Sounds frightening

Hampstead Theatre Downstairs

Yet another horror story has the critics jumping out of their seats. Unlike the  Paranormal Activity or 2:22 A Ghost Story, which relied on visual stage magic, A Ghost in your Ear relies on sound effects over headphones. An actor played by George Blagden records a horror story alongside a studio engineer played by Jonathan Livingstone. We see him reading the story but, more to the point, we hear the increasingly terrifying recording. Four stars all round for writer/director Jamie Armitage in collaboration with sound design geniuses Ben and Max Ringham.

[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]

4 stars ★★★★

‘If you’ve come to be scared, you’re in the right place. This is a good, old-fashioned ghost-train of a story’ declared The Guardian’s Arifa Akbar. Miriam Sallon for WhatsOnStage agreed: ‘on a bleak, cold January night, what better than a good haunting tale to get your blood pumping again?’

The Times’ Dominic Maxwell was truly spooked: ‘I spent much of these 90 minutes getting the willies in just the way Armitage wanted me to. Does it add up in the cold light of day? Not sure that matters: Anisha Fields’s shadowy set design and Ben and Max Ringham’s sound design help to ensure the light of day isn’t let anywhere near.’

Tim Bano for the Financial Times  explained: ‘It’s a piece that uses mood as much as jump scares to unseat us. The big, loud frights are few, and each is terrifying. As a ghost story, it twists and unsettles and gets under the skin. As a technical achievement, it’s pretty remarkable. It knows we might think the binaural thing is a bit of a gimmick, and even George is sceptical. Until those voices start to whisper in our ears.’

Katie Kirkpatrick at BroadwayWorld said: ‘It’s hugely impactful, and a stellar fit for the horror genre: it creates the illusion that the action is taking place all around instead of on an isolated stage, and weaves its way into the fabric of the piece. You feel breaths on the back of your neck, voices in the distance, creaking floors – it’s very effective and very scary.’

Rachel Halliburton on The Arts Desk praised the cast: ‘Plaudits to both Blagden and Livingstone for an enjoyably compelling management of the journey from the rational to the irrational. Whether or not you believe in ghosts, this should prove at the very least a decent work out for your adrenal gland’

The Standard‘s Nick Curtis assured us: ‘this is a meticulous and artfully conceived blend of storytelling, technology and actorly skill’. Oh, and frightening as well: ‘And the scares? Again, it would be a shame to spoil them, but they are extremely potent and even those that can be anticipated induce horripilation (a lovely word one rarely gets to use, it describes hair stirring on a scalp tightening with dread).’

Holly O’Mahony for The Stage gave some details: ‘It’s when the studio starts mimicking the setting of the story that this horror really takes hold, and the experience of watching it in the Hampstead’s intimate downstairs space begins to feel cleverly claustrophobic and inescapable (although as a voice tells us at the start, you can always remove your headphones if it gets too much). Anisha Fields’ set, which traps George in a soundproofed booth between two glass windows, contains all sorts of hidden facets primed to chill. And Ben Jacobs’ lighting cloaks portions of the stage in thick blackness, making you dread what might be in a corner.’

Time Out‘s Andrzej Lukowksi was impressed, saying it: ‘maybe feels a little too much like an extended episode of Inside No 9 for its own good. But horror theatre is a small, weird and often terrible genre and this is a proper scary little gem’.

Critics’ average rating 4.0⭑

A Ghost in your Ear can be seen at Hampstead Theatre until 14 February 2026. Buy tickets directly from hampsteadtheatre.com

If you’ve seen A Ghost in Your Ear, please leave your review and/or rating below

Stage Western emphasises politics rather than drama

Harold Pinter Theatre

It is always asking for trouble from the critics when you adapt a well-loved film for the stage.  And so it proved with High Noon. Some critics, including one giving a 2 star review, found the stage show came off a poor second to the Oscar winning original. Others liked it in its own terms, enjoying Billy Crudup‘s more modern male, Denise Gough‘s stronger woman, and the shift in political message toward a more contemporary examining of why people would allow a bad person to come to power. The basic plot is the same: Will Kane is getting married and giving up his job as the town’s US marshal. News comes that a notorious killer is returning from prison on the noon train to wreak revenge on Kane, the man who put him away. None of the townspeople will help him. His Quaker wife Amy won’t stand by him either. Carl Foreman‘s original screenplay has been adapted by first time playwright but established screenplay writer Eric Roth. The critics liked the two leads’ performances, although some seemed to feel Denise Gough was too good for the part.  At least she got to sing some added Bruce Springsteen songs to considerable acclaim. There was disagreement among the reviewers about the level of tension supplied in Thea Sharrock‘s production.

