Comedy amid the pathos in a top class musical

Hampstead Theatre

The critics loved Kimberly Akimbo. The musical had already won five Tony Awards for composer Jeanine Tesori and book writer and lyricist David Lindsay-Abaire before it received its UK premiere at Hampstead Theatre who acquired the rights early on. It’s certainly a coup for them.  The praise started with the writing (‘Lindsay-Abaire delivers a masterclass in tone, making light of the devastating and vice versa’ BroadwayWorld), then eulogised about the music (‘gorgeous and utterly earwormy’ The Stage), before moving on to the star Maria Friedman‘s portayal of a teenage girl with an ageing disease facing imminent death (‘a bundle of fear and joy, of anticipation and hesitancy, of resilience and damage’ The Arts Desk). The whole cast were praised for their singing and acting ability but a ‘memorable’ (Times) Alice Fearn received special mentions for her comedic criminal aunt. To complete the package, there was the design (‘Soutra Gilmour’s magical set’ Broadway World) and Michael Longhurst‘s direction (‘effervescent production’ FT). The plot might seem sad almost morbid but the crticis assured us it was ‘genuine, hilarious and utterly endearing’ (Guardian). Its average rating of 4.2 stars takes it to the top spot in the chart of Best Shows in London.

5 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑

Time Out‘s Andrezej Lukowski suggested: ‘Kimberly’s condition feels as much a metaphor for the transience of childhood and the fleetingness of life in general than a story to view literally.’ He said: ‘Friedman channels the frustrations, insecurities and gaucheness of being a teenage girl without ever seeming like she’s miking the idea for laughs.’ ‘the beauty of Kimberly Akimbo is what a rich texture it is: existential questions rubbing up against quirky John Hughes-isms, borderline magical realism, and poignant, earnest stuff on the difficulty of family. Plus romance!’ ‘Indie musical queen Jeanine Tesori delivers a wondrous small orchestra score that’s surging and melodic and powered by ravishing Beatles-y harmonies (…) while Lindsay-Abaire’s lyrics are more narrative than pop song, there are some tremendous earworms nonetheless’. ‘it’s easily my favourite musical of the year, and deserves a long life.’

Gary Naylor at The Arts Desk noted: ‘Performances are strong throughout the cast, turning what could be a set of stock characters in a potboiler of a plot into living, rounded individuals for whom we care deeply. A key to effecting that alchemy is the marshalling of musical theatre’s unique resources. David Lindsay-Abaire (book and lyrics and also the writer of the play on which the show is based) and Jeanine Tesori (music) use the score to reveal inner lives and lay bare insecurities. The songs articulate not just desires – the show is not short of ‘I Want’ numbers – but also lend considerable weight to matters as apparently mundane as a kid wishing for a treehouse.’ Talking of the character Seth’s solo, he pointed out: ‘in “Good Boy” but the writing is so intelligent and the delivery so heartfelt that his character moves from your head to your heart. That’s a journey musicals do in three minutes and plays in thirty.’ He praised the star: ‘Anchoring it all, Maria Friedman’s Kimberly is a bundle of fear and joy, of anticipation and hesitancy, of resilience and damage.’

4 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑

Tom Wicker for The Stage declared: ‘Hampstead Theatre has a winner here’. He continued: ‘with a gorgeous and utterly earwormy score by Jeanine Tesori, (it) is a quirky, heartfelt delight.’ He complimented the design: ‘Soutra Gilmour’s extraordinary, split-level set revolves into an ice rink, Kimberly’s school and her dysfunctional family thrust together at home.’ And the star: ‘Friedman … beautifully inhabits Kimberly’s young-old energy. She mixes vulnerability with infectious, childlike delight by the end – leaving us gleefully uplifted, and aware of time’s preciousness.’

Lyndsey Winship for The Guardian admitted: ‘It’s a bizarre concept for a musical: a girl with a rare condition that causes her to age four times faster than her peers, in a family so dysfunctional that she’s the normal one. Meanwhile, the musical highlights are songs about cheque fraud and scurvy. And yet, somehow, through all this artifice and elaborate setup comes a show so sincerely heartfelt, one that is genuine, hilarious and utterly endearing.’

‘What an utterly charming gem this is’ began Marianka Swain for LondonTheatre. She advised: ‘it’s best approached as a resolutely quirky, filthily funny show that sneaks up and lodges itself in your heart.’ She described Kimberly’s situation: ‘Her condition makes her the ultimate outsider at school, but she begins to connect with other misfit kids: the endearingly eccentric Seth and the awkward show choir, who, in an unrequited love square, each fancy the wrong person (two of whom are closeted).’ She explained: ‘this very specific world is built with immense care, and that focus pays off: a single hurtful comment, like pregnant Pattie saying of her unborn baby “I want this one to be perfect”, hits like a thunderbolt. That’s partly due to a superb cast, led by Maria Friedman as Kimberly. She doesn’t adopt any exaggerated mannerisms yet fully convinces as a teenager thanks to her sweet singing voice and lovely open-heartedness, which makes you long to protect her.’

