West End Theatre Reviews

Desperate to gain control over a city ravaged by civil war, Creon refuses to bury the body of Antigone's rebellious brother. Outraged, she defies his edict. Creon condemns the young woman, his niece, to be buried alive.

The people daren't object but the prophet Teiresias warns that this tyranny will anger the gods: the rotting corpse is polluting the city.

Creon hesitates and his fate is sealed. The gods never move faster than when punishing men with the consequences of their own actions.

Jodie Whittaker plays Antigone and Christopher Eccleston plays Creon.


National Theatre Olivier
South Bank, London, SE1 9PX

Children's Children is the new play by Matthew Dunster, a playwright, actor and director whose writing credits include Saturday Night Sunday Morning and The Most Incredible Thing, which saw him collaborate with The Pet Shop Boys.

Michael and Gordon have been best friends since acting college. Now, 20 years later, Michael is Mr Saturday Night TV but failing actor Gordon is struggling with enormous debts. Meanwhile Gordon's daughter Effie couldn't care less about her dad's problems. She is far more interested in the film that her cool boyfriend is making and setting up an ecologically sound clothing label. When Gordon aks Michael to lend him a large sum of money, it sets in motion a series of events that reveal irreparable cracks in the characters' relationships.

Children's Children is directed by Jeremy Herrin, Associate Director at the Royal Court where his work includes That Face, The Vertical Hour and The Heretic.

Almeida Theatre
Almeida Theatre, Almeida Street, Islington, London, N1 1TA

East London meets Bollywood in a sparkling new musical from Sadler's Wells, Theatre Royal Stratford East and Kneehigh.

Inspired by the world of the Mujra dancers, who for generations have entertained the rich and powerful with a spellbinding mix of dance and song, Wah! Wah! Girls tells a passionate and playful story of love against the odds. Set against the vibrant background of the East End in 2012, these unstoppable girls uncover deep secrets and create unexpected dreams.

Written by acclaimed playwright Tanika Gupta (Fragile Land, Sugar Mummies) and directed by multi award-winning director Emma Rice (The Red Shoes, Brief Encounter), this extraordinary team of talents also includes co-director Pravesh Kumar (Britain's Got Bhangra) and set and costume designer Keith Khan.

Featuring stunning dance sequences choreographed by Bollywood master Javed Sanadi and leading Kathak choreographer Gauri Sharma Tripathi, set to a mix of classic Bollywood tracks and new music by composer Niraj Chag, Wah! Wah! Girls is a feast for the senses that draws audiences into the world of the modern British-Asian community. Let the pleasure begin! Wah! Wah!


The Peacock Theatre
Portugal Street, London, WC2A 2HT

Open the door and enter a spectacular new world with Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy as they journey through the magical land of Narnia.

Adored by all ages this major new production of the classic story has been created by an award-winning team. The first published installment from CS Lewis' beloved 'Chronicles of Narnia' series, it combines live theatre with Threesixty's ground-breaking surround video and enchanting puppetry performed in a state-of-the art theatre tent.

Set against the backdrop of Kensington Palace, this exquisite event promises to be the ultimate summer experience in the park.


The threesixty Theatre
Palace Gate, Kensington Gardens, W8 4PX

Star of TV and film Blake Harrison hits the West End stage for the first time in this highly anticipated production of Step 9 (of 12) by Rob Hayes. It is directed by Tom Attenborough, who most recently directed Port Authority at Southwark Playhouse which was Time Out Critics' Choice.

Step 9 (of 12) tells the story of Keith (Blake Harrison), an alcoholic who is apologising for his past. A lifetime of drug and alcohol abuse has given him a lot to apologise for - particularly to the two people who raised him from a child. But as the memories of violence, betrayal, lies and recrimination are raked to the surface, it becomes clear that past actions can have shocking repercussions in the present.

Step 9 (of 12) examines society at its most darkest times in this new and provocative piece of theatre.

Blake Harrison, is best known for playing Neil Sutherland in Channel 4's award winning series The Inbetweeners, which ran for 3 series and was subsequently made into a feature film in 2011.

'The electrifying Cillian Murphy… Enda Walsh, one of the most fiercely individual voices in the theatre today... A seductive and terrifying portrait of a luminous madness that dares you not to look away'New York Times.

Inishfree might seem like a quaint Irish town, but fierce evangelist Thomas Magill knows better. He knows jovial Dwain Flynn is a miserable drunk, that Timmy O'Leary enslaves his lovely mother and that sweet Mrs Cleary is a blasphemous flirt.