[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]

5 stars ★★★★★

Gary Naylor for BroadwayWorld confessed he doesn’t like Westerns and has never seen the original movie, but this stage version made him realise ‘Not all Westerns are the same.’ He credited the script but added ‘Casting is key’:  ‘Billy Crudup… catches our hero’s flawed dignity and dangerous dilemma perfectly, a quiet man unexpectedly pitched into a life or death situation as the clock, handily visible above the stage, rolls towards midday.’ He explained the fifth star: ‘I was moved. I was there in the room with Kane as he failed to find the trust of his erstwhile supporters, with Amy as she wrestled with her conscience and ultimately left admiring a man who could do what I can’t (yet) in these difficult days for the world – The Right Thing.’

4 stars ★★★★

The Guardian’s Arifa Akbar was lukewarm about it as a piece of theatre, but ‘As a debate play…it gathers a locomotive energy as it travels towards the showdown’. She noted: ‘Eric Roth’s script uses many lines from Foreman’s screenplay but fleshes out the debates on the ethical stance of a community in the face of wrongdoing and misguided American myths around immigration.’ Regarding the two stars: Billy Crudup ‘manages to hold up the part on stage as an upstanding, earnest and increasingly desperate man. Gough makes her part grittier and more modern than that of her film counterpart, Grace Kelly. The pair are convincing as a couple although their narrow characterisation hems in the full scale of their abilities.’ She concluded: ‘For all its early stiffness, it builds in momentum and there are moving moments. Ultimately, the political message speaks loudest, harnessing the McCarthyist fear of then and the Trumpian terror of today.’

3 stars ★★★

For WhatsOnStage’s Sarah Crompton,  it was ‘careful and elegantly enjoyable, but lacks that emotional punch’. She explained: ‘the central debates of the film, the agonised wrestling with what is truly right, are slightly muted here as the play tracks Kane’s quest for support from various groups of townspeople… He keeps saying he must do what he must do, but the moral thrust of the film is somehow missing’

The Times’ Clive Davis liked the way Billy Crudup ‘delivers a more ambivalent version of an unassuming man who is trying to do his duty… His voice is often jittery, his gestures stiff-limbed.’ However: ‘Roth doesn’t quite persuade you that this is a story that needs to be remade. If you haven’t seen the movie, you may well find the play’s storyline a tad one-dimensional. Anyone, on the other hand, who is familiar with the original will struggle to shake off memories of a showdown in New Mexico.’ He praised the look of the show: ‘Tim Hatley’s set design, with its sliding wooden-slat walls, evokes a fragile, dusty township. But while a clock hanging above the stage ticks away as we wait for the villainous Frank Miller to arrive on the noon train, the climactic shoot-out looks perfunctory.’

Alice Saville of The Independent said: ‘Billy Crudup lends a quiet integrity to the role of … Kane, who finds his town turns its back on him, while an impassioned Denise Gough throws his values into question as his pacifist new wife.’ She ended: ‘it doesn’t deliver either the adrenaline or the emotional punch that gives Western movies their enduring power.’

Julia Rank of LondonTheatre thought the same: ‘Crudup brings gravitas and quiet dignity to the role, as well as a touch of delicacy (he could have been ruthless in his approach, but he wasn’t), though he lacks a big stirring speech to bring everything together.‘ As for his co-star, ‘Gough conveys her quiet strength in a relatively underwritten part… and she has the chance to showcase her singing ability with songs by Bruce Springsteen and others.’

For Time Out’s Andrjez Lukowski, the film adaptation ’doesn’t quite cut it on the stage. Magnetic as Crudup is, and solid as the gunplay bits are, none of it can negate the fact that the story ends weirdly abruptly – it needs a much longer final act. Gough is great, but she’s playing an amped up version of a relatively small character and the part doesn’t really justify an actor of her towering abilities…there’s a feeling that some of the songs etc are just there to find Gough something to do.’

2 stars ⭑⭑

The Telegraph’s Dominic Cavendish was disappointed: ‘Billy Crudup and Denise Gough can’t match Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly on screen, and Thea Sharrock’s stylish and yet grit-free production stokes only fitful tension.’ He analysed the many ways the stage adaptation is inferior to the classic film, including the ending: ‘the big gun-slinging denouement, albeit rushed in the film, here lacks the requisite adrenal quality – less high noon, more morning elevenses.’

Critics’ average rating  3.3⭑

Value Rating 34  (Value rating is the Critics’ average rating divided by the typical ticket price)

High Noon can be seen at the Harold Pinter Theatre until 6 March 2026. Buy tickets directly from highnoontheplay.com

If you’ve seen High Noon at The Harold Pinter Theatre, please share your review/comment and rating below

Critics go crazy for Sheridan Smith 

The 40th anniversary revival of Alan Aykbourn‘s play about a repressed housewife who, following a blow to the head, enters a fantasy world, was welcomed by critics, not necessarily because of the play, which some found dated, but because of the quality of Sheridan Smith‘s performance. Michael Longhurst‘s direction was appreciated. Romesh Ranganathan‘s West End debut was widely liked.

