Review: Welsh National Opera – COSI FAN TUTTE at Bristol Hippodrome 25 April, 2024 Despina’s entreaties for women to realise pleasure for themselves is the curved ball in this otherwise very male experiment. ★★★★☆
Review: BOUNCERS at Bath Theatre Royal 23 April, 2024 Godber pulls few punches as he reveals the desperate draw of a night out at the weekend. ★★★☆☆
Review: Birmingham Royal Ballet’s THE SLEEPING BEAUTY at Bristol Hippodrome 20 April, 2024 This lavish production gives ballet fans everything they could hope for. ★★★★★
Review: LOVE’S LABOURS LOST at RSC Stratford-upon-Avon 19 April, 2024 This is a very successful modern day production, which will make it accessible to a wider audience.
★★★★☆
Review: WHAT’S NEXT ? at The Alma Theatre 19 April, 2024 An engaging portrayal of a pioneer aviator. ★★★☆☆
Review: SHERLOCK HOLMES:The Valley Of Fear at Bath Theatre Royal 17 April, 2024 Even the entrance of Moriarty himself wasn’t enough to raise the temperature. ★★☆☆☆
Review: POLLY: The Heartbreak Opera at The Wardrobe Theatre 17 April, 2024 Kitsch, chaos, and critique brilliantly collide in Polly. ★★★★☆
Review: THE RAKE’S PROGRESS at Oxford Playhouse 11 April, 2024 Colourful, fast-moving and exuberant; This is certainly a production worth seeing.
★★★★☆
Review: A TRIO OF TENNESSEE WILLIAMS at Everyman Theatre Cheltenham 11 April, 2024 A powerful and disturbing triptych.
★★★★☆
Review: MEHEK at Birmingham Hippodrome 10 April, 2024 The dance is breathtaking in its complexity and precision
★★★★★
Review: CONSTELLATIONS at The Barn Theatre, Cirencester 9 April, 2024 a bittersweet tale which explores timeless themes of life, love and loss.
★★★★★
Review: THE LOVER/THE COLLECTION at The Ustinov Studio, Bath 4 April, 2024 a theatrical pleasure not to miss. ★★★★★
Review: THE WIZARD OF OZ at Bristol Hippodrome 4 April, 2024 There is much to enjoy about this production, but there isn’t enough gold under this particular rainbow.
★★★☆☆
Review: THE CANTERBURY TALES at St. Mary Magdalen Church, Oxford 3 April, 2024 Half Cut Theatre are bringing something new and engaging to a very old tradition of travelling players.
★★★★☆
Review: THE PASSION OF LIVING SPIT at Tobacco Factory Theatres 3 April, 2024 The ingredients may have changed, but the audience still shrieks with delight at what is served up. ★★★★★
Review: THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER at The Alma Theatre 1 April, 2024 As the tale unfolds the audience is as quickly transfixed as is the wedding guest in Coleridge’s great poem. ★★★★★
Review: THE LAND OF LOST CONTENT at The Wardrobe Theatre 30 March, 2024 Sensitively written with always an eye to the poetic phrase. ★★★☆☆
Review: RIGHT OF WAY at The Wardrobe Theatre 29 March, 2024 This hour-long meditation on what it means to exist, to reclaim a sense of happiness in the face of adversity, will live long in peoples’ memory. ★★★★☆
Review: DROP THE DEAD DONKEY: The Reawakening! at Bath Theatre Royal 27 March, 2024 Audiences will enjoy watching malfunctioning humans getting by in a world dominated by unforgiving AI. It’s a dystopia, but a very funny one.
★★★★☆
Review: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM at Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham 27 March, 2024 An enchanting trip into a magical realm. ★★★★★
Review: IT’S A MOTHERF…KING PLEASURE at The Weston Studio, Bristol Old Vic 26 March, 2024 The show is a sharp poke in the ribs for a section of the culture that deserves all the ridicule it attracts.
★★★☆☆
Review: MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING at The Alma Theatre 25 March, 2024 A very enjoyable high-speed romp through one of Shakespeare’s best-loved plays. ★★★☆☆
Review: THE BOY AT THE BACK OF THE CLASS at Malvern Festival Theatre 20 March, 2024 A funny, poignant and necessary tale.
