The infamous Sh!t Faced Showtime are back in London with a festive edition, they have taken Dickens’ classic and put a drunken spin on it. The formula is the same as other iterations of the Shi!t Faced shows, one member of the cast has been boozing, and this time it is John Milton who plays … More A PISSEDMAS CAROL – REVIEW – LEICESTER SQUARE
Spine-tingling yet heart-warming, Mark Gatiss’s retelling of A Christmas Carol truly encapsulates the haunting atmosphere of a Victorian ghost story, balanced out with enough humour so as to capture the festive season. Led by Keith Allen as Scrooge, with Peter Forbes as Marley, this show is perfect for Christmas viewing. The set design by Paul Wills is instantly captivating, … More A CHRISTMAS CAROL – REVIEW – ALEXANDRA PALACE
The title of this winner of Theatre 503’s 2023 International Playwriting Award by Roxy Cook may seem like the set-up to a joke, but the narrative that unspools is instead an affectionate, gently barbed and at base quite sobering portrait of three ordinary souls (and one restless feline) adrift in modern Moscow. There is much … More A WOMAN WALKS INTO A BANK – REVIEW – THEATRE503
Peter Pan Goes Wrong first premiered in London at the Pleasance Theatre in 2013, and earlier this year the show made its Broadway debut. Now the production is back in the West End for the Christmas season. Following on from The Play That Goes Wrong, in this production, J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan is staged by … More PETER PAN GOES WRONG – REVIEW – LYRIC THEATRE
Drawing heavily from the classic canon of the British supernatural, HighTide’s trio of contemporary Gothic narratives uses traditional storytelling formats to address contemporary themes. Directed by Elayce Ismail, reverent musical interludes accompany tales of apparitions and nighttime conjurings that speak of women from the East of England. Unfortunately, the effect is less chilling and more … More GHOST STORIES BY CANDLELIGHT – REVIEW – SAM WANAMAKER PLAYHOUSE
Drum roll please…(Cue a literal drum rolling across the stage.) The Lyric pantomime is one of traditions with the return of many well-loved jokes and skits. Costumes and sets are all made at the Lyric itself by Good Teeth, with set pieces being reused year on year. This year Cinderella gets the Hammersmith makeover, with … More CINDERELLA – REVIEW – LYRIC HAMMERSMITH
The Old Vic’s A Christmas Carol is in its 7th year, with a host of famous faces having stepped into the infamous role of Ebenezer Scrooge, this year it’s Christopher Eccleston. The script, adapted by Jack Thorne, is an exciting, dramatic staging of the classic. Some may ask why a play written 180 years ago … More A CHRISTMAS CAROL – REVIEW – THE OLD VIC
Wishmas is a 60-minute walkthrough immersive experience consisting of 6 magical rooms filled with colourful characters and activities. As you help save wishes alongside the Wishkeepers, reindeer, and the big man himself, to ensure no wish is forgotten. Each room has its own theme – from a train simulator with wonderful soaring scenery video projections, … More WISHMAS: A FANTASTICAL CHRISTMAS ADVENTURE – REVIEW
Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) is a brand-new musical by Jim Barne & Kit Buchan. The production centres around Dougal (Sam Tutty), a young man who has flown to New York City for his father’s wedding, the father he has never met, and Robin (Dujonna Gift) the sister of the bride-to-be, who has … More TWO STRANGERS (CARRY A CAKE ACROSS NEW YORK) – REVIEW – KILN THEATRE
What appears at first as two latecomers arriving, taking seats at the front row as the house lights dim is the first of many sly twists in this gently metaphysical comedy from writer/director Maggie Marie Casto. Oddly, the young couple (Bailey & Clay) appear from the side of the stage not accessible by the public, … More WEIRD PLACE – REVIEW – UNION THEATRE
Drag sensations BenDeLaCreme and Jinkx Monsoon are an iconic duo with reputations which have surpassed their RuPaul’s Drag Race seasons. Jinkx and Dela are known for their holiday shows and the latest rendition is an absolute success! Jinkx and Dela poke immediate fun at all the different Christmas parodies and storylines they’ve already used in previous … More THE JINKX & DELA HOLIDAY SHOW – REVIEW – LONDON PALLADIUM
Roll up lubbers and walk those unshaven sea legs to the Puppet Barge, for Fisherman Jon is in port! With a charmingly toothless grin and inexplicably filthy rod, Coral Bevan’s sweet and scurvaceous title character is here for one good reason: to catch a fish. And it’s his lucky day — for tonight there are … More FISHERMAN JON: WHAT’S ON THE END OF MY ROD? – REVIEW – THE PUPPET BARGE
FLIP! takes the audience on an exhilarating journey into the intricate world of social media, examining the ever-evolving digital world. We meet Carleen and Crystal (Leah St Luce and Jadesola Odunjo), a content-creating duo and inseparable best friends, who desire to become famous influencers! Their latest post pushes boundaries, but on FLIP!, a new social … More FLIP! – REVIEW – SOHO THEATRE
Creating musical theatre around historic events has become an increasingly popular thing to do within the last few years, following on from the international successes of Hamilton and Six. However, it doesn’t always work, and unfortunately, that is the case with Treason the Musical. Treason began its life as a 5 track EP in 2020, … More TREASON THE MUSICAL – REVIEW – ALEXANDRA PALACE
If you’re looking for light entertainment with a bit of royal glamour this winter, Backstairs Billy has you covered. The new comedy written by Marcelo Dos Santos paints the picture of an unusual friendship in bright aquarelles. A little too colourful, perhaps, but nice to look at, nonetheless. Billy dances on a tightrope like a circus clown, … More BACKSTAIRS BILLY – REVIEW – DUKE OF YORK’S THEATRE
Cheese seizing is a beloved tradition held on the spring bank holiday, when a 7 to 9-pound Double Gloucester is rolled down Cooper’s Hill for participants to follow. Good fun! When I saw Seize the Cheese! being presented at a Wine and Cheese tasting event earlier this year, I got excited, but unfortunately, this cheese was not … More SEIZE THE CHEESE! – REVIEW – NEW WIMBLEDON THEATRE
‘[A]ll I could see was this generation of baby boomers who had the opportunity of going to university, did so, and then never came home’. So writes playwright Richard Bean, talking about the premise of To Have and to Hold, a play about Rob, a London-based writer, and Tina, a Somerset-based businesswoman, returning to see … More TO HAVE AND TO HOLD – REVIEW – HAMPSTEAD THEATRE
This month, The Finborough Theatre ends the 35 year absence of Ena Lamont Stewart’s Knocking on the Wall from UK theatres. Despite Stewart’s success with the postwar realist drama Men Should Weep, the rest of her work has never really entered the mainstream, and thus it is wonderful to see the Finborough raise an important … More KNOCKING ON THE WALL – REVIEW – FINBOROUGH THEATRE
There are a huge amount of film-to-musical adaptations currently on, or coming soon, to the West End, and the latest is The Time Traveller’s Wife. The 2003 novel has been adapted into a film, a TV series, and now a musical, with music and lyrics by Joss Stone and Dave Stewart, and a book by … More THE TIME TRAVELLER’S WIFE – REVIEW – APOLLO THEATRE
Lizzie Borden was tried and acquitted for the axe murders of her father and stepmother in Fall River, Massachusetts in 1892 – no one else was ever charged with the murders. The case garnered widespread media attention at the time, and remains a topic of popular culture today, with a large number of films, theatre … More LIZZIE THE MUSICAL – REVIEW – SOUTHWARK PLAYHOUSE ELEPHANT
