Here are all of our lovely team of current reviewers.
While this might look like a lot of people, we always have more invites than we can cover and we are always looking for more people to join the team and review some shows. If that sounds like something you might be interested in, get in touch!
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Alastair JR Ball is a writer, podcaster and filmmaker based in London. He is co-host of the Moderate Fantasy Violence podcast, chief editor for SolarPunk Stories and editor of the Red Train Blog. His main interests are politics in writing, theatre, film, art and buildings. When not writing, he can usually be found in a live music venue or a pub.
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Andrei, a lifelong theatre enthusiast, has been a regular in the audience since his childhood days in Constanta, where he frequented the theatre weekly. Holding an MSc in Biodiversity, he is deeply fascinated by the intersection of the arts and environmental science, exploring how creative expression can help us understand and address ecological challenges and broader societal issues. His day job is Residence Life Coordinator, which gives him plenty of spare time to write reviews. He enjoys cats and reading, and took an indefinite leave of absence from writing. Although he once braved the stage himself, performing before an audience of 300, he concluded that his talents are better suited to critiquing rather than acting, for both his and the audience's sake.
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Anna is a London-based writer and theatre maker. She is the co-founder and artistic director of early career theatre company, ‘Dirty Feet’, who make work that provokes conversation and builds community. Anna loves stories and is never far from a piece of written word - whether that be a script, poem, novel, or her journal.
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Sarah saw her first place at the Young Vic Theatre on a school trip, and although she can’t remember what it was called it was enough to get her wanting to see theatre all the time! Her friends who live in the real world complain she’s always going to see a play, but when she’s not doing that you can find her attempting to salsa and dreaming of Cuba.
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Bethany is a 24 year old London-based (wannabe!) writer who currently survives on coffee and theatre trips. Although she has no formal theatre experience, she likes to think that the expertise of her thespian friends and flatmates are slowly starting to rub off on her! Her writing experience so far has been largely magazine-based so she’s really looking forward to using this opportunity to develop her writing in a much more creative atmosphere.
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Joy Waterside, now a lady of a respectable age, has lived, loved, learned, worked and travelled much in several countries before settling along a gentle curve of the river Thames to write the third chapter of her life.
A firm believer that, no matter the venue or the play, one should always wear one's best at a performance, she knows that being acted for is the highest form of entertainment. Hamlet her first love, Shakespeare a lifelong companion and new theatre writers welcome new friends. Her pearls will be glinting from the audience seats both on and off the London's West End.
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Christopher splits his time between immersing himself in the history of the BBC as a PhD student, and writing about bins as a local journalist. He caught the theatre bug back in 2019, and his favourite plays - so far - have been The Son by Florian Zeller, and The Southbury Child by Stephen Beresford. When he's not at the theatre or in a library, you can find him either scouring London's second-hand bookshops or watching the mighty Stevenage FC take on the world.
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Daniel is currently partying his way through his first year at University. Not knowing what to study he turned to drama and has loved every moment so far. This perhaps grew from his childhood when each christmas revolved around a trip to see Keith Harris and Orville in panto. Outside of the serious nature of his degree he is likely to be found supporting Portsmouth Football Club, at a theatre or living the typical university life with friends.
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Theatre addict since the age of nine, Darren is now 43 and Head of Drama at a school in East London; he reviews as often as he can. A proud northerner and an honorary East Londoner, Darren has a particular interest in Queer Theatre.
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Originally from Dublin but having moved around a lot, Dave moved to London, for a second time, in 2018. He works for a charity in the Health and Social Care sector. He has a particular interest in plays with an Irish or New Zealand theme/connection - one of these is easier to find in London than the other!
Dave made his (somewhat unwilling) stage debut via audience participation on the day before Covid lockdowns began. He believes the two are unrelated but is keen to ensure no further audience participation... just to be on the safe side.
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Works in soap marketing. Emily is a British American Graphic Designer, serious Tube Geek, and football fan living in South West London. The only real experience Emily has with drama is the temper tantrums she throws when the District Line isn’t running properly, but she is an enthusiastic writer and happy to be a theatrical canary in the coal mine.
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Felicity is a Theology graduate from Manchester University, who has been searching for something meaningful ever since she stopped arguing about the reality of God or the theological roots of anti-Semitism. She has always loved the theatre, from the West End to Broadway and is a sucker for Shakespeare but will never be convinced that Wicked is a winner.
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Gabriel is a Rose Bruford graduate, playwright, aspiring novelist, and cephalopod lover. When he’s not obsessing over his next theatre visit he can be found in Soho nattering away to anyone who will listen about Akhenaten, complex metaphysical ethics and the rising price of cocktails. He lives in central London with his boyfriend and a phantom dog.