[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]

4 stars ★★★★

Clare Allfree confessed in the Telegraph: ‘I’ve always thought this play to be one of Ayckbourn’s very best – it mixes his particular blend of suburban comic pathos with a febrile dash of horror. Longhurst’s revival is correspondingly both a Middle England sitcom and a psychedelic fever dream.’ She was impressed that: ‘Smith … gives us a thoroughly specific character study of a flawed and complicated woman, forced to bury her vivacious sexuality in the depths of a soulless marriage, but who is no straight-forward victim either.’ She noted: ‘Soutra Gilmour’s magic lantern set seems itself to quiver with nervous energy, disconcertingly flipping between hallucination and normality, and with everything drenched in hyper-bright light.’

As you’ll see below, some critics found the 40 year old play dated but for Olivia Rook at LondonTheatre, the ‘story of an ordinary woman in turmoil has just as much resonance now as it did then.’ She liked the way ’emotions are always bubbling beneath the surface’ in Sheridan Smith’s performance. She praised all the cast: Romesh Ranganathan ‘brings an amiable, bumbling, nervous energy, frequently breaking into awkward laughter. Tim McMullan is a hoot as Susan’s dismissive and dull husband Gerald… and is matched by Louise Brealey as his stiff yet neurotic sister Muriel’.

‘It’s so cheering to see the West End can still take risks’ said The Times’ Clive Davis.

3 stars ★★★

The Guardian‘s Arifa Akbar reported: ‘the play stands the test of time for its originality and boldness: this is a critique of the emptiness of married life and the desperation that a woman feels inside it that takes us from the domestic drudge to high-wire supernaturalism. When it works, it is unnerving. The imaginary family is creepy for its wooden perfection and performative warmth. You feel the chill building as they turn into nightmarish tormentors.’

On the other hand, WhatsOnStage‘s Sarah Crompton found it dated: ‘The problem with the play 40 years on is that, although its truths are universal, its characters are very much of its time.’ She appreciated Sheridan Smith’s performance: ‘She is infinitely moving, her little gestures and movements of discontent convincing, her face a constant reflection of her shifting moods of disappointment, anger and sadness, utterly convincing as both her worlds spin out of control. It’s a lovely, naturalistic performance, but it exposes the artificiality of the play.’

The Standard‘s Nick Curtis also found it ‘somewhat dated material’. He thought: ‘concept overwhelms character: everyone, including Susan, is thinly drawn.’ Fortunately, ‘it works thanks to Smith. She has a uniquely vivid physical presence, and her emotions are shimmeringly close to the surface.’

Sam Marlowe in The Stage gave the same message: ‘If there’s a good reason to see this dated, blunt-edged and ultimately exasperating 1985 work by the doggedly prolific Alan Ayckbourn, it will surprise practically no one that it is Sheridan Smith (…) the play is a study in acute mental crisis that is constantly undermined by its structural games, the drama choked off by formal conceit. It doesn’t help that the portrayal of psychological agony seems, to 21st-century eyes, crude and unconvincing; or that, aside from the tormented Susan, the characters are flat and cartoonish’.

Time Out‘s Andrzej Lukowski described Sheridan Smith as: ‘a wonderful and empathetic actor who effortlessly covers Susan’s considerable emotional terrain and the requirement to play hero, villain and victim all at once.’ However, ‘Watching Smith switch between families and moods is impressive and even thrilling, but the longer it went on the less I understood what point Ayckbourn was trying to make beyond a technical exercise.’

The Independent‘s Alice Saville had a similar view: ‘it feels that Ayckbourn is ultimately more interested in the creative possibilities of madness than in probing too deeply into its underlying causes.’

Critics’ average rating 3.3⭑

Value rating 33 (Value rating is the Critics’ average rating divided by the typical ticket price)

Woman in Mind can be seen at the Duke of York’s until 28 February 2026. Buy tickets directly at thedukeofyorks.com ; it will then tour to Sunderland Empire 4-7 March and Theatre Royal, Glasgow, 10-14 March. womaninmindplay.com

If you’ve seen Woman in Mind starring Sheridan Smith, please share your review/comment and rating below

Heartwarming- and that’s no lie

Shakespeare’s Globe

Written by Charlie Josephine (book and lyrics) and Jim Fortune (music and lyrics), The Globe’s Christmas show melted the hearts of the critics. The creation of the little wooden child impressed, as did the story of what makes us human.

5 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑

Aliya Al-Hussain of WhatsOnStage found: ‘Josephine’s funny and touching script edits Collodi’s tale down to a comprehensive yet snappy show, just short enough to keep the kids engaged, but with plenty for everyone to enjoy.’ She concluded: ‘Pinocchio is an uplifting, witty and beautifully realised production. A perfect family show for any time of year… and that is no lie.’

Christiana Rose for BroadwayWorld loved it: ‘Directed with clarity and imagination by Sean Holmes Pinocchio feels both familiar and refreshingly new, touching visually spectacular and musically rich. Above all it is a celebration of love, resilience and the many forms family can take. This is a special production crafted with immense care and creativity, offering a truly magical festive experience for audiences young and old.’