Louis Chilton for The Independent decided: ‘It is a show about ageing, and about youth – those most thoroughly universal of experiences. And in this, it is a clear success.’

WhatsOnStage‘s Sarah Crompton saw: ‘it is … a sort of love story and a supremely well-tuned (in every way) comedy of consistent error, of other teenagers who are muddling through, of people who don’t know themselves, powered not only by Kimberly but by her unpredictably outrageous aunt whose criminal endeavours both disrupt and power her upbringing.’ She talked of ‘the increasing sense that Kimberly is inhabiting a world where no-one quite fits in (there’s strong support from her misfit mates), allows the show to explore the themes that make it heartbreaking: the sense of snatching happiness from the events of lives that are often chaotic.’

For Katie Kirkpatrick at BroadwayWorld: ‘what this show does so well is find the joy and mundanity in its heroine’s life. Lindsay-Abaire delivers a masterclass in tone, making light of the devastating and vice versa. It’s a show about something tragic, but far from a tragedy in and of itself.’ She thought the design was one of the stars of the show: ‘ Soutra Gilmour’s magical set, which transforms from a clock to a house to a school to an ice rink and beyond. It’s perfectly fit for purpose while also finding a sense of whimsy throughout, providing a playground on which this story of ageing too fast can unfold. This is where Michael Longhurst’s direction comes into its own – it’s hard to separate from the set, as the two come together to build a contained, small-town claustrophobic world.’

The Financial Times’ Sarah Hemming honed in on the direction: ‘Longhurst’s ebullient staging, like the musical itself, keeps wrongfooting you. One minute it’s revelling in a wildly enjoyable number about criminal activity or a party at the local ice rink, the next it swings into a sweet lullaby about Father Time. And time, and the way we use it, sits at the heart of this gorgeous, moving show. In the end, as the cast sings, “No one gets a second time around.”’ She wrote about the star: ‘Friedman, leading an excellent cast in Michael Longhurst’s effervescent production, brings star wattage and immense vulnerability to the role of Kimberly. She’s incredibly poignant as she leans against the window frame of her dysfunctional family’s home and pens a letter to a charity asking them to grant her a normal life. Steering clear of superficial teenage mannerisms — Friedman is in her sixties — she grounds her performance in emotional truth’.

The Times’ Clive Davis mopped up the rest of the cast: ‘Alice Fearn makes a memorable aunt Debra, a petty criminal who lures her niece and her friends into a money-making scheme. Peter Hannah and Niamh Perry are terrific, too, as mom and pop. And there’s a close-harmony chorus in the form of Kimberly’s four friends who are besotted with Dreamgirls: Sara Hajizadeh, Ronav Jain, Robin Simoes da Silva and Aviva Tulley are deliciously eccentric, much like the show itself.’

Critics’ Average Rating 4.2⭑

Kimberly Akimbo can be seen at Hampstead Theratre until 7 November. Buy tickets directly from the theatre

Read Paul’s review here

If you’ve seen Kimberly Akimbo at Hampstead Theatre, please leave your review and rating below

Sophie Okonedo wows the critics

Donmar Warehouse

Sophie Okonedo wowed the critics with her performance as the bored rich wife Natalya who lusts after her young son’s tutor (‘wonderfully febrile and totally compelling’ WhatsOnStage). All the cast were praised. Brian Friel’s adaptation of Turgenyev’s 19th century classic has long been admired for cutting its length, providing scintillating dialogue, and balancing comedy with tragedy (‘a universal story of pained love and marriage’ Guardian). Lyndsey Turner’s production was praised for its light touch (‘beautifully executed’ FT).

4 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑

The Financial Times’ Sarah Hemming said: ‘it’s very funny, astute and psychologically true about human beings’ expertise in rendering themselves miserable — particularly in Brian Friel’s mischievously spry 1992 translation and Lyndsey Turner’s beautifully executed production.’ Having lauded Sophie Okonedo, she pointed out: ‘it’s the rich ensemble work that really makes this production. Every character is deftly drawn and precisely rooted — funny, but real, so we feel their pain.’

Dave Fargnoli of The Stage declared: ‘Director Lyndsey Turner handles the piece skilfully, allowing events to unfold at a rhythm just slow enough to drive home the stiflingly dull state of the characters’ lives without becoming tedious, and with enough crackling tension and humour to remain utterly engaging.’