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Harriet is a teacher in south west London specialising in music and the creative arts. She loves the theatre, craft nights and spending time with her godchildren (who she is steadily introducing to all the musical theatre greats!).
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Henry is a trained actor who spends most of his working life pouring pints behind a bar. He uses all of his money and free time on going to the theatre, even when he has very little of both. His lofty goal is to visit every theatre in London (especially the weird ones), and he is particularly passionate about giving emerging theatre companies a voice in the cultural conversation. He really likes guinea pigs and also avocados, but he rarely sees the two together.
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Archie Allensby is an accountant and theatre enthusiast from the North West
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Currently a desk zombie in the public sector, Irene has had no formal training or experience in anything theatrical. She does, however, seem to spend an awful lot of her spare time and spare cash going to the theatre. So, all views expressed will be from the perspective of the person on the Clapham omnibus - which is what most audiences are made up of after all.
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James is the co-founder and joint managing editor of Everything Theatre. By day he is also a management consultant. He once considered a career in theatre production, but then he sold out and joined an event management company. Then he sold out again and to become a consultant. In his time he has produced some extremely mediocre student drama at University College London, where he was unfortunate enough to meet Louie, with whom he ended up founding ET. He has no known specialist knowledge about theatre, but he enjoys plays more than musicals, and is not intelligent enough to understand really abstract stuff. Or opera.
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Jess González is a multilingual storyteller, performer, short-film director, and theatremaker based in London. She has produced for theatre and film in English and Spanish, both written by herself and others. Her shows have been staged in Spain, Italy, and the UK. She has also directed for the award-winning series "Dinosaurio". In recent years she´s turned to comedy, directing and co-writing the web series "Bitching Kills", where she also played Barb. It is also easy to find her on the London stage doing stand-up comedy with her nickname Jess "The Mess" or in the improv group "Loose Beavers".
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Kate is a newcomer to London and currently wide-eyed in wonder at everything the city has to offer, including it’s incredible, diverse theatre scene. A PR / Communication executive by trade she’d been looking for an outlet to use her powers for good and producing honest, unbiased theatre reviews for Londoners seemed like just the ticket! When not immersed in culture at the theatre or scratching out a living in this wonderful (but ruinously expensive) city she’s usually to be found thoroughly investigating the dazzling array of drinking establishments in the capital or alternatively in the gym undoing all the damage she’s done.
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Lily currently works at an art gallery, you might know it, it's in Trafalgar Square. When not gazing at masterpieces, she can be found in a theatre or obsessively crafting. Her love of theatre began with musicals as a child, Starlight Express at the Apollo Victoria being her earliest memory of being completely entranced. She studied music at university and during this time worked on a few shows in the pit with her violin, notably Love Story (which made her cry more and more with each performance) and Calamity Jane (where the gunshot effects never failed to make her jump). But it was when working at Battersea Arts Centre at the start of her career that her eyes were opened to the breadth of theatre and the impact it can have. This solidified a life-long love of theatre, whether in the back of a pub, a disused warehouse or in the heart of the West End.
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Lisamarie is a freelance writer and author with seven novels to her name. Her love of theatre started with a pantomime at the age of three, but it only developed into the obsession it is now thanks to a trip to London to see Les Miserables when she was 12. She lives with her husband, daughter, two guinea pigs, and a cat called Cheryl in a cottage in the Kent countryside where she writes, paints, watches horror films and – whenever possible – leaves it to go to the theatre.
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Louie is the co-founder and joint managing editor of Everything Theatre. He met James at university, and this event definitively changed his life for the worst. These days he a Ph.D. student in particle physics working on the Higgs boson's decay to two photons (seriously). He claims that theatre is his only release from an existence of signal-to-background ratios, selection efficiency and C++ programming. His particular preference is for well-executed site-specific productions and anything by Tom Stoppard. He has been widely misquoted as saying he "hates musicals". This is not true. He simply has not yet come across a musical he hasn't disliked.
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Lucy is a 22 year old living in London that loves theatre! She studied History at the University of Nottingham and enjoyed researching how historical events such as politics, strikes and union disputes are portrayed through theatre! Her favourite genre is musical theatre, which she performed in, directed and produced whilst at University! Her favourite musicals are currently Six, Les Mis and Matilda! She is so excited to be able to review some great shows, to share her love of theatre, and to enjoy more plays and new theatre!!
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Lucy is currently a London-based university student studying drama. Since a very young age, she has been an avid theatregoer of both plays and musicals alike; She is very well practised in picking apart and delving deeper into what is being presented. She tells us she cannot wait to share her thoughts and feelings on what the stage has to offer!