4 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑

Claire Allfree of the Telegraph declared: ‘this full-scale musical adaptation of Carlo Collodi’s unsettling 19th-century parable about an insubordinate boy puppet is an absolute treat and, amid the annual slosh of panto and exhausted West End festive musicals, one of the best family shows around.’

The Independent’s Alice Saville agreed: ‘The playwright Charlie Josephine has adapted Carlo Collodi’s strange, sanctimonious 1883 novel into a quaintly rustic musical that feels a million miles away from both Disney’s version and from anything else you’ll see on stage right now. It uses this story of a wooden puppet to explore what it means to be human, and to be loved – and ends up pulling the heartstrings of everyone in the audience.’

Dave Fargnoli at The Stage enjoyed it: ‘Director Sean Holmes sets a brisk pace, keeping the energy high and the tone light while introducing some unsettling themes and, at times, a plausible sense of danger – the irrepressible Pinocchio is stalked, swindled and set on fire – but always bounces back. Designed by Peter O’Rourke, the puppet protagonist is a charming, spindly-limbed creation, articulated Bunraku-style by a busy cluster of puppeteers.’

Lucinda Everett at The Guardian explained the secret of its success: ‘the puppet’s journey to boyhood isn’t just about learning what makes us good, but what makes us human. His scrapes along the way are born not out of wickedness but curiosity and impulsive energy – perfectly captured by the three puppeteers animating Peter O’Rourke’s simple wooden design (including Lee Braithwaite, who gives Pinocchio a voice wild and wonder-filled), and by Josephine’s book’.

Martin Robinson at The Standard had reservations about the plot (‘patchy’) and the songs (‘rarely stir the soul’) but: ‘in the end, this show is for the children, and the gaggle accompanying the Standard absolutely loved the puppet, loved screaming at the Coachman and laughed throughout. Did they learn anything? No. Which made it even better, as far as they were concerned. A solid four stars from the little people.’

3 stars ⭑⭑⭑

Theo Bosanquet of London Theatre said: ‘It helps that Globe associate director Sean Holmes’s production has an irresistible homespun charm, augmented by Grace Smart’s clever and colourful toy theatre-esque design. It’s just so wonderfully real, unlike the poor titular character himself, who nevertheless proves the standout, skilfully handled by three puppeteers’.

Critics’ average rating 4.1⭑

Pinocchio can be seen at Shakespeare’s Globe until 4 January 2026. Buy tickets directly from the theatre.

If you’ve seen Pinocchio at The Globe, please leave your review and/or rating below

Comic chaos for Christmas

Apollo Shaftesbury Avenue

Mischief Theatre, responsible for the multitude of Goes Wrong comedies, present one of their finest shows, according to the reviews.

[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]

5 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑

At BroadwayWorld, Kat Mokrynski said it was ‘yet another triumph for Mischief Theatre that is perfect for the holiday season.’ She noted: ‘There are many times when audiences will recognise when a gag is going to happen (for example, when a box of Maltesers is placed into the set model), but it doesn’t stop the bit from being funny – in fact, it tends to add to the hilarity, with the build-up to the reveal only adding to the laughs.’

4 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑

Chris Wiegand of The Guardian is a Mischief Theatre fan: ‘in the first half of this Dickensian foul-up, much of the pleasure comes from watching the company spring-load a very familiar crop of gags ready to explode after the break.’ And when that second half comes: ‘As the am-dram players’ lines go out of sync or their dialogue doesn’t match what we see, Matt DiCarlo’s production hums with comedic harmony.’

Alun Hood at WhatsOnStage noted: ‘Christmas Carol Goes Wrong really is uproariously, side-splittingly funny, all the more so because the performances, even at their most manic, keep one eye on some sort of truth.’

The Standard‘s Nick Curtis reported: ‘this revival of their farce about a malfunctioning amateur version of Charles Dickens’s Christmas fable had me laughing out loud. The brash, obvious, knockabout humour is laced with moments of lightning-flash wit and invention.’

The anonymous reviewer for London Theatre Reviews found: ‘A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong is exactly what it promises and exactly what you want on a cold winter’s night: sharp, silly, and relentlessly funny. By the final bow, the audience is exhausted with laughter’.

Anya Ryan for Time Out declared: ‘What’s funnier than watching things go wrong? Honestly: not much (…) while the slapstick and mayhem that ensues is hardly new ground for the company, the endless stream of slip-ups is what we’re here for.’

Holly O’Mahony of The Stage admitted: ‘the company’s resident writer-actors Henry Lewis, Henry Shields and Jonathan Sayer are on top form with this spoof of Charles Dickens’ festive favourite, originally developed for the BBC in 2017. The sincere sentimentality of the yuletide story lends itself well to a Mischief treatment, and in director Matt DiCarlo’s production, any would-be heartfelt moment is flipped spectacularly. If you’re a Mischief sceptic (guilty!), it’s a worthy reminder that everyone is worthy of a second chance.’

The Times‘ Clive Davis joined the chorus of approval: ‘It’s no easy job to keep a production teetering on the edge of disaster. These actors know how to fail with a flourish.’