The Independent’s Alice Saville commented: ‘Turgenev’s A Month in the Country is an unwieldy play, originally running for over four hours, and never quite descending into the proto-Chekhovian emotional devastation it seems to promise. Here, Turner prunes it into a witty, approachable form – but leaves all its thorns intact.’

WhatsOnStage’s Sarah Crompton referred to ‘Okonedo’s wonderfully febrile and totally compelling portrayal of Natalya Petrovna, dissatisfied wife of a rich man Arkady, whose life and that of those around her is utterly unmoored by her sudden passion for her son’s young tutor Aleksey (Patrick Gibson). She is both a tragic figure, failed by her circumstances, and a comic narcissist, whose desire becomes the focus of her entire life.’ She concluded: ‘It’s a gloriously rich play, wonderfully realised in a production that holds its contradictions gently in its hands and just lets its subtleties reveal themselves. It ends on a surprising note of tenderness. A gem.’

The Guardian’s Arifa Akbar said Brian Friel’s ‘sparkling script “after Turgenev” is spun so delicately that it appears both of its time and a universal story of pained love and marriage.’ She went on: ‘The fine line between humour and hurt is as delicately trodden by director Lyndsey Turner and an able ensemble’. She informed us: ‘Lesley Travers’ stunning set design covers the stage with a glass box filled with foliage’.

Cindy Marcolina for BroadwayWorld described the effectiveness of the production: ‘Ennui, the potential of a young lover, and plenty of jealousy make Brian Friel’s take on Ivan Turgenev’s play the perfect end-of-summer treat. Friel succeeds in maintaining the classic idle nature of Russian drama, and Lyndsey Turner turns it into a delicious slow burn.’ Her analysis continued: ‘The individual dynamics between Okonedo and the other actors prop up the narrative. While nothing extravagant happens, the appeal of the production is deeply rooted in the correlation between the writing and the performances.’

The Times’ Clive Davis liked the production: ‘there’s a constant undercurrent of humour in Lyndsey Turner’s production … Yes, you can still see how Turgenev provides a template for Chekhov’s sketches of unfulfilled lives, but the shafts of humour keep the shadows at bay.’ He had an unfounded concern: ‘Could the 58-year-old Okonedo be a little too old to be playing Natalya? I thought so at first, but her subtle portrayal of a woman consumed by small acts of narcissism won me over.’ He also praised other actors: ‘Casting the ebullient Daniel Rigby as Shpigelsky, the doctor from lowly origins who uses clumsy jokes as a way of masking his hatred of his superiors, is a clever choice.’

The Telegraph’s Dominic Cavendish commented on Natalya: ‘what’s riveting about the characterisation – and Okonedo’s portrayal – is the sense that, minute by minute, even in lightly off-hand exchanges, she’s tussling with powerful inner forces: her sense of self, her social conditioning, desires that elude easy fulfilment.’ He found: ‘it all rings bracingly true‘.

Helen Hawkins at The Arts Desk detected a touch of Katharine Hepburn: ‘director Lyndsey Turner has dressed up this 1992 adaptation of the play by Brian Friel as something closer to a period screwball comedy.’ She found: ‘Okonedo’s snippy-snappy handling of dialogue and on-a-dime mood swings are razor-sharp, and she and the rest of the uniformly fine cast land this well oiled comedy impressively.’

The Standard’s Nick Curtis thought about the set: ‘Designer Leslie Travers accentuates the staginess by periodically dropping a foliage-stuffed glass box onto his idyllic, grassy set, emphasising that the characters are trapped by their emotions. It’s great fun: sheer proximity to the actors at the Donmar makes it feel as if we’re spying on them from a thicket.’

3 stars ⭑⭑⭑

Only Julia Rank of LondonTheatre broke ranks with the other critics. She thought: ‘Okonedo, unfortunately, doesn’t seem quite right for the role; she has too much natural gravitas, and the coquettishness feels forced.’

Critics’ average rating 3.9⭑

A Month In The Country can be seen at The Donmar Warehouse Theatre until 3 October 2026  Tickets from donmarwarehouse.com

If you’ve seen A Month In The Country at The Donmar, you might like to leave your review and rating below 

Actors excel in evening of two halves

Lyttelton Theatre, National Theatre

Praise rained down on Cate Blanchett (‘a sinewy sensuality’ Standard) and Nina Hoss (‘riveting’ WhatsOnStage). Sadly the critics’ enthusaism did not extend to Benedict Andrews who wrote and directed the play. There is no interval but it is an evening of two parts. The critics found the opening 50 minute adaptation of Sophocles’ Electra ’emotionally astute and nuanced’ (LondonTheatre) but thought the subsequent longer section based on Bergman’s film Persona ‘strangely sterile’ (Guardian). The latter is about an actress who is struck silent during a performance of Electra. Personally, I was pleased to see critics finally calling time on the use of live video screens on stage. Who plays which parts is decided each night on the toss of a coin. On the press night, Cate Blanchett played  Clytemnestra and Nina Hoss was Electra.

