracing it; only for the diagnosis itself to take an extraordinary […]
JESS & MORGS turn political evasion into a technically dazzling collision of dance, film and digital illusion In Deepfake, award-winning director-choreographers Jessica Wright and Morgann Runacre-Temple transform the carefully manufactured theatre of political communication into something exhilaratingly literal. Set inside the acidic green of a television studio, the work places Kennedy Muntanga’s Prime Minister opposite […]
As the nights begin to draw in, theatres across Britain are heading into one of the busiest periods of the year. The West End is packed with established hits, while major touring productions are beginning journeys that will take them to audiences around the country. From the decadent world of Cabaret and the supernatural spectacle […]
For 30 years, Michael Flatley’s Lord of the Dance has dazzled audiences around the world with its unique combination of high-energy Irish dancing, original music, storytelling, and sensuality, and this week it is at the Aylesbury Waterside Theatre. This beloved Irish dance show transcends culture and language, soaring into the soul on astounding aerial moves, […]
Nine years ago in a hotel in Edinburgh’s Old Town, members of Cambridge University’s Musical Theatre Society put on a show written by two university students. I was there. My friend’s daughter was one of the six performers, and there lies a clue. For SIX has since become a global phenomenon, winning a multitude of […]
Voila! Theatre Festival returns to London this November with its biggest celebration of panlingual and migrant-led theatre, bringing together 450 artists for 101 shows and events across eight venues in the capital. Running from 2 to 22 November 2026, the three-week festival will feature work in an extraordinary 60 languages, reflecting the cultures, communities and […]
photography by Mike Kwasniak Andrew Bovell’s Things I Know to Be True finds its emotional force in the uncomfortable space where unconditional love becomes expectation. Rachel Lansdowne’s production for Gallery Players is warm, thoughtful and often affecting, capturing a family whose affection sits alongside disappointment, resentment and change. Lansdowne’s set places a fairy-lit tree at […]