London Archives - North West End UK

6Jan

By Alan Stuart MalinNo Comments

London

Jack – Courtyard Theatre

Having celebrated previously successful runs, ‘Jack’ (the musical) arrives in London with a gothic-electro music fusion bringing the vibes of Victorian London crashing into the modern day. This is an intriguing and exciting concept, based around the story of “Jack The Ripper”, and within Sahar Malaika’s storytelling there are moments of genuine promise, but the execution of this production ultimately falls well short of the standard expected on a professional stage. At its core, the ‘Jack’ suffers from a lack of cohesive artistic vision from Co-Directors Rosie Sutton and Sasha Ranawake. Casting choices feel under-baked and poorly considered, with very young performers presented to the world without a clear or consistent aesthetic. Facial jewellery, modern bleached hair highlights, m...

30Dec

By Stewart Who?No Comments

London

Boys in the Buff – Golden Goose Theatre

The history of nudity on stage is a rich, epic and often hilarious subject. It is also a bit tawdry and sporadically ugly. From the semi-nude stationary women in 1950s Soho clubs, posing in ‘Classical’ tableaux to handfuls of dirty old men, to the “theatrical Viagra” of a naked Nicole Kidman in the Donmar’s production of The Blue Room, bare titillation for cold cash remains a consistent hot potato. Bond hopeful and Happy Valley star, James Norton got naked in the harrowing stage adaptation of Hanya Yanagihara ’s A Little Life. Despite the play’s relentless themes of suicide, self-harm and paedophilia, audience members sneaked snaps of a nudey Norton and posted them on social media. Live nudity has potential to be fire. This is its undeniable power, and also it’s filthy flaw. The na...

22Dec

By Charles PipeNo Comments

London

The Highgate Vampire – Omnibus Theatre

Based loosely on real events, The Highgate Vampire is a dark comedy play which follows the occurrences surrounding reported supernatural sightings near Highgate Cemetery in the late 1960s. Alexander Knott plays a Mark-from-Peep-Show-esque, self-serious, uptight Catholic priest/exorcist. James Demaine contrasts as a flamboyant psychic investigator with a flair for the dramatic. Together, they deliver a lecture on how they supposedly defeated the Highgate Vampire, although with the psychic investigator’s showy influence the lecture ends up more like a theatrical play, replete with props, costumes, and lighting effects. Even as the characters butt heads, there is good chemistry between the performers, both comedically and in the more tender and sincere moments. Knott makes for an excellent...

22Dec

By Eleanor HallNo Comments

London

Christmas Day – The Almeida

Sam Grabiner's 'Christmas Day' is a deft exploration of religion and family politics. Over a Chinese meal in a barely habitable warehouse guardianship, a Jewish family debate their sense of belonging within their faith, giving rise to deep rooted tensions within their respective relationships. From the off, the exposed brick wall of the Almeida and the cold warehouse setting chimed carefully with the budding theme of familial expectations. With a boxy heater hanging ominously overhead, tension literally began to swelter within the play's closed space, where characters gradually shed Evie Gurney's smart costumes. Steadily, the outside world permeated the somewhat isolated setting. Aided by the intrusive rumbling of the Northern Line and the pervasive glare of the Christmas tree, the audi...

17Dec

By Stewart Who?No Comments

London

Indian Ink – Hampstead Theatre

The desire to see this Hampstead Theatre revival of Tom Stoppard’s Indian Ink, was initially fuelled by the theatrical double whammy of Felicity Kendal, combined with one of the UK’s most celebrated living playwrights. This dramatic cocktail of talents is an established winner as the pair were once an item and their partnership garnered much critical acclaim. Kendal is often referred to as his muse and Stoppard wrote the character of Flora Crewe specifically for her. The original text is dedicated to her mother, Laura Kendal, who like her daughter, spent a childhood in India. Born in 1937, Sir Tom Stoppard died on 29 November 2025, during rehearsals for this production. In this show, Kendal was no longer playing a scandalous, spirited 1930s poet, but the matriarchal sister of Flora Crew...