5 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑

Clementine Scott for BroadwayWorld was an outlier: ‘Benedict Andrews … poses the question of why, of all the plays, Elisabet’s breakdown should happen during Sophocles’ Electra.’ She provided a detailed analysis which included this insight: ‘The boundaries of reality blur further [in Electra] as they start role-playing episodes from their family’s history … as though stepping outside of themselves will help these characters process their grief. The result is not clarity, though, but confused identities and incestuous overtones. All this means is that when we get to Persona, we are troubled by the notion of characters losing their sense of self.’ She ended: ‘Both Andrews’s Electra and his Persona could more than stand on their own as imaginative takes on seminal texts that reward those with knowledge of the source material. But the production’s real strength is in the elegant parallels it draws, to form a new whole that enriches and enhances the work of both Sophocles and Bergman.’

Other critics were less impressed.

4 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑

Time Out‘s Andrzej Lukowski concentrated on the stars: ‘even if Benedict Andrews’ production doesn’t entirely ‘work’, the sense that it is just bloody amazing having two incredible actors doing an enormous amount of acting – and that we’re actually only seeing half of it – carries the night.’ He pointed out: ‘while there are links between the pieces, you could drive yourself mad looking for continuity: I think it’s easier to view Electra/Persona as a double bill.’ He concluded: ‘watching them journey to the deepest recesses of the characters’ blurred souls is all you should want from the stage, really.’

3 stars ⭑⭑⭑

The Standard‘s Nick Curtis called it: ‘a mashup that refuses to mesh’, explaining ‘it’s hard to see what connects the two stories’. He praised the actors, saying Blanchett had ‘a vulpine, glittering grin and a sinewy sensuality’ while Hoss was ‘a gutsy, compelling presence, powerfully communicating the maelstrom of emotion ‘. However: ‘where Electra is primal, Persona is wilfully elusive.’ In the Persona section, he declared: ‘The use of a probing, chasing lens onstage and backstage has become an overused technique’.

The Guardian‘s Arifa Akbar helpfully explained the connection: ‘The Electra bit of the title refers to the Sophoclean tragedy of a daughter trapped in a cycle of vengeance, the Persona part to Ingmar Bergman’s 1966 film about an actor who suddenly stops speaking while performing Electra on stage.’  Hoss who gave ‘a searing performance’ as Elektra and Blanchett was ‘commanding’ as Clytemnestra. Like Nick Curtis above, she found: ‘Andrews’ overhaul of the ancient much more successful than his strangely sterile play on Bergman’s classic.’ She too was tired of the use of cameras: ‘It’s now an old trick, beloved of the likes of Ivo van Hove and Jamie Lloyd, which looks hackneyed here.’

Holly O’Mahony for The Stage described the first section ‘an appetiser in the form of a mini production of Electra – one that dials down the tragedy and heightens the comedy, holding its audience at arm’s length to remind us it’s all pretend.’ As for the more dominant Persona: ‘for all its stylishness and persuasive performances, this production is clinically intellectual – theatre for the head, not the heart.’

The Financial Times‘ Sarah Hemming commented: ‘Cate Blanchett (Clytemnestra) and Nina Hoss (Electra) stand, nose-to-nose, squaring off in their characters’ determination not to yield. “You have no idea what it’s like to be me,” spits Hoss’s Electra, with contempt. It’s riveting: a moment charged with all the electricity and charisma these two great actors bring to the stage. It’s also deeply ironic and drives at the heart of this strange, intense exploration of identity. They actually both know exactly what it is like to be the other — in performance terms at least.’ She commented on the role swapping: ‘That’s no gimmick, but another twist in an evening that plunges into questions about power, grief, roleplay and how much we can ever know about ourselves or one another. It proves by turns gripping and weirdly becalmed, with the long, chillier second half critically losing momentum.’

The Times’ Clive Davis concluded: ‘Blanchett and Hoss’s immaculate screen technique comes to the fore: these are actors who can make the most of the smallest gesture. Brendan Aanes’s sound design is claustrophobic in both sections. As theatre, though, it lacks spontaneity. Perhaps we’ve simply seen too many cameras on stage lately: it’s time for human beings to be centre stage again.’

WhatsOnStage‘s Sarah Crompton described the acting: ‘As Electra, Hoss’s purposeful walk, her downturned mouth, and rising fury perfectly suggests a woman in the grip of mania, exuding “the holy stench of grief.” Her ability as Elisabet to reflect thought and feeling while staying utterly still is riveting; her strength and vulnerabilities are both delicately charted.  As Clytemnestra, Blanchett is imperious and frightening, as Alma, needy, ingratiating and slightly terrifying’.

