Arifa Akbar

“The production ultimately succeeds not because of its ramped up comedy but in spite of it. It will surely win audiences once again: it has entertainment value.” Full Review

"Under the direction of Zach James, this is a madcap show but its DIY spirit tips into unruliness with a too diffuse and disjointed narrative." Full Review

"Zarafshan has bold talent and this debut is an exciting discovery." Full Review

"There is something mildly shocking and heady about this mix, and about this show. It is all over too soon: we feel as though we have been thrown delicious after-dinner morsels and we want more." Full Review

“...it feels long at almost two and a half hours but its scenes move too fast and breezily, telegraphing the camp’s horror but also containing heavy helpings of schmaltz.” Full Review

"This is an important story to see on stage but one that might have been better enacted in shorter, punchier rounds." Full Review

“Hannah Khalil’s lo-fi retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s 1844 story cleverly weaves in humour, carols and a contemporary lesson on woodland conservation.” Full Review

"If you come for Parton’s songs, you will most likely enjoy this show and the live band, whose instruments include the banjo, mandolin and at one point the spoons. If only there were more music, less book." Full Review

for a previous production "The show ultimately rides too heavily on McKellen’s stage presence without working hard enough for its part to do his zany turn justice." Full Review

"The central performances are as strong as they can be given the material, and both Fiamanya and Luwoye’s voices brim with power, as do those of the chorus." Full Review

"A fabulous musical ... just a shame about the music. But there is so much originality, quirkiness and creative magic here that it puts us under its spell." Full Review

"Both actors are restricted by the highly stylised roles they play, but they never become impersonations." Full Review

"The production feels uneven as a whole, its pace glacial at the start and oddly anticlimactic at the end, with a hit and miss feel to the parts of the men who circle around these two characters." Full Review

"It looses its tautness towards the end, but is well worth watching with a central concept that makes this play’s questions about leadership freshly relevant." Full Review

"The room exposes its bigots and we finally see the point of Hutton’s character but as more plot-points are lobbed at us in the closing moments it feels much less like a sitcom than an entire series rolled into one production." Full Review

"There is a lot of history, and plot, to cover and at first the script telegraphs its themes. But there is artfulness in the scene switches, with two scenarios sometimes happening at once." Full Review

"The issue of whether the cyborg Kath is showing signs of humanity cannot be dismissed outright; it becomes another of this play’s intriguing mysteries." Full Review

"This doom-laden world has more than one teenage funeral but the play ultimately offers hope – and a potential way out for the likes of our noble young 'King Hamlin'." Full Review

"The puppetry by Basil Twist creates much of the magic...It is not nearly as high-powered in its special effects as a Disney adaptation but just as dazzling in its magic realism." Full Review

"There are brilliant contradictions in 'The Doctor': unapologetically cerebral, it hooks us in emotionally, expanding in our chests. A play about mortality, it ends with hope." Full Review

"Everyone should see this shattering modern classic. No one will remain unmoved." Full Review

"In terms of the drama itself, it is difficult for a play of this calibre to go awry...Still it kicks off with wobbles and appears like a play being performed by numbers at the start." Full Review

"The play might have gained by spending longer on unravelling these meaty subjects, especially the idea of investing 'belief' in the goodness of new science." Full Review

"It takes the various parts of this play some time to join up and we find ourselves waiting but the cast is strong across the board." Full Review

"If this is a slightly scrappy drama, it bewitches with hope, romance and heart." Full Review

“If words are rationed or banned, this play suggests, we will find other ways to express our love.” Full Review

"There is certainly sadness in this show, sudden and gut-wrenching but the joy of performance too, and it is a sheer joy to watch." Full Review

"The play’s mind games as a whole are too neatly driven by plot, and come with a few too many obvious stunts, but they do raise enough tension and intrigue to draw you in and keep you guessing." Full Review

“...this play is filled with abstruse philosophical arguments in lieu of drama and the characters act as mouthpieces for arguments on community and action.” Full Review

"For all its clever artifice and non-naturalism, it is the power of these performances that gives this production its fierce and dangerous energy." Full Review

"Lillian Hellman’s 1941 play looks like the silver screen come to life...While its plot has the feel of a twisty crime thriller...we are so engaged by what it asks of us and its tension that the melodrama does not jar." Full Review

"The speeches of love, friendship and loyalty between characters come with the physicality and intimacy of British Sign Language, as central to the drama as music and song." Full Review

"The script is full of funny lines but something gets lost in the delivery." Full Review

"For any of us who think this Christmas story is over-exposed, this gorgeous re-imagining proves otherwise." Full Review

"The best bits come when characters stop talking and start dancing, with a sweet sense of girls behaving badly as Kerry and Athena blast up the music, but that can’t save this play from sinking." Full Review

"It remains highly watchable and well-paced with good supporting performances...This is an Othello which feels unlike any other, its central figure a villain not a hero – a cleaning up of the play, indeed." Full Review

"The plotting steers narrowly away from convolution and solves the mystery while sprinting through Christmases past, present and future to bring about an ending of carol singing and goodwill for one and all." Full Review

" 'Baghdaddy’s' complicated parts do not quite come together, its boldness is extraordinary and certainly showcases the playwright’s fearless talent." Full Review

"Every performance is strong, not least Baker-Jones’s stage debut. And although 'Here' does not ultimately answer the questions it raises, we are held captured." Full Review

for a previous production "This is brave and original writing, hard-edged and unsentimental one minute, heart-meltingly warm the next. A funny kind of romantic tragedy that becomes compulsive to watch." Full Review

"This is still an engaging production and an arresting way to stage the downfall of a contested figure in Stuart history." Full Review

"This is, without doubt, a musical with charisma, just like 'Tammy Faye' herself. In its biggest moments – and there are several – it reaches a delirious kind of excellence." Full Review

"This production – lean, inventive but fatally grounded in its action and effects – ends up proving the story’s inherent anti-theatricality." Full Review

" 'Good' is a gradually enraging drama that makes us hear afresh the denials that lead populism into dangerous waters, and may well be a lesson for our times." Full Review

"The play’s understated drama is both its strength and its weakness. We walk away believing in its issues entirely but perhaps don’t feel its tragedy as fully. Either way, it is clear that Burns has great promise." Full Review

"Ultimately a production which reminds us of the exciting potential for theatre to turn the old inside out, and make new, if it dares to." Full Review

"This feels like a play that is being given a rare chance to air its urgent and desperately important issues, making it feverish to cover all the ground in the time it has been afforded." Full Review

"This revival more than stands the test of time in its portrait of mental illness – it is original, brutal, memorable." Full Review

"An unchallenging summer play with laughs that are just too gentle, neither quite humorous nor surprising enough.'' Full Review

"The script takes on too much without giving us enough, leaving this feeling like a play uncertain of its focus." Full Review