Critics’ average rating 4.1⭑

Value rating 49 (Value rating is the Average Rating divided by the most common weekend ticket price)

Samuel West is an outstanding Malvolio

Barbican Theatre

Last Christmas the Royal Shakespeare company presented Twelfth Night in Stratford. A year later, it has arrived in London at The Barbican Theatre. Critics had mixed feelings about director Prasanna Puwanarajah‘s dark interpretation of the play but they generally agreed that Samuel West‘s Malvolio was a highlight of the show.

[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]

5 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑

Helen Hawkins sitting at TheArtsDesk summed up her rave review: ‘This is a heartening evening out, where the atmosphere is almost pantomime-like and the complicity between players and audience becomes total. There are so many treasurable moments to take home with you – the crazed drunken “12 Days of Christmas” that Olivia’s household perform, Grady-Hall’s turn as a ventriloquist’s dummy, his reading of the letter that Malvolio, mad with rage, has sent his mistress, which he dutifully delivers as a stream of burbling anger. Extraordinary. Don’t miss.’

4 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑

The Independent’s Alice Saville was intoxicated by it : ‘Director Prasanna Puwanarajah’s take on this tragicomedy seeps across the stage with a measured boldness that’s completely intoxicating. He’s found a persuasive, original re-reading for almost every character in this story, highlighting all the weirder, queerer bits of Shakespeare’s text rather than rubbing them away.’

Debbie Gilpin at BroadwayWorld  was enamoured with Samuel West’s acting: ’In a production full of brilliance, his is truly the standout performance. It’s multi-layered, exploring Malvolio’s irritating fastidiousness, his penchant for celebrity gossip, and also his more human side; there is a pin-drop silence as he declares his intent to seek revenge.’ Of the evening as a whole, she said: ‘Although it does take a little while to warm up, once it finds the balance between comedy and drama there is a lot of fun to be had with this production.’

3 stars ⭑⭑⭑

Julia Rank at LondonTheatre felt: ‘More lightness might help bring the show to life. As it stands, it’s a version that accentuates the many strands of weirdness and ennui found in the play, which are often glossed over in more conventionally cheerful productions.’

Alex Wood for WhatsOnStage decided ‘without the inclusive embrace of a thrust stage, the production feels occasionally distanced and muted: evasive, witty and wry, without ever truly surrendering to its audience.’ He praised the actors: ‘There are some cracking performances along the way. A Cockney-accented Samuel West channels the best of a well-to-do Gary Oldman as the pugnacious Malvolio (with a mightily impressive arrival during the yellow stockings scene), while a marvellous Freema Agyeman hits all the comedy beats as Olivia once the show’s proceedings brighten in act two. There’s also a juicy and enigmatic suggestion that Viola’s time posing as male courtier Cesario may have been more liberating than is often assumed. The electrifying Daniel Monks is also unafraid to present Orsino with an entitled air of pomp’.

The Times’ Clive Davis found it a long three hours: ‘I found myself longing for him (the director) to edit all these bright ideas down into something zippier and more coherent.’

Critics’ average rating 3.7⭑

Value rating 43 (Value rating is the Average Rating divided by the most common weekend ticket price)

Twelfth Night can be seen at The Barbican Theatre until 17 January 2026. Buy tickets directly from the theatre.

If you’ve seen Twelfth Night at The Barbican Theatre, please leave a review and/or rating below

Hilariously wild or wildly unfunny

Trafalgar Theatre

A huge success on Broadway, this totally fictional portrait of Mary Todd Lincoln and her President husband Abraham had some critics in  stitches and others scratching their heads. The show is written by Cole Escola and directed by Sam Pinkleton, who was responsible for the Broadway production. Non-binary actor Mason  Alexander Park stars with Giles Terera.

[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]

4 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑

The Independent’s Alice Saville loved it: ‘This imaginary version of Mary is a captivating creation – melodramatic, childish, and monstrously self-absorbed…non-binary actor Mason Alexander Park plays the part with the dark energy of a crinolined poltergeist, their black ringlets bobbing as they smash up Lincoln’s presidential office in search of forbidden gin.’ She explained: ‘Escola’s play basically sits in a genre of its own, one that mixes the farcical humour of am-dram classics like Charley’s Aunt with the disturbing queer energy of early John Waters films.’

The Telegraph‘s Dominic Cavendish was a fan: ‘this knowingly bogus portrait of the First Lady as a dipsomaniac and frustrated cabaret star is a riot, laced with a truth about the necessity of self-expression, in which American actor Mason Alexander Park gives the funniest performance in town (…) in a bullet-fast 80 minutes, it delivers a transgressive charge, and finishes the West End year on a screamingly silly high.’

LondonTheatre‘s Marianka Swain praised the ‘tour-de-force turn from Mason Alexander Park, who tears into the material like a ravenous tiger. Park hits every note with absolute comic precision: Mary’s infantile narcissism, crippling boredom, devilish humour, and, when presented with a hunky new acting teacher in tight breeches, all-consuming lust.’