While conceding: ‘Hoss and Blanchett are entirely watchable’, Claire Allfree for the Telegraph decided: ‘There’s little here to match Persona’s uncanny claustrophobia and ambiguous visual power. Andrews beautifully rethinks Sophocles but proves unequal to Bergman.’

Anya Ryan of LondonTheatre said: ‘Electra is emotionally astute and nuanced. Persona feels detached, with the use of screen recording now an overused, stale technique in theatre.’ She  continued: ‘for the most part, it remains a production that is frustratingly over-directed. It lacks a sense of instinctive freedom. We are constantly being told to see parallels between the two halves, the characters and their actions. But it’s rare we actually feel their weight.’

The Independent’s Alice Saville noted: ‘Watching this hybrid play is often a laborious exercise, like trying to connect pieces from two different jigsaw puzzles that don’t quite fit. There’s also a kind of cerebral chilliness to this production – a kind of distancing that doesn’t really speak to its emotive themes of motherhood, and the failure to live up to the impossible demands of parental love.’

Critics’ average rating 3.3⭑

Value Rating 47 (Rating combined with typical price)

Electra/Persona can be seen at the Lyttelton Theatre until 10 October 2026. Buy tickets from the theatre nationaltheatre.org.uk

If you’ve seen Electra/Persona, please leave a review and/or rating below

Fun in the forest

Shakespeare’s Globe

There’s never a long gap between productions of Shakespeare’s much loved comedy As You Like It. Despite its familiarity, it remains quite confusing. WhatsOnStage tried help with the plot: ‘Two duke brothers, one usurping the other, another set of three brothers, their father an enemy of the usurping duke, the oldest bullying the youngest (where is the third?) who, while wrestling the usurper’s wrestler, falls in love at first sight with the usurped duke’s daughter. They all end up fleeing to the woods where they meet a whole new bunch, and so forth.’ The critics enjoyed Sean Holmes and Charlie Josephine‘s comical production (‘rambunctious fun’ Telegraph), and praised many of the actors including Lola Shalam‘s Rosalind, Jonnie Broadbent‘s Touchstone and Katherine Pearce‘s Jaques. 

4 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑

Time Out’s Andrzej Lukowski assured us: ‘This is not a production that (as far as I can tell) comes with a massive high concept’. It’s simply; ‘a burst of late summer sun.’ He mentioned: ‘Katherine Pearce’s Jaques is a lovely, human take on the role, somebody with a sensitive, downbeat disposition rather than the sort of thunderous performative melancholy that the role is typically saddled with.

Matt Wolf for LondonTheatre called it: ‘a production that has scant time for rest and wants instead to release the audience into a late-summer landscape of mischief and mirth.’

Clement Scott at BroadwayWorld found: ‘Lola Shalam’s take on Rosalind, perhaps Shakespeare’s most finely crafted female character, highlights her open pursuit of sexual desire, and hints at the gender euphoria the character might feel when dressing as Ganymede.’

Miriam Sallon for WhatsOnStage was not fond of the set: ‘Paul Wills’ stage design is charming in theory: huge blank canvases lean against the back walls, later filled in with quick charcoal drawings of trees to portray the banished duke’s forest, finished with roller-painted leaves. But it would take a very talented crew of artists to create a forest so deftly and casually, and instead it’s left to an enthusiastic cast of actors scribbling in the background, and it ends up looking like a primary school project.’ Nevertheless, she loved almost everything else: ‘The music, as always at the Globe, is the cherry on top.’

3 stars ⭑⭑⭑

Rachel Halliburton for The Times asked: ‘How do you make such a staple of the summer repertoire shine? Here, in no small part through music and design. Katie Richardson’s ebullient band … shifts compellingly from baroque formality to folk, while Paul Wills’s elegant set blooms as woodland inhabitants draw trees and leaves onto the blank canvases.’

The Guardian’s Arifa Akbar noted: ‘Many aspects of this production soar high, including the comedy, sublimely eked by almost every character. Touchstone (Jonnie Broadbent, bare-chested with lacy ruff) is a comic highlight, Jaques’ (Katherine Pearce) “All the world’s a stage” speech is quietly moving and Shalam is a commanding Rosalind, full of charm and cheek.’ She cautioned: ‘although the comedy entertains, it takes away the play’s subversive edges’.

Tom Wicker for The Stage loved Rosalind: ‘Shalam dazzles nearly everyone else off the stage. In a play full of self-important characters, her flailing attempts to be ‘a man’ are funny, but always heartfelt. With the lightest of touches, she captures Shakespeare’s delight in treating no identity as permanent, ‘essential’ or off-the-table for playful parody.’ His reservation was: ‘Where this staging loses ground is in never varying its self-consciously breezy, cheeky tone enough to tap into the play’s more melancholic depths.’