★★★★☆
Review: THE KITE RUNNER at Bath Theatre Royal 19 March, 2024 An engrossing tale, and its hard-won redemptive conclusion is ultimately very satisfying. ★★★☆☆
Review: JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR at Bristol Hippodrome 12 March, 2024 The rock n’ roll is competing with the story-telling here
★★★☆☆
Review: THE WOMAN IN BLACK at Bath Theatre Royal 12 March, 2024 Fans of supernatural thrillers will not be disappointed by this simple story cleverly told.
★★★☆☆
Review: STARTER FOR TEN at Bristol Old Vic 8 March, 2024 This production lifts you up with its energy and¬ pace, its careful observations of young lives finding their way ★★★★★
Review: CLOWN SEX at The Wardrobe Theatre 7 March, 2024 Sutton Williams never takes her finger off the naughty button ★★★☆☆
Review: Matthew Bourne’s EDWARD SCISSORHANDS at Bristol Hippodrome 6 March, 2024 Shot through with beguiling warmth and humour, this is a thoroughly entrancing show ★★★★☆
Review: BEN AND IMO at Swan Theatre, Stratford 1 March, 2024 a fascinating depiction of two brilliant and sensitive musical powerhouses
★★★★★
Review: DEAR YOUNG MONSTER at Bristol Old Vic Weston Studio 29 February, 2024 A play that deserves to be seen by the widest audience possible ★★★★☆
Review: THE TIME MACHINE – A Comedy at Everyman Theatre Cheltenham 28 February, 2024 The Time of Your Life….guaranteed
★★★★★
Review: A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE at Ustinov Studio, Bath 27 February, 2024 There are no dull moments, no superfluous dialogue, no weak performances; this revival is an unadulterated success
★★★★★
Review: LA BOHÈME at Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham 24 February, 2024 La Bohème works because the music convinces and on Friday night in Cheltenham voices and orchestra were both outstanding. ★★★★☆
Review: AND THEN THERE WERE NONE at Bath Theatre Royal 21 February, 2024 ★★★☆☆ there is little doubt that Christie aficionados will find much to enjoy in this show.
Review: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM at RSC Theatre, Stratford 14 February, 2024 This production embraces the magical realm of dreams
★★★★★
Review: NOISES OFF at Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham 14 February, 2024 Frayn’s farce still shows its class
★★★★☆
Review: BLACK IS THE COLOUR OF MY VOICE at Bristol Old Vic 13 February, 2024 It would be difficult to find a better one-woman show than this. ★★★★★
Review: SLEUTH at Bath Theatre Royal 13 February, 2024 Given a high degree of animation by Director Rachel Kavanagh, Shaffer’s play has a lot of fun with hidden identity and double bluff. ★★★☆☆
Review: NANNY at The Weston Studio, Bristol Old Vic 8 February, 2024 Watching these two actresses go about their business is a delight in a perfectly realised piece of studio theatre.
★★★★☆
Review: A FAMILY BUSINESS at Tobacco Factory Theatres 8 February, 2024 Despite some excellent performances, a spirited polemic, it fails as a piece of theatre.
★★☆☆☆
Review: THE CIRCLE at Oxford Playhouse 7 February, 2024 Though the play presents an interesting slice of social history
the subject matter feels distant. ★★★☆☆
Review: BLUE BEARD at Bath Theatre Royal 7 February, 2024 I was left feeling disappointed by a play that was far too hesitant in getting to grips with the realities of its own heartfelt theme. ★★★☆☆
Review: INTO THE MELTING POT at The Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton 3 February, 2024 music collided with drama and melds into something unique ★★★★☆
Review: METAMORPHOSES at Ustinov Studio, Bath 2 February, 2024 Both pieces are sensual and articulate whilst giving the audience the privilege of being in the same room as consummate artists ★★★★★
Review; SHERLOCK HOLMES and the WHITECHAPEL FIEND at Barn Theatre, Cirencester 30 January, 2024 The Curious Case of the Missing Stars
★★★☆☆
Review: MACBETH at Bristol Old Vic 26 January, 2024 a brave attempt by the English Touring Theatre to give a contemporary context to one of Shakespeare’s darkest plays. ★★★☆☆
Review: HMS PINAFORE at Oxford Playhouse 20 January, 2024 Fast, funny and inventive and, in an age when opera on the move is becoming a rarity, well worth supporting. ★★★★☆
Review: LIFE OF PI at Bristol Hippodrome 17 January, 2024 This was thrilling theatre-making at its best, catch it while you can! ★★★★★
Review: METAMORPHOSIS at Bristol Old Vic 13 January, 2024 It is in Sissay’s writing we find the real monsters at play. ★★★★☆