‘It’s an absolute hoot’ said The Standard‘s Nick Curtis. ‘This show can’t see a top without going over it. Park’s performance is the polar opposite of subtle but it is exactingly precise and finely detailed. Their attempts to get down from a desk in Mary’s Husband’s office … is a masterpiece of physical comedy. Their timing and delivery is impeccable.’

Holly O’Mahony for The Stage was another fan of the lead: ‘Park’s Mary is riveting, and just as watchable during fiery exchanges with her husband (a no-nonsense Giles Terera), as in giddy lessons with her acting teacher (Dino Fetscher) and when bullying her chaperone (Kate O’Donnell).’

3 stars ⭑⭑⭑

Time Out’s Andrjez Lukowski was confused: ‘I didn’t hate this lurid cabaret about Abraham Lincoln’s wife. But after the slew of American critics describing the life-changing injuries they’d suffered from laughing so hard at Sam Pinkleton’s production, the whole thing just felt a bit… ’70s? A little bit Airplane!, a little bit Benny Hill, maybe even a touch of Mr Bean… Really it’s broad, dated humour salvaged by a tremendous cast headed by Jamie Lloyd veteran Mason Alexander Park as Mary and the redoubtable Giles Terera as ‘Mary’s husband’ (ie Abe).’

Aliya Al-Hussan for BroadwayWorld couldn’t get on board: ‘There are some funny moments and the energy never flags, but the overall feeling is that you are watching an 80-minute-long comedy sketch.’

2 stars ⭑⭑

The Guardian’s Arifa Akbar didn’t get it: ‘Escola’s show left US audiences in stitches with its camp chaos but contains the kind of low-hanging fruit that Kenny Everett’s team might have rejected.’ She pulled it apart: ‘I felt cheated of story, character, wit or wonder’. Unlike the Telegraph critic who felt it was about’the necessity of self-expression’, she was left puzzled: ‘Satire and black comedy as genres are built to accommodate social observation and acid critique, but there is none of that here.’

The Times’ Clive Davis was at his most acid: ‘What’s the most positive thing I can say about this much-trumpeted ultra-camp import from New York, hailed as one of the hottest tickets of the year? Well, thank heavens it’s only 80 minutes long.’ He couldn’t understand some of the audience’s ‘maniacal cackling’ at what ‘is really a Saturday Night Live sketch stretched to improbable lengths.’ It left him in a thoughtful mood: ‘We are living in a strange world. A clown is in the White House, and this show is riding high on Broadway. Can things get any madder?’

Critics’average rating: 3.3⭑

Value rating 37 (Value rating is the Average Rating divided by the most common weekend ticket price)

Oh, Mary! can be seen at the Trafalgar Theatre until 18 July 2026. Buy tickets directly.

If you’ve seen Oh Mary! at the Traflagar Theatre, please leave a review and/or rating below

Great song and dance show loses its sparkle during boring plot

The 2013 stage adaptation of the Astaire-Rogers musical with songs by Irving Berlin was revived last year at Chichester to good reviews  The London reviewers were not quite so impressed. They enjoyed songs like Cheek to Cheek, Let’s Face the Music and Dance, Top Hat, White Tie and Tails and Puttin’ on the Ritz, and the sparkling choreography by Kathleen Marshall but criticised the drawn-out, corny story. The two leads- Phillip Attmore and Amara Okereke– were complimented.

[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]

4 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑

Marianka Seain, reviewing for the Telegraph, declared: ‘once you accept the madcap plotting, along with jokes so cheesy that they belong in a Christmas cracker, you can indulge in the fizzing, glamorous escapism. It’s all really just an excuse to stage exuberant ensemble numbers, as Marshall does with aplomb, and give the principals lovely spotlight moments.’

Clementine Scott for BroadwayWorld found it a ‘joy’. She enjoyed the two leads: ‘Attmore’s lithe tap dance work is a character unto itself, but his vocals are also charming and almost conversational at times. Okereke… manages to lend Dale a compelling blend of playfulness and sexual confidence’

3 stars ⭑⭑⭑

Anya Ryan at LondonTheatre was disappointed: ‘the luxurious, big-chorus tap numbers… twinkle and soar and are everything you could possibly hope them to be. However, much of the other action that plays out on the Southbank’s circular stage is curiously muted. It feels as if the actors are stuck performing behind a gauze screen, their emotional reasoning never quite reaching us, and the romance between star performer Jerry Travers and fashion model Dale Tremont seems to lack genuine chemistry.’

The Standard’s Nick Curtis had a similar experience: ‘Though stylishly mounted with lavish tap and ballroom routines to Irving Berlin’s peerless songs, this adaptation … is a curiously flat affair. As long as director and choreographer Kathleen Marshall’s cast are singing and dancing it’s fine… But the slight and overextended romance that fills the gaps in between is sluggish where it should sparkle, the pace slow’.