‘Even if it doesn’t always convince emotionally, this pacy production, which leans into the play’s bawdy humour, is still rambunctious fun’ said Kirsten Grant in the Telegraph. She concluded: ‘Holmes and Josephine’s staging doesn’t concern itself with As You Like It’s emotional depths. (Katherine Pearce’s Jaques is less melancholy and becomes a rather understated figure.) Instead, peppered with audience sing-alongs and folk music, this evening of “rustic revelry” will send audiences out on a giddy high.’

Critics’ average rating 3.5⭑

You can see As You Like It at Shakespeare’s Globe until 25 October 2026. Buy tickets directly from shakespearesglobe.com

If you’ve seen As You Like It at Shakespeare’s Globe, please leave your review and/or rating below

Critics kill play about Marilyn Monroe 

Emerald Theatre

The worst reviews of the year (worst even than those for Trainspotting) greeted Sharlene Cooper Cohen’s play about the life and death of Marilyn Monroe. Pixie Lott as the iconic movie star emerged with a few kind words (not many) but the play , directed by Philip William McKinley, was declared lifeless (like a ‘Wikipedia’ entry- Mail, WhatsOnStage, BroadwayWorld).

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

2 stars ⭑⭑

The Daily Mail’s Patrick Marmion said it was ‘a play that has all the drama of a Wikipedia entry’.

Julia Rank of WhatsOnStage had the same thought: ‘Sharlene Cooper Cohen’s prurient play that has all the dramatic tension and emotional impact of a Wikipedia article.’ She gave some credit to the star: ‘Lott does her best with what she has to work with in her bouffant bobbed wig (physically, she would be more convincing as Princess Diana than Monroe), though there is overreliance on the breathy voice and coquettish mannerisms. Her lengthy final monologue to her psychiatrist is handled capably, granting her some dramatic dignity.’

Fiona Mountford, reviewing for the Telegraph, endured a ‘stubbornly spark-free two hours’. She laid some of the blame on ‘director Philip William McKinley, who oversees a production that is almost entirely devoid of energy.’

[2 stars assumed] Time Out‘s Andrzej Lukowksi said emphatically: ‘it’s simply not a good drama’.

1 star ⭑

Mica Blackwell for BroadwayWorld came up with a familiar comparison: ‘Despite seemingly based on years of research and the insistence that Monroe isn’t a dumb blonde boy crazy victim, Cooper instead regresses her life with as much substance as a Wikipedia summary’. She told us: ‘With little cohesion, McKinley’s direction sporadically flashes – quite literally from Jack Weir’s blinding lighting design and Justin Williams’ uninspired set – back and forth between the moments after Monroe’s death and a series of memories that are ridiculous at best and crass at worst.’

‘The whiff of drama school end-of-year show persists’ sniffed The Guardian’s Arifa Akbar. She concluded: ‘the bigger mystery of who Monroe was remains entirely untouched.’

The Standard’s Nick Curtis called it a ‘tawdry and irredeemably awful trawl through Marilyn Monroe’s life and last moments’. As for the star: ‘Lott seems to have only two modes of expression as Marilyn – eyelash-batting flirtation and screaming anxiety … on this evidence she shouldn’t give up her day job as a pop star.’ He ended: ‘Unfortunately our online content management system does not allow for zero-star reviews. If it did, this would be my first.’

’The only mystery here is how this comically inept conspiracy theory drama ever made it to the London stage’ revealed The Times’ Clive Davis. ‘You leave the Emerald Theatre feeling sorry for the actors, especially the pop singer Pixie Lott, whose version of Marilyn essentially consists of one pout followed by an even bigger one.’ He pointed out: ‘It somehow seems appropriate that an enema makes an appearance before the end of the evening. If only someone had applied one to the script.’

Critics’ average rating 1.4⭑

Who Killed Marilyn? can be seen at the Emerald Theatre in London until 29 October 2026. Buy tickets directly from whokilledmarilyn.uk

If you’ve seen Who Killed Marilyn? at the Emerald Theatre, please leave your review and/or rating below

Tamsin Outhwaite shines in revived comedy

Harold Pinter Theatre

Alison Steadman is forever associated with the part of Beverly in Abigail’s Party but all the critics agreed that Tamsin Outhwaite made it her own (‘flinty, ferocious and quite fabulous’ Financial Times). They were not so unified about the quality of Nadia Fall‘s production and whether Mike Leigh‘s 1977 play had dated, although most felt it worked well (‘Fall’s deft direction maximises the comedy, but also the agonising and almost unbearable sadness lurking below’ BroadwayWorld).

