Nick Curtis

"The play is witty, bracingly sweary and probes intriguing ideas." Full Review

“Minor niggles aside, Frayn’s comic classic seems to be bulletproof. Hats, and trousers, off to him.” Full Review

“This love-in of starry small screen creatives fills a hole in the West End as a much-needed, riotous bit of fun.” Full Review

“Whatever the production’s failings, it’s great to see Takei’s grin at the curtain call...This show exists and throws light on a slice of neglected history thanks to him. Which is fair enough.” Full Review

"The 60-minute script is not without narrative skill or ambition, but it’s too skimpy to approach anything profound." Full Review

"This is a handsomely mounted, well-acted work that strums reliably on the emotions, but feels inescapably like a museum piece." Full Review

"The atmosphere of Rourke’s production is autumnal. 'As You Like It' celebrates a retreat into sunlit rural simplicity, but there are as many references to frost as to spring in the text." Full Review

" 'Sons of the Prophet' is, quite simply, not very good. The characters are self-consciously quirky, the situations forced, the supposed darkness of the wit overdone." Full Review

for a previous production "Ian McKellen makes a triumphant return to pantomime damehood in this gleeful, willfully slapdash affair. " Full Review

"Overall, though individual segments are presented with flair, it feels like 'Hex' is being made up as it goes along." Full Review

"Almost everything in Clint Dyer’s production is harsh and stark." Full Review

"It’s performed on a stage bare apart from a few chairs, with a largely young cast in everyday clothes playing multiple roles. And it’s intense. ... It’s a typically bold ending to a fresh and vivid interpretation." Full Review

"The ensemble fills the stage with verve but the big dance numbers lack finesse...Elf makes a disappointing start to London theatre’s Christmas season." Full Review

" 'Here' isn’t a great play but it’s a great start: an engaging, empathetic, slightly spooky affair that definitely arrests the attention." Full Review

for a previous production "The writing is intelligent, the performances strong. But the characters have little external life and no reliable inner existence. This makes the play suffocating. " Full Review

"It’s very hard to go badly wrong with this comedy. Westley-Sanderson understands its rhythms and he and his cast give it freshness and verve. Like I said, joyful." Full Review

"Roxana Silbert’s production is static, talky and monotonous, less than the sum of its parts. Munro writes in an intriguing, impressionistic blend of modern and historic Scots vernacular." Full Review

"Lucas is a performer of rare charisma and her first full play is a teasing, provoking pleasure. I’ve seen three shows each lasting an hour this week: this is the only one I wanted to be longer." Full Review

"Like its subject, this playful, exuberant theatrical happening wins you over with sheer heart and good humour." Full Review

"Although grimly funny and studiously banal at times, it progresses inexorably...This is an important rather than an enjoyable watch." Full Review

"No play in the past 10 years has felt more tense, challenging, and intellectually provoking than this one." Full Review

"It’s an affecting tale but not entirely bleak...There’s no historical context, and the focus is on the family’s unity rather than the external threats." Full Review

"This is a lively, passionate piece of writing, packed with the drama and sense of exterior life that one-person shows so often lack." Full Review

"It’s salutary to watch, but I kept wondering who the show is for...Jews and philosemites will already know the substance if not the letter of everything it describes." Full Review

"Harvey meets each twist of the script with steady aplomb, while the supporting ensemble furnish a vivid gallery of grotesques. I can understand why some might abandon this play at half time. But trust me: the experience is transformed if you stay." Full Review

“...’Lemons’ is a bittersweet pleasure: a play that asks wide-ranging questions about communication and control, and a sad love story subtly enacted by two luminous screen stars.” Full Review

"The play becomes a powerful study in male brutality, stripped of many other layers of meaning. Never more so than in the last scene, which is as vicious and shocking as anything I’ve seen on stage recently." Full Review

"Edelman is a compelling, super-energetic performer, witheringly smart and laceratingly self-critical, expertly cranking and relaxing the throttle of his hectic narrative. He admits he wants us to like him, and it’d be extremely hard not to." Full Review

"Tennessee Williams doesn’t do happy endings but this production represents a triumph over disaster. Frecknall proves herself again to be a director of great vision and invention." Full Review

"This remains a story worth telling and hearing, but as a piece of theatre it’s no knockout." Full Review

"This English version is wilfully amateurish, full of oafish mugging, clumsy tricks and jokey British regional accents." Full Review

"I’m pretty sure this imperfect tryout will be further refined into a greater triumph...Hello Dolly: welcome back to the world of musicals." Full Review

"This musical biopic of South Africa’s great unifying leader is a storming celebration of the human spirit and the human voice. ... The entire cast are in full, roaring voice it’s overwhelming." Full Review

"You could tie yourself in knots forever over the complications and questions this play throws up, but it is ultimately a theatrical sitcom: engineered confrontations, sudden revelations, big laughs." Full Review

"It feels like commercial and art-house theatre are productively entwined here, bringing a questing intelligence and star power to hot-button issues." Full Review

"I really can’t fault Herrin’s bold, pacy production, or the canniness and flair of Graham’s writing here. Bravo." Full Review

The staging is pleasingly simple ... [but] Ed Curtis’s script is awful. Ultimately ... this show depends on the quality of the music ... [when] Knight transitions into full-throated song, time seems to stop. Her four male co-stars deliver immaculate performances. Full Review

"There’s no life animating its dialogue and ultimately I don’t have a clue what it’s about." Full Review

"Johnson certainly has balls, wading into the gender-identity debate via a sex comedy, two things most theatres wouldn’t attempt. Shame the result is so poor, though." Full Review

"At 105 minutes it manages to be both skimpy and ponderous. The dialogue is full of melodrama and bathos, the acting mostly poor." Full Review

“Amid a fine ensemble, Blackborow stands out…This play isn’t perfect, but as a warning about what we’ve let the NHS become, it feels important.” Full Review

"This is a carnivalesque takedown of something rotten... I love this show." Full Review

for a previous production "Madge has a strong voice and writes witty lyrics, but the tunes are generic inspirational ballads. These are minor quibbles, though, with a charming piece of work that clearly strikes a deep chord." Full Review

"For all the ravishing imagery and the collective endeavour involved, this show isn’t quirky or adult-friendly enough for that." Full Review

Khan’s production stretches the action across the wide Lyttelton stage but hits every comic and dramatic mark sharply...I still find the overall effect of East is East discomfiting. Again, perhaps that’s the point. Full Review

“The acting is iffy at the edges and the pacing is off at the start. But the humane spirit of this show is irresistible and the core group of musicians and actor-players very tight indeed. “ Full Review

"Terera, Adekoluẹjo and director Linton - each provide a different but potent draw to audiences. Certainly, they all contribute to the alchemy of a deliciously funny and deeply affecting piece of theatre." Full Review

"It’s right that we don’t feel unearned sympathy for these characters: wrong that we feel no convincing human connection with them at all." Full Review

"Turner’s production rolls over us with the remorseless, implacable intent of a bulldozer." Full Review

"This remains a needle-sharp comedy that packs a smart and timely punch." Full Review