Siobhan Murphy for The Stage noted: ‘The main drawback…is that stuffing the piece with so many extra songs stretches the whole thing to two and a half hours – so, despite Marshall’s best efforts, the dynamic energy that would send you out into the night desperate to shuffle-ball-change isn’t really there.’

The anonymous reviewer at London Theatre Reviews reported: ‘If you are looking for a show with spectacular dancing and nostalgic songs, this production delivers; the musical numbers are truly great. But you will need some patience for the story, which is not nearly as exciting as the footwork’.

2 stars ⭑⭑

Chris Selman at Gay Times was damning: ‘the singing is perfectly solid, the orchestrations are nice, the costumes look the part, the choreography impresses on occasion. But Top Hat falls flat largely because the narrative is just so flimsy.’

Critics’ average rating 3.2⭑

Value rating 26 (Value rating is the Average Rating divided by the most common weekend ticket price)

Click here for Paul Seven Lewis’ review of Top Hat at Chichester

You can see Top Hat at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London’s Southbank Centre until 17 January 2026 (Buy tickets directly from the Southbank Centre), then touring to Sheffield, Dublin, Glasgow, Eastbourne, Southend, Birmingham, Aberdeen, Norwich, Salford and Southampton.

If you’ve seen Top Hat at the Queen Elizabeth Hall or on tour, please add your review and/or rating below

The funniest play of the year?

Donmar Warehouse

Set in 1908, J B Priestley’s 1938 comedy concerns three Yorkshire couples who find they were never legally married. The critics loved the comic fallout that ensues, praising the direction, the design and the cast.

Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]

5 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑

Gary Naylor for BroadwayWorld declared: ‘There can be few merrier shows in town this bleak midwinter than The Donmar Warehouse’s super-slick, laugh-a-minute, new production of When We Are Married.’

4 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑

The i’s Fiona Mountford admitted: ‘I haven’t laughed so much at a play in a long time. What a glorious way to wrap up the theatrical year.’ She loved the play, the production and the cast: ‘Best of all is Sophie Thompson as the timid Annie Parker, a weary wife who gradually finds her voice and speaks her mind to her overbearing stuffed shirt of a spouse, Albert (Marc Wootton). “I know me own mind,” says he, imperiously. “Sometimes I wish you’d keep a bit of it to yourself,” she replies.’

WhatsOnStage‘s Sarah Crompton was full of Christmas cheer: ‘This revival of JB Priestley’s comedy of marital disharmony is a hoot, a joyful reminder of the power of supreme comic acting, and the way that humour can reveal truths with a light touch.’ She commented: ‘Priestley’s point, gently but fiercely made, is that the problem with his three complacent, pompous husbands, dignitaries of the council and the chapel, and their respective wives, is not that they are in themselves laughable, but that their hypocrisy and pretension is. Just as in An Inspector Calls, he smuggles social satire into an apparently straightforward drama.’ and she praised the design: ‘Peter Mckintosh’s mustard yellow set, with its flocked walls and giant aspidistra, is both real and unreal; Anna Fleischle’s beautifully detailed costumes catch the period but also say quite a lot about the men and women wearing them.’

Theo Bosanquet for LondonTheatre reported: ‘Donmar artistic director Tim Sheader’s production keeps things pretty simple, wisely not trying to reclaim the play for modern times but rather aim for some solid festive funnies. And it finds them in abundance thanks to a stellar comedy cast who get just the right balance between farcical OTT-ness and droll understatement.’ He concluded: ‘Ultimately it’s a love letter both to Yorkshire and to the tradition of farce, making it a smart piece of programming for this time of year. Just like a good Christmas cocktail, it’s fizzy, fruity, and eminently moreish.’

Time Out‘s Andrjez Lukowksi pointed out: ‘the basic idea of insufferable rich people lording it over the rest of us and how thrilling it would be to see them get taken down a peg or two remains timeless.’ He continued: ‘it remains funny, fat free and at least mildly insurrectionary. Plus Sheader’s witty, accessible production has a cast to die for: Thompson alone is a woman quite capable of bringing a house down, and her fluting voiced, slightly ethereal Annie is a hoot. But everyone is good fun, from Hodgkinson’s towering, increasingly flustered straight man Joseph to the great Rob Cook’s glorious supporting role as an increasingly smashed local press photographer.’

Dave Fargnoli for The Stage wrote: ‘Sheader sets a cracking pace from the first moments, introducing the characters in an energetic whirl and letting events spiral towards absurdity from there. The focus stays firmly on the zippy banter and comic misunderstandings, and while the inherent drama of characters’ marital turmoil is only ever lightly explored, Priestley’s sharply observational writing gently probes tensions between social classes and the weakening grip of patriarchal power.’

The Standard‘s Nick Curtis found: ‘The pleasure here is in the performances, specifically the relish these excellent actors give to Priestley’s robust, precise, Bradfordian dialogue.’ He stated: ‘It’s a compliment to say that Sheader’s direction is pretty much imperceptible. He seems to just let his fine cast run, without imposing any fussy “vision” on them’.