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

4 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑

The Financial Times’ Sarah Hemming praised: ‘Tamzin Outhwaite’s flinty, ferocious and quite fabulous performance as a woman who can turn the offer of a drink into a proposal so loaded it might give a mafia don pause.’  She continued: ‘she also radiates a sense of deep misery, frustration and nihilism, and her instinct to drive all that towards destroying others is horribly recognisable.’ She had good words for how well the play has come through the years: ‘Leigh, likewise, gradually shifts the tone. The brittle humour gives way to something darker and a desolate picture of a class-ridden and consumer-driven society emerges. Nadia Fall’s astringent staging retains the period setting, rolling the whole thing out on Peter McKintosh’s gloriously strident set and lacing it with 1970s music, but it also drives home the current resonances.’

The Stage’s Sam Marlowe also gave her full credit: ‘this is Outhwaite’s show. It is inevitably stagey – the heightened quality of Leigh’s work gives the play an air of contrivance that in its way is as dated as the decor – but Outhwaite seizes and stomps her way through it with glittering conviction. And it’s still horribly entertaining.’

Time Out’s Andrzej Lukowski too liked the way Bev has changed in this production: ‘Outhwaite … is wickedly calculating, a middle aged mean girl who deftly manipulates her hapless guests as a means of making herself feel better about her rut of a life, in which a veneer of aspiration masks boredom and mundanity. She is just awful, but she is shrewd and calculating’. He pointed out: ‘The fact Outhwaite is actually from a working class Essex background surely helps: she doesn’t have Steadman’s weirdly affected drawl, but rather sounds like somebody with a regional accent trying to lose it – it’s less overtly amusing than Steadman but also less mocking of the character.’ He decided: ‘it basically works because the play’s a stone cold classic. Many of the lines are gaspingly, immortally funny, and as a simmering study of passive-aggressive Britishness it is utterly peerless’.

Kirsten Grant for the Telegraph reported that the play ‘still has the power to make us cringe and laugh in equal measure.’

BroadwayWorld’s Aliya Al-Hussan also praised the production: ‘Fall’s deft direction maximises the comedy, but also the agonising and almost unbearable sadness lurking below. Abigail’s Party is the ultimate drinks party from hell, but this vibrant and perfectly-pitched production means you just can’t take your eyes off it.’ She thought: ‘Fall’s decision to cast a South Asian couple as Angela and Tony works well’ and liked the two actors: ‘Omar Malik is a suitably sullen Tony who displays very jagged edges in his harsh treatment of his wife. Lauren Patel … creates a child-like Angela, who constantly looks adoringly at Beverly as she puts her foot in it again and again’.

The Times’ Clive Davis praised the production and cast: ‘Fall’s production, first seen at Stratford East in 2024, is so deftly crafted that the best of the dialogue sounds freshly minted. Tamzin Outhwaite’s bored, vampish wife steps out of the shadow of Alison Steadman (…) Her guests and her poor husband, Laurence (Kevin Bishop strikes just the right aggrieved tone), become her props (…) Pandora Colin captures the gaucheness of Sue, the painfully prim neighbour who is taking refuge from her daughter’s rave-up.‘

WhatsOnStage didn’t review the West End presentation, having reviewed its premiere at Stratford East in 2024. This is what Theo Bosanquet said then: ‘There are flaws – notably, the ending doesn’t quite live up to the promise of what precedes it – and aspects of the text have inevitably dated, not least the use of the word ‘rape’ for cheap laughs. But Fall’s revival revels in its sheer entertainment factor, emphasised by Peter McKintosh’s sitcom-esque living room set, and in Outhwaite has a comic lead on stellar form.’

3 stars ⭑⭑⭑

The Guardian’s Arifa Akbar loved the new Beverly: ‘Tamzin Outhwaite’s incredible achievement is that she banishes Steadman’s original portrayal of Bev as the definitive one (…) Beneath her patter as party hostess is rage, hurt and an almost Madame Bovary boredom.‘ She had reservations about the play: ‘the darkness of the ending does not land. It is partly because there are unanswered questions around their marriage but also because it has all been so enjoyably comical that this switch to tragedy leaves Bev speechless and at sea, for once.’

The Independent’s Alice Saville was disappointed with production. First she explained what she thought the play is about: ‘It’s more of a study of how one bullying personality can gradually distort and poison everything around them – by painting their aesthetic and moral choices as the only possible correct ones, and by slowly obliterating anyone who refuses to enter their orbit. Fall’s production, though, favours a consistent tone of brash silliness over psychological intensity.’

