London Archives - North West End UK

26Feb

By Zain RussellNo Comments

London

Dracula – National Youth Theatre

Everyone knows the classic Gothic horror tale of Dracula, first written by Bram Stoker, but the National Youth Theatre offers a bold reinterpretation that feels almost like two plays in one. The first act remains largely faithful to the spirit of the original story. Sasha Jagsi commands centre stage as the young woman who has been bitten by Dracula and is visited nightly as he continues to drain her blood. Her portrayal captures the terrifying uncertainty of a character questioning her own sanity: is she unwell, losing her mind, or actually dying? Through visions, night terrors and sleepwalking episodes, the audience is drawn into her psychological unravelling. Jagsi’s slow, deliberate movements and her haunting, bewitching stare out towards the audience create an unsettling atmosphere....

Evening All Afternoon – Donmar Warehouse

26Feb

By Dave SmithNo Comments

London

Evening All Afternoon – Donmar Warehouse

Jennifer (Anastasia Hille) is about to marry the never-seen John and become stepmother to Delilah (Erin Kellyman) in Anna Ziegler’s Evening All Afternoon. The play switches between extended addresses to the audience and scenes playing out between the two women grappling at being thrown together. Her father’s remarriage leaves Delilah consumed by grief over her mother’s death, leading to hallucination as she speaks with her dead mother. Delilah’s cheekiness pushing and testing Jennifer, feeling at liberty to really press on issues contrast strongly with Jennifer’s primness, never even untucking her blouse as disdainfully noted by Delilah. Delilah’s mother was younger than her father, Jennifer is a full decade older than John. Boomer and Gen Z and there is a gap there at once, with ...

Werewolf Sighted In Port Talbot – Old Red Lion

26Feb

By Charles PipeNo Comments

London

Werewolf Sighted In Port Talbot – Old Red Lion

Werewolf Sighted In Port Talbot is a darkly comedic horror play from playwright Andy Sellers. This astounding debut play premiered at GrimFest in 2025 and now returns to the Old Red Lion for a short run that you should go out of your way to get tickets for. The play follows couple Ffion and Billy on a camping trip in the Welsh countryside. They are there so that Billy can finally witness Ffion’s monthly transformation into a werewolf. With the stress of this pivotal moment building, and with dark secrets lurking beneath the surface, their relationship is tested. Playwright Andy Sellers also plays Billy, alongside Lucy Havard as Ffion. They perfectly deliver the script’s naturalistic dialogue with believable nuance, such that it real feels like observing a snapshot of a real couple. ...

25Feb

By Charles PipeNo Comments

London

Siblings: Dreamweavers – Soho Theatre

Siblings are a sketch and character comedy duo consisting of real-life siblings Maddy and Marina Bye. In their latest show, Dreamweavers, they play scientists who have invented a device that can projects people’s dreams. Using the audience as clinical trial participants, the duo project (i.e. act out, as sketches) a variety of dreams, ranging from the nightmarish to the absurd to the Freudian. This sci-fi B-movie -esque framing device is fun and provides a broad narrative throughline that gives something tangible to latch onto amidst the delightful chaos of the show. Dreamweavers took a little while to win me over, but once I was on board I had a wonderful time. At first, I found the sketches to be too random and surreal for my tastes. Obviously, this randomness suits the theme of the s...

24Feb

By Dave SmithNo Comments

London

Blink – King’s Head Theatre

Phil Porter’s Blink at King’s Head Theatre is a darkly funny and tender meditation on loneliness, voyeurism and the ways in which we connect in today's modern world. Sophie’s father has died, leaving her spiralling, falling back in on herself and showing all the signs of mental health issues. Jonah has run away from the religious commune he was raised in after finding a bag of thousands of pounds his mother left him after she died. Through a series of small coincidences, Jonah unknowingly rents the flat below Sophie. Not knowing Jonah at all, Sophie sends him a baby monitor, a screen hooked up to a camera in her flat and he starts to watch here in small doses and quickly moves to constant viewing. Despite their closeness, just a floor apart, their actual paths never cross. Jonah takes t...