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Marianna, being Italian, has an opinion on just about everything and believes that anything deserves an honest review. Her dream has always been to become an arts critic and, after collecting a few degrees, she realised that it was easier to start writing in a foreign language than finding a job in her home country. In the UK, she tried the route of grown-up employment but soon understood that the arts and live events are highly addictive.
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By her own admission Mary goes to the theatre far too much, and will watch just about anything. Her favourite musical is Matilda, which she has seen 16 times, but she’s also an Anthony Neilson and Shakespeare fan - go figure. She has a long history with Richmond Theatre, but is currently helping at Shakespeare's Globe as a steward and in the archive. She's also having fun being ET's specialist in children's theatre and puppetry, and being a Super Assessor for the Offies! Mary now insists on being called The Master having used the Covid pandemic to achieve an award winning MA in London's Theatre and Performance.
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Matt's love for theatre started with with his first role as a Harley Davidson-riding granny at the age of 9. Since then he has played the beating heart of a Jabberwocky at the Edinburgh fringe, directed a Rhinoceros (puppet) in a West-end venue, and bloodied several audience members (with a production of Titus Andronicus). Away from theatre he is training to be a patent attorney and to mix an excellent French martini.
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Michael is a lifelong Londoner who enjoys using his free time to explore all the fantastic and madcap sights that London has to offer. This often involves the arts and is occasionally something he stumbles across by complete accident. Having experienced many enjoyable adventures in theatre, he continues to be entertained and educated by the wide variety of shows on offer.
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Mike Carter is a playwright, script-reader, workshop leader and dramaturg. He has worked across London’s fringe theatre scene for over a decade and remains committed to supporting new talent and good work.
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After helping out on university productions as stage manager and photographer, Nadia fell properly in love with theatre when she saw her friends’ staging of The Revenger’s Tragedy, and even deeper when she saw Fiona Shaw’s Mrs Millamant in Congreve’s The Way of the World. Her other life has something to do with film.
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A Scottish South African Londoner. From being a TV presenter to an extra in Sinbad, and from being Big Ears in The Adventures Of Noddy to the evil Herr Zeler in The Sound Of Music, Neil had a fun acting career post graduating from theatre school. He stupidly made the promise to himself to stop acting if he didn't have his Oscar by 30 so as the big 3-0, and lack of a gold statuette, loomed he retired and is now a publicist. The arts is in his life blood so Neil will often be found in a theatre getting goosebumps from a play, balling his eyes out at a musical or interacting with a random piece of modern art in a gallery. From entering the world,quite literally, during a performance of The Towering Inferno, he's always had a passion for cinema and recently launched a film blog as the dream one day would be to be a full time film and theatre critic.
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Nathan is a writer, painter and semi-professional fencer. He fell in love with theatre at an early age, when his parents took him to an open air production of Macbeth and he refused to leave even when it poured with rain and the rest of the audience abandoned ship. Since then he has developed an eclectic taste in live performance and attends as many new shows as he can, while also striving to find time to complete his PhD on The Misogyny of Jane Austen.
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An American theatre artist living in London, Olivia received her BFA in Acting from Arcadia University in Philadelphia, and has received her MA in Applied Theatre from the Royal Central School and Drama just last year. She has performed across Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and London. She is co-founder of her company Art Lingual, which provides workshops for international students and refugees developing English language skills through drama. She’s wanted to write theatre reviews for a while, but did not have the platform to do so until now. Her theatre tastes include new works, the classics and musicals. She loves Italian food, exploring new places and polka dancing.
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Paul is a reviewer and an experienced actor who has performed extensively in the West End (Olivier nominated) and has worked in TV, radio and a range of provincial theatres. He is also a speech, drama and communications examiner for Trinity College London, having directed productions for both students and professionals and if not busy with all that he is then also a teacher of English.
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Although my current day job is as a Business Producer and Reporter on BBC Breakfast TV, I have been involved with the stage for as long as I can remember. I am an aspiring actor (amateur stage credits include Stephano in The Tempest, Hal in Loot and an award-nominated performance of Freddie Page in The Deep Blue Sea) and also an avid theatregoer. Before my career in radio and TV, I worked behind the scenes in various professional roles at theatres across the country. This included a spell as the Press Officer for the Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse, encouraging reviewers to visit! I have previously written reviews for WhatsOnStage and am currently hosting a weekly musical theatre show on Box Office Radio.
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R. Bell has been in theatre literally his entire life, having been raised in an opera house by a singer and a theatre director. He has acted, directed, written for the stage, and has attended summer Shakespeare festivals for nearly two decades. He is devoted to supporting new theatre artists and creators.
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Rachel became obsessed with Shakespeare as a teenager, after unexpectedly spending two hours in a waiting room with only a copy of Hamlet for company. She's now a regular at the Globe, and loves seeing shows in unusual places. Outside of the theatre, she's enthusiastic about Scottish dancing, beautiful buildings, and economic growth.
