Stranger Things: The First Shadow (West End) London Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (177)
See it if You’re a fan of the Netflix show or a fan of amazing theatre in general. The staging is incredible.
Don't see it if You’re easily scared and don’t like the dark!
See it if Faultless show even down to costumes and sountracking and special effects
Don't see it if N/A
See it if You like stranger things or amazing visuals
Don't see it if Stranger things like programs are not your thing
See it if You liked the TV show. Enjoy fantasy/horror. Amazing special effects
Don't see it if You don’t like the TV show or people in the audience
See it if You want your mind blown by special effects.
Don't see it if You actively dislike the TV show (although you don’t need to be a super-fan or even have seen it).
See it if you want to feel some Stranger Things Vibe onstage or if you like to see some great effects combined with some scary moments.
Don't see it if you aren't interested of the genre of Stranger Things or if you are afraid of scary moments. Read more
See it if If you are a Stranger Things fan and you want to see a spectacular show! Impressive, I reccomand!
Don't see it if If you are not a fan of Stranger Things or you are sensitive to loud noises/flash lights
See it if You are a fan of Stranger Things, but don’t overthink some of the plot too much! If you love food staging and an intense show.
Don't see it if You haven’t seen Stranger Things or are of a nervous disposition!
Critic Reviews (15)
“The stage and the screen will never be substitutes but Stranger Things: The First Shadow never feels limited by the medium. It leans into the theatricality hammering the audience with slick illusions and visually stunning trickery applied impasto. No expense is spared but that is hardly surprising.”
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“This astonishing show turns normal expectations of theatre upside down. Director Stephen Daldry has taken the Duffer Brothers’ Eighties-set Netflix sci-fi hit and magicked it into a spectacular, multimedia prequel, full of enough thrills, scares and knowing nods to please fans and the uninitiated in equal measure.”
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“ ‘The First Shadow’ suffers from dramatic bloat and tonal inconsistency. The biggest frustration with it is the sense that it might have been show of the year with 30 minutes of really ruthless cuts...It’s not perfect, but it’s as close to the Upside Down as you’re going to get without having your head bitten off by a demogorgon.”
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“Those familiar with the series will be able to trace storylines back but the production is not just a clever parlour game for fans. If you come at it afresh, it is still irresistible. A spurt of lazy film-to-stage adaptations have recently hit the West End but this parallel world is a winner.”
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“I can’t claim that, as a piece of drama, this is more than high-class hokum but what we get, as spectators, is a game-changing experience, one which combines state-of-the-art video wizardry with the tricks of the theatrical trade...Standing ovations are ten a penny these days but this show thoroughly deserves the one it gets.”
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“Amid all the crowd scenes there’s little sense of depth to the individual characters or how they relate to one another. You’re left longing to see less of the tiresome play within a play and much more of Ella Karuna Williams’s sweet-voiced Patty Newby.”
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“Netflix makes its stage debut in spectacular fashion with this keenly anticipated – and, I can happily reveal, totally awe-inspiring – theatrical version of the streamer’s hit sci-fi series ‘Stranger Things.’ Crucially, it’s a must-see not just for superfans, but for anyone excited by boundary-pushing theatre that harnesses jaw-dropping special effects while telling a very relatable human story.”
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“Based on the phenomenally popular Netflix series, this visually stunning retro-horror romp is audacious, exhilarating and relentlessly inventive...Subtlety is not the goal here, and this show never quite matches the series’ charming mix of nostalgia, hope and horror. But it is an extraordinary, gripping spectacle.”
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