Calling it ‘an absolute blast’, Clare Allfree wrote in The Telegraph: ‘The real joy, … lies in the performances which to a man (and woman) are pure bliss: Marc Wootton’s Albert Parker, so puffed up with a baleful sense of his own importance you fear he might pop; Cook, who turns the low-hanging fruit role of a booze-sodden photographer into a masterful miniature portrait of hapless humanity. And there’s an excellent turn from Janice Connolly as the gleeful help Mrs Northrop, who sees right through her employers’ pretensions.’

The Times‘ Clive Davis was more begrudging in his praise than his fellow critics: ‘things are tied up a tad too neatly and briskly at the end. But with Siobhan Finneran’s Mrs Helliwell and Sophie Thompson’s Mrs Parker adding subtle touches along the way, it’s an evening of genial entertainment.’ Nevertheless he noted: ‘Tim Sheader’s streamlined revival…putters along very nicely. He gets note-perfect performances from the husbands, Marc Wootton and John Hodgkinson oozing complacency as Councillor Albert Parker and Alderman Joseph Helliwell. Jim Howick is even more amusing as the terminally timid Herbert Soppitt’.

Critics’ average rating 4.1⭑

When We Are Married can be seen at the Donmar Warehouse until 7 February 2026. Buy tickets directly from the theatre 

Read Paul Seven Lewis’s 3 star review of When We Are Married here.   Watch his ‘Angry Yorkshireman’ review on YouTube here.

If you’ve seen When we Are Married at the Donmar, please leave a review and/or rating below

 

Jewish family Christmas is grim but compelling

Almeida Theatre

In his latest play, Sam Grabiner brings together a Jewish family on Christmas Day to argue about a threatening outside world.

[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]

4 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑

The Guardian’s Arifa Akbar declared: ‘It is not a perfect play but an immensely courageous one. So is its programming by outgoing artistic director Rupert Goold. I have not seen a drama that deals with British Jewish identity with this much complexity. There are some manufactured rows between characters as a result, but they hold you, and emanate danger merely in their airing.’

The Times’ Clive Davis got all of a quiver: ‘Sam Grabiner’s account of a Jewish family gathering for a fractious Christmas meal is a fever dream of a play with a vicious, absurdist streak. There’s nudity, gore and vomiting, and the arguments about identity and Gaza stab at the heart. It’s uneven and downright confusing at times, but you are compelled to keep watching.’

Holly O’Mahony at The Stage enjoyed her evening: ‘It’s meticulously naturalistic, with the meal unfolding – and actually eaten – in real time. Grabiner has real skill for writing rounded characters with depth, and committed performances all round ensure Macdonald’s production never loses momentum, even in seemingly inconsequential moments.‘

Time Out‘s Andrzej Lukowski described it as ‘a dark, dark comedy about a jaw-droppingly dysfunctional British Jewish family. It is an anarchic meditation on the British Jewish psyche, that is really very fearless about ‘going there’ with certain political issues. It is about the British tradition of having a massive ding dong on Christmas Day. And it’s a comedy about living in London.’

3 stars ⭑⭑⭑

The Telegraph’s Dominic Cavendish found that the play ‘captures the wrangling, dread-filled mood of 2025. There’s a sense throughout that you never quite know what is going to be said, or happen, next.’ He continued: ‘as the ancillary characters try to chip in, too, and the script lunges for head-turning talking points (“I sort of miss the pogroms.”), it’s as though the author himself is stumbling about, groping for a firm hold on his subject. It’s hard to fault the cast, or James Macdonald’s direction, but it feels as though this promising piece is a few drafts short of its full potential.’

WhatsOnStage’s Sarah Crompton summed up: ‘The play is often funny, catching exactly the family tensions – the hyper competitive quizzing, the dislike of a new girlfriend – that rip apart many family Christmases. Grabiner’s writing is chewy and tough-minded. It tries to do a lot, raising so many difficult, complex questions that are impossible to resolve, and doesn’t always feel fully realised. But its portrait of inherited trauma is convincingly explored and James Macdonald’s direction, responsive to each change of mood, ready to allow silence as well as explosions, makes it intense and compelling.’

Matt Wolf for LondonTheatre called it a ‘fascinating, beautifully acted play’. His main reservation was: ‘I’m not sure Grabiner has yet landed the knockout ending his consistently intriguing script requires’.

The Independent’s Alice Saville made a similar point: ‘It’s got all the ingredients of a theatrical staple: the family drama where old secrets emerge over the dinner table. But Grabiner’s approach is more opaque: he lets massive revelations drop without really acknowledging them, fills his story with strange red herrings, and finishes with an odd, symbolic, ritualistic scene that you’d probably need a panel of debating religious authorities to really get to the bottom of.’

Christmas Day can be seen at The Almeida until 8 January 2026. Buy tickets directly from the theatre

If you’ve seen Christmas Day at The Almeida, please leave a review and/or rating below