The Story of Peer Gynt: An Evening with Kåre Conradi – The Coronet Theatre

24Feb

By Ralph JeffreysNo Comments

London

The Story of Peer Gynt: An Evening with Kåre Conradi – The Coronet Theatre

The Story of Peer Gynt is part lecture, part show and altogether brilliant. On a stage that is almost entirely bare, save a single chair turned away from the audience, Kåre Conradi welcomes us. He begins to tell us a bit about Ibsen, about Peer Gynt and about the Norwegian award named after him. In the space of just over an hour, he promises he will take us through the story. He does this by switching between a description of the plot in the manner of an engaged lecturer and sudden moments of dramatisation, where – with a surprising ease – he takes on the emotions, ambitions and character of Peer. Most of these moments he gives to us in English. Occasionally, he slips into the original Norwegian, though never without giving those of us who can’t speak it a clear sense of what he is sayi...

24Feb

By Stewart Who?No Comments

London

Bird Grove – Hampstead Theatre

The great and the good were out in force for Bird Grove at Hampstead Theatre. Alison Steadman, Tasmin Grieg, Aneka Rice, Twiggy, Ian Hislop, Stephen Mangan and Joely Richardson, all in one room!? There was a buzz in the air for Alexi Kay Campbell’s return to writing for the stage. His glittering CV positions him as one the UK’s most celebrated authors. As an actor, Campbell worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal Court, and Oxford Stage Company. His first play, The Pride, premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in 2008 and was awarded the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement, The Critic’s Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright, and The John Whiting Award for Best New Play. After a run of critically acclaimed productions, Campbell wrote the feature fil...

20Feb

By Alice RoseNo Comments

London

Shenoah Allen – Soho Theatre

A therapist created a warning for Allen, ‘you have an unnamed dread’. He has been running from his endless tragedies growing up in his family’s unusual commune style living so Allen found humour in all that made him, himself. The show runs at 60 minutes with a mix of story telling and improv. Unfortunately, the momentum feels delayed and structured too loosely to feel completely free to let yourself go in the piece. Allen arrives on stage with a few fun punches to kick us off, a warm up to the dark material we may explore tonight but as we move through his deep family history, we feel lost by who the characters in his life really were. With no suitable introductions and niche impressions, we have a fairly blank impression on who these people are and therefore no reason to relate. ...

18Feb

By Zain RussellNo Comments

London

Deep Azure – Sam Wanamaker Playhouse

Deep Azure, written by the late Chadwick Boseman, who tragically passed away in 2020, is a haunting and deeply moving play. Inspired by the real-life killing of Boseman’s university peer, Prince Jones, the production chooses not to dwell on the events leading up to the tragedy, but instead explores its profound impact on friends, family, and peers. In today’s climate, the themes feel especially resonant, confronting grief, loss, and systemic injustice in a way that is both raw and intimate. Selina Jones delivers a remarkable performance as Azure, the grieving girlfriend struggling with an eating disorder. Her portrayal is both heart-wrenching and compelling. The screams and sobs she unleashes, particularly at the end of the first act, are unforgettable. They are heightened by the acapel...

Space by Luxmuralis – St Martin-in-the-Fields Church

18Feb

By Charlotte MansfieldNo Comments

London

Space by Luxmuralis – St Martin-in-the-Fields Church

It's notoriously difficult to see the stars if you live in London, so it's no surprise that there was a stream of people pouring into last night's opening of Space by Luxmuralis. Following a sold-out tour of the UK, this sound and light show has landed in St Martin-in-the-Fields church on Trafalgar square for five nights only. Luxmuralis is an artistic collaboration between Peter Walker (sculptor) and David Harper (composer) creating large-scale art, light and sound installations, designed to bring cathedrals and sacred spaces to life and transform the way we interact with them. In Space, the creators have used humanity's curiosity about the cosmos as a basis for their immersive show. The experience begins outside the church, where Renaissance drawings of the heavens and calculations...