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Rika's earliest recollection of theatre was watching ‘Sargent Nallathambi’ at the Lionel Wendt Theatre in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It was a comedy written by Nihal Silva, and it drew her attention as an impressionable teenager to the magic of capturing and interacting with a live audience. As an avid theatergoer (both on her own and with friends) she can't decide on a preferred genre… mostly because she enjoys them all! As long as it has a story that is well thought out and engaging, leaving an audience thinking and sharing, and it feeds their imaginations. Rika live and work in London, and in her spare time, she loves reading/reviewing manuscripts and interviewing playwrights and authors.
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Someone once described Rob as "the left leaning arm of Everything Theatre" and it's a description he proudly accepted. It is also a description that explains many of his play choices, as he is most likely to be found at plays that try to say something about society. Willing though to give most things a watch, with the exception of anything immersive - he prefers to sit quietly at the back watching than taking part!
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Sara is very excited that she has found a team who supports her theatre habit and even encourages her to write about it. Game on for seeing just about anything, she has a soft spot for Sondheim musicals, the Menier Chocolate Factory (probably because of the restaurant) oh & angst ridden minimal productions in dark rooms. A firm believer in the value and influence of fringe theatre she is currently trying to visit all 200 plus venues in London. Sara has a Master's Degree (distinction) in London's Theatre & Performance from the University of Roehampton.
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Sarah is currently undertaking a degree in English Literature & she is loving being back in education which also fulfils her passion for reading. She’s enjoying exploring new genres & at the moment has a new found interest in sci-fi / horror, but anything from Shakespeare to musicals she finds equally enthralling!
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Anisa is a twenty-something writer and theatre maker living in the shadow of Kings Cross. Still, for some mysterious reason she spends most of her time charming dogs in a very sparkly part of Farringdon. In fact, if you've been to any coffee shops in that area recently then you may have seen her! But, let's be honest, you'll never really know will you?
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Sidonie has a BA in Theatre Studies, and an MA in Arts Administration and Cultural Policy. Describing theatre as her ‘home’ she is never happier than when she is wandering around a theatre. One of her first theatre memories is watching Victoria warm up before a performance of Cats in Blackpool in 1989 - in the eyes of a 5 year old, Victoria was 100% cat. Now, sadly, some of the magical way a child sees things has faded, but that doesn’t stop her enjoying as much theatre as she can. She is partial to a good musical and has a love for the integration of digital technologies into live performance. On the rare occasion she gets to go to Broadway Sidonie is a firm believer of go big or go home, with the 2014 record of 11 shows in 8 days not yet having been beaten – but there is always next time.
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A graduate from Manchester Metropolitan University School of Theatre, Simone has worked as an actress and has run drama workshops for young children. She of course loves going to the theatre, often with her 12-year-old daughter. She loves cake, Radio 4 and coffee.
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Steve is a freelance artist and writer, specialising in Photoshop, who builds unlikely furniture in his spare time. He plays the piano reasonably well, the accordion moderately and the guitar badly. Steve does, of course, love the theatre. The worst play he ever saw starred Charlton Heston and his wife, who have both always wanted to play the London stage. Neither had any experience of learning lines. This was almost as scarring an experience as seeing Ron Moody performing a musical Sherlock Holmes. Steve has no acting ambitions whatsoever.
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Tara is a twenty-something actor, writer and theatre maker from Mumbai. She spends much of her time (and money) outside of theatre still being inside another theatre to watch other people’s work. She realised that her calling lay in theatre when she played Wicked Witch of the East (yes, East, not West, which means her star moment was laying under a prop house with red shoes on for a few seconds) in the 3rd grade. She loves cats, a good Negroni, and soup dumplings, and would like to make it known that she thinks she will make a great wine aunt one day.
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Tom is studying English and History at University, and loves the vibrancy and peculiarities of Fringe Theatre. He has no formal theatre training but loves crafting a review and getting his thoughts across. He aims for his reviews to be charitable and as honest as possible.
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Wendy’s love of the theatre and all things creative stem back to a fateful school trip to the Aldwych where she got the opportunity to improvise on stage with the RSC team. It took another 50 years before she got that chance again, this time via the Old Vic. Having performed in several fringe shows and now writing and directing Wendy takes every opportunity to see and learn from new works and views them with the understanding of just how hard it is to put new work out there. Wendy’s main claim to fame is appearing as the Head Midwife in House of the Dragon where she used her professional expertise as a midwife to advise on the infamous caesarean scene.
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Everything Theatre Reviews, interviews and news for theatre lovers, London and beyond
