Everything Theatre Reviews, interviews and news for theatre lovers, London and beyond

Pros: Immersive and beautiful staging Cons: Slightly difficult to follow This musical adaptation sees Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic tale transplanted from its original Edinburgh setting to a smoggy, dark and dingy Victorian London. That setting is stunningly brought to life through the staging, which immerses the audience from the moment they approach the theatre door with faded notices adorning soot-covered red brick walls. The classic nineteenth-century urban street setting – worthy of Oliver or Les Mis – gives the cast a huge stage to work ...

Pros: Beautiful music and singing, hilariously relatable moments. Cons: A space simply not suited to a musical. Little by Little, performed by Three Barks and a Bite theatre company, is a three handed musical about ‘mates, dates and love triangles’. As such it’s hard to see that the story is really doing anything we haven’t seen many times before. The basic plot follows three childhood friends, two girls and one guy, who, stumbling blindly into the confusing world of adolescence, complicate the friendship ...

In the suggestive surroundings of the Gallery Different, three of Pablo Picasso's most influential muses offer an intimate portrayal of the man they loved and hated.

Pros: A tremendous lead performance by Karen Archer. Cons: Although billed as a psychological thriller, it’s neither surprising nor subtle enough to properly fit that bill. The Park Theatre is modern, comfortable, and only a couple minutes’ walk from Finsbury Park station. Also, they have pizza. Why don’t more theatres do pizza? It’s two of my favourite things in the world, combined. The Other Place focuses on Juliana Smithton, a high-flying neurologist whose life starts to unravel when she is diagnosed ...

Pros: A cast fully able to think on their feet, providing some genuinely brilliant one liners, a little innuendo and plenty of clever ad libs. Cons: Not a show for the connoisseurs who like their theatre seamless and without actors making each other laugh when they should be performing Like a good episode of Scooby Doo, the ending of Murder She Didn’t Write, from Degrees Of Error Theatre, makes very little sense.  But getting there involves a lot of rather ...

Pros: Visual alchemy – the production design and Grand Hall setting combined to create delightful thematic echoes that enhanced the whole experience. Cons: With so much going on visually and sonically, the text felt unnecessarily wordy sometimes. At last summer’s Edinburgh Fringe, I was sad to miss Adam in its first triumphantly sold out run, but now I’m glad I had to wait. From Egypt to Glasgow, from Woman to Man – seeing this global transgender odyssey in the newly ...

Pros: The dramaturgy, the design, the acting. Cons: I should stop going to see plays that make me emotional. In July 1940, the imminent German invasion and the continuous bombings of most British cities convinced the Government of the necessity to exile as many children as possible to other Commonwealth countries. For this purpose, the Children’s Overseas Reception Board was established, which saw the registration of over 200,000 youths in the first few months of its existence. Amongst them, 15 ...

Director/choreographer Tony Adigun tells us more about the contemporary hip hop piece 'Fagin's Twist' before it embarks on a UK tour.

Pros: Alice Pitt-Carter’s energetic portrayal as she rips through a 70 minute performance with ease. Cons: A slightly uneven plot doesn’t quite deliver the pay-off that is so richly deserved. Whenever I’m handed earplugs prior to a show I feel a curious mix of fear and excitement. Fear because I’m reminded of Idol Berserker at the Barbican (which involved earplugs, plastic ponchos and cling film: believe me that’s all you need to know); but also excitement because it means I’m ...

Pros: Worth watching, if just to see some of the more complex scenes played out. Cons: It could do with shortening by ten minutes or so. New, international London-based theatre company Starbound Theatre brings its tale of grief and ghosts to the cosy Hen and Chickens Theatre Bar above an Angel boozer. The troupe – whose brand is focused on identity – tackles the topic with plenty of dramatic irony, and even a Roomba robot to boot. Young Celeste, played ...