It is down to Thomas, with God on his shoulder, to save this sinful place. But the townsfolk are not listening, an angel is misbehaving and a barking dog will not be silenced. Just how far will Thomas go in his quest for salvation?

Cillian Murphy – whose film work includes 28 Days Later, Breakfast on Pluto and Inception – is reunited with Enda Walsh for the first time following the phenomenally successful Disco Pigs. He returns to the London stage to play the population of an entire town in a tour-de-force solo performance of epic proportions.

Verdi's last masterpiece receives a lavish new production under director Robert Carsen, as the portly knight of Shakespeare's comedy takes to the stage, larger than life. Falstaff has not been seen at Covent Garden for a decade, and it returns in considerable style.

The new staging – a co-production with La Scala, Milan, and the Canadian Opera Company – sees the long-awaited return of Daniele Gatti to the conductor's podium of the Royal Opera House.

Verdi described Falstaff as 'a rogue who gets up to all kinds of mischief… but in an amusing way'. It's one of the great baritone roles of all opera, and in this fine cast it will be sung by Ambrogio Maestri, one of its leading exponents – indeed, one of the best Verdi baritones to be heard today.

There is the fast-paced wit of the action, with its jealousy, intrigue, confusion and comic chaos all set to music of the most consummate invention. With a bravura ending in praise of laughter itself, Falstaff is a wonderful way to experience all the colour and character of opera at its most entertaining and rewarding. It's a great knight out!

Desperate to gain control over a city ravaged by civil war, Creon refuses to bury the body of Antigone's rebellious brother. Outraged, she defies his edict. Creon condemns the young woman, his niece, to be buried alive.

The people daren't object but the prophet Teiresias warns that this tyranny will anger the gods: the rotting corpse is polluting the city.

Creon hesitates and his fate is sealed. The gods never move faster than when punishing men with the consequences of their own actions.

Jodie Whittaker plays Antigone and Christopher Eccleston plays Creon.

Les Miserables, or 'the miserable ones' as it means in English, is based on Victor Hugo’s book with the same title. The story is about the Jean Valjean who after 19 years gets out of prison and after a few mistakes he decides that the time has come to start a new life and seek redemption. With his past still haunting him, and the policeman Javert after him, this is easier said than done and he tries to change his identity to escape from his past. He starts a factory and becomes successful. That’s when he meets Fantine, a dying ex-worker in his factory who asks him to take care of her daughter Cosette and take care of her.

This French musical spins over 20 years and has been incredibly successful in London and all over the world.

For the first time since its renaming and refurbishment, one of Noel Coward's most well known plays will be performed at the Noel Coward Theatre. Howard Davies is to direct Lindsay Duncan in Coward's Hay Fever, reuniting the director and actor who together received seven major international theatre awards for their 2001 collaboration on Coward's Private Lives.

Duncan is joined by Jeremy Northam, Kevin McNally and Olivia Coleman in Coward's sublime comedy of bad manners.

"A love-letter to the movies and an appealingly intelligent evocation of the Jewish folk culture that formed the basis of American cinema"The Guardian.


"Inventive and amusing"Daily Telegraph.


"Enchanting. A golden-hearted tragicomic fable"The Times.

Following Vincent in Brixton and The Reporter, Nicholas Wright's new play is a funny and fascinating tribute to the Eastern European immigrants who became major players in Hollywood's golden age. It returns to the National Theatre after a successful season earlier this year and a UK tour.

In a remote village in Eastern Europe, around 1900, the young Motl Mendl is entranced by the flickering silent images on his father's cinematograph. Bankrolled by Jacob, the ebullient local timber merchant, and inspired by Anna, the girl sent to help him make moving pictures of their village, he stumbles on a revolutionary way of story-telling. Forty years on, Motl, now a famed American film director, looks back on his early life and confronts the cost of fulfilling his dreams.

How had a twenty-two-year old pretentious layabout made a discovery that would elude every other cinematic pioneer for years to come?

Eve Best returns to The Old Vic in March 2012, in John Webster's great Jacobean tragedy, The Duchess of Malfi, directed by Jamie Lloyd. She last appeared at The Old Vic in London and on Broadway opposite Kevin Spacey in A Moon for the Misbegotten in the 2006/2007 Season.

Webster's poetic masterpiece tells the dark and bloody story of the recently widowed Duchess as she struggles to retain strength and dignity in the face of death.