17Dec

By Paul AckroydNo Comments

London

Twelfth Night: RSC at the Barbican

Sometimes a director tries too hard to bring a novel or unusual interpretation to Shakespeare's work, producing a confused and ultimately unsatisfactory production. This unfortunately is the case with Prasanna Puwanarajah's version of Twelfth Night for the Royal Shakespeare Company, recently transferred to the Barbican from Stratford. There is much to like about this production. The acting was universally good and used Shakespeare's words for the most part, only annotated with the occasional modernism, and the delivery of the lines made the story very easy to understand. Music is intrinsic to this play and the musical score produced by Matt Maltese was excellent. The costumes were eclectic, reflecting a modern era with one or two extraordinary exceptions such as Feste's initial costume,...

Prashasti Singh: Divine Feminine – Soho Theatre

17Dec

By Charles PipeNo Comments

London

Prashasti Singh: Divine Feminine – Soho Theatre

Over the course of a very entertaining hour, Prashasti Singh reckons with her relationship to femininity and womanhood, while discussing childhood, dating, aging, and self-help podcasts. Although it may seem like Singh is rehashing topics that have been covered to death in stand-up comedy, she brings an individual and hilarious flair. The content of the show is largely cynical and pessimistic but is delivered in an energetic and playful manner. From the very beginning, Singh’s biting but good-humoured crowd work reassures the audience that they are in safe hands and primes them for the sardonic humour to come. The show’s cynicism is tempered by descriptions of Singh’s (attempted) self-reflection and self-improvement, which is the source of some of the funniest material. From Sing...

17Dec

By Samantha CollettNo Comments

London

Top Hat the Musical – Southbank Centre

90 years after Irving Berlin’s 1935 classic film ‘Top Hat’, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers enthralled audiences, this latest musical adaptation by Matthew White and Howard Jacques is doing the same. The opening scene of ‘Putting on the Ritz’ kicks off the show with an energetic tapdancing routine readying the audience for a splendidly choreographed night that will thrill any ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ fan. The story is a simple love farce of mistaken identity. Jerry Travers (Phillip Attmore) is the big star of a new show Horace Hardwick (Clive Carter) is bankrolling. Jerry falls for the charms of Dale Tremont (Amara Okereke) and instantly love bombs her. Dale is at first unsure but then falls for him. Only to then erroneously think he is already married to her friend Madge Hard...

Christmas Carol Goes Wrong – Apollo Theatre

15Dec

By Gemma PrinceNo Comments

London

Christmas Carol Goes Wrong – Apollo Theatre

Mischief’s comedy crew are back and better than ever in their latest rendition of A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong at the Apollo Theatre. Directed by Matt DiCarlo, the story follows the fictional Cornley Drama Society in their attempt to re-create Charles Dickens’ classic Christmas tale, with hilariously chaotic consequences. In a style like Mischief’s other Goes Wrong shows, which have firmly cemented them as comedic geniuses, we see the original Mischief team reunited, including Nancy Zamit, Greg Tannahill, Chris Leask, Jonathan Hall, and Henry Lewis, joined by Sasha Frost, Daniel Fraser, and Matt Cavendish. We see some familiar characters from the Goes Wrong franchise return, including Chris, Robert, Nancy, and Dennis. Getting to see these characters in a different setting but as funny a...

Gawain and the Green Knight – Park Theatre

15Dec

By Charles PipeNo Comments

London

Gawain and the Green Knight – Park Theatre

Based on the medieval Arthurian poem, Gawain and the Green Knight is a new reinterpretation by Felix Grainger and Gabriel Fogarty-Graveson, that transposes the story to a modern-day corporate setting. Cybersecurity firm Camelot Corp is undergoing major restructuring and rebranding. The CEO Arthur (Cara Steele) has decided to adopt a new model that mimics stories of the heroic Knights of the Round Table. Gary (Felix Grainger) – redubbed Gawain – is being sacked (exiled) just before Christmas for being too boring and lacking “spark”. When a mysterious green stranger shows up at the office Christmas party and proposes a game, Gawain accepts the challenge, beheads the stranger, and wins the respect of his boss. One year later, Gawain must uphold his end of the game and journey by elevator t...