thu 19/06/2025

Theatre Reviews

Small Island, National Theatre At Home review – big-hearted story hits every beat

Laura De Lisle

A British-Jamaican man is confused. It's the Second World War, and he signed up for the RAF on the understanding that he would serve as a pilot overseas. But instead he's ended up as ground crew in a grey Lincolnshire village. "You are overseas, aren't you?" sneers his sergeant.

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A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare's Globe online review - a seasonal treat

Heather Neill

What could be better for a lockdown summer night "out" than a virtual visit to Shakespeare's Globe? Simultaneously in a theatre and the open air, we can share the visible enjoyment of hundreds of others, the very opposite of self-isolation and social distancing.

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The Madness of George III, National Theatre at Home review – a powerful, elegant depiction

Rachel Halliburton

It has been the fate of George III – who on many levels was a visionary and accomplished monarch – to go down in history as a comic figure, most famed for losing first America and then his mind.

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Reasons To Be Cheerful, Graeae review - raunchy working-class nostalgia

aleks Sierz

If any musical can live up to this title in these troubled times, it must be this show from Graeae, a theatre company whose mission is to champion the work of Deaf and disabled artists.

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Coriolanus, National Theatre at Home review – gritty 21st century update

Rachel Halliburton

An arrogant leader contemptuous of his people. Could there be a more perfect timing for Josie Rourke’s taut, visceral production of Coriolanus?

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This House, National Theatre at Home review – timely revival of brilliant House of Commons drama

Rachel Halliburton

There is a line of argument that – unfairly – blames playwright James Graham for Dominic Cummings. Would Cummings, some might ask, have achieved the influence he has now if it hadn’t been for his depiction in Graham’s brilliant TV drama Brexit: The Uncivil War in which he was played as an obsessive genius by Benedict Cumberbatch? 

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A Streetcar Named Desire, National Theatre at Home review - world on fire

aleks Sierz

The National Theatre’s triumphant march through its archive of NT Live recordings continues this week with a glorious blaze of a show.

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The Understudy online review - entertaining adaptation of David Nicholls' novel

Veronica Lee

A running gag in David Nicholls' novel The Understudy is that its main character is called Steve McQueen. Not that Steve McQueen, the multi-award-winning, critically acclaimed, rich and successful one. 

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Cats, The Shows Must Go On review - a purr-fectly theatrical experience

Marianka Swain

Cats is, declares composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, a show that doesn’t really have a story, but was beloved on stage because it’s “the ultimate theatrical experience”.

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Barber Shop Chronicles, National Theatre at Home review - still lively after all these years

Rachel Halliburton

Barber shops – as we are all starting to appreciate in this time of lockdown – fulfil an emotional as much as a cosmetic role: having a haircut can represent a new beginning, a moment for reflection, or even an informal confessional.

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Advertising feature

★★★★★

A compulsive, involving, emotionally stirring evening – theatre’s answer to a page-turner.
The Observer, Kate Kellaway

 

Direct from a sold-out season at Kiln Theatre the five star, hit play, The Son, is now playing at the Duke of York’s Theatre for a strictly limited season.

 

★★★★★

This final part of Florian Zeller’s trilogy is the most powerful of all.
The Times, Ann Treneman

 

Written by the internationally acclaimed Florian Zeller (The Father, The Mother), lauded by The Guardian as ‘the most exciting playwright of our time’, The Son is directed by the award-winning Michael Longhurst.

 

Book by 30 September and get tickets from £15*
with no booking fee.


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