Julia Rank of LondonTheatre didn’t think the play had worn well: ‘The way in which it originally captured a zeitgeist and was developed through improvisation, blending elements of a middlebrow sitcom with Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, was groundbreaking in its time and has influenced any amount of cringe comedy over the past half-century (…) while much of the audience was in stitches, my response to the humour was more muted.’

Critics’ average rating 3.7⭑

Value Rating 39 (combining critics’ rating with typical ticket price)

Abigail’s Party can be seen at the Harold Pinter Theatre until 19 September 2026. Buy tickets directly from haroldpintertheatre.co.uk

If you’ve seen this production of Abigail’s Party, please leave your review and/or rating below

Killer musical

The Barbican Theatre

A new musical based on a popular Manga tells the story of a student who is given a ‘Death Note’ by the gods and discovers whoever’s name he writes in it will die. He becomes a killer and is hunted by a genius detective. Most of the critics loved Stephen Whitson’s production (‘stunning visuals and all-around formidable cast’ BroadwayWorld) but a couple didn’t (‘dead on arrival’ Telegraph). They couldn’t even agree about Frank Wildhorn and Jack Murphy‘s music (‘haunting, majestic’ WhatsOnStage; ‘compositions alternate between pop-rock anthems and mopey ballads’ Standard).

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

4 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑

WhatsOnStage‘s Alun Hood loved it. He likened it to a ‘gleaming, glittering fantastical beast. This is a very big show in every sense: ambition, emotions, scale, spectacle, cast… and sheer entertainment value.’ He admitted: ‘In the cold light of day, it’s utterly preposterous, of course, but such is the world-building in Stephen Whitson’s epically stylish production and the consistency of tone in Menchell’s writing that, once you buy into the bombastic madness, this really is a terrific time in the theatre.’ He continued to pile on the praise to the end of his refiew: ‘the production values alone outstrip most current West End musicals, and the haunting, majestic pop score is surely enough to inspire repeat visits from fans. This is a total blast.’

Mica Blackwell for BroadwayWorld assured us: ‘Putting aside the plot’s occasional disjointedness, there is much to enjoy in Death Note. Diehard fans will love seeing the world brought to life with its stunning visuals and all-around formidable cast, while newcomers will quickly give themselves over to the thrilling melodrama. If there’s one thing Death Note won’t do this summer, it’s leave you dying of boredom.’

Andrew Pulver for The Guardian found: ‘Shorn of the original’s convoluted digressions, and with a dilution of the original manga’s play for the teen-boy readership, this emerges as a smart, metaphysical whodunnit – or perhaps, more accurately, howdunnit – with a nice line in emotional intensity cranked up by its power-ballad musical score (…) Death Note purists might not be completely on board with the alterations, but I would challenge anyone not to have a good time with this.’

Olivia Rook at LondonTheatre liked the look: ‘Jon Bausor’s striking set uses a platform to separate the gods from the humans, which doubles as gritty architecture for Tokyo’s skyline. Video designer Akhila Krishnan’s flickering projections of neon lights and rain evocatively capture a sense of place, helping to pull together a stylish production that is dressed to kill.’

The Financial Times’ Sarah Hemming wrote that it was ‘a riotous spectacle, and the young central trio give cracking performances. Pang is excellent as the increasingly megalomaniac Light; Ryan makes L weirdly charismatic and has a great voice; Stephanie Zaharis shines as Misa, the pop star who, somewhat improbably, gets mixed up in it all. Leung is very enjoyable as the cackling, amoral Ryuk and Grace Mouat is a standout as Rem, the spirit who falls in love. Not to die for, but an entertaining night out.’

2 stars ⭑⭑

The Standard‘s Nick Curtis was blunt: ‘it’s a mixture of mumbo-jumbo, crime-story cliche and anodyne teen wish-fulfilment. Frank Wildhorn’s compositions alternate between pop-rock anthems and mopey ballads. Stephen Whitson’s heavy-handed production is full of brutish air-clawing choreography and wooden exposition.’

1 star ⭑

Tim Robey, the Telegraph‘s film critic, was unimpressed: ‘Death Note: The Musical crash-lands at the Barbican – not so much souped-up as dead on arrival. Not a single one of the 27 belted-out songs has the power to resurrect it (…) Even fathoming why it’s a musical at all is beyond me (…) You’d be hard pressed to send this music anywhere other than the bin: it serves up tranche after tranche of undifferentiated rock-opera sludge, with rudimentary lyrics, and far too many songs that run in circles getting the story nowhere.’

Critics’ average rating 3.4⭑

Value rating 21 (Average rating combined with typical ticket price)

Death Note: The Musical was at The Barbican Theatre until 12 September 2026 and will return 23 March to 15 May 2027. Buy tickets directly from barbican.org.uk

If you’ve seen Death Note: The Musical at The Barbican Theatre and agree or disagree with the critics, please leave your review and/or rating below