Andrzej Lukowski

“But though polished witticisms and a solid cast make for an enjoyable enough night, this Hay Fever mostly feels like it’s on period comedy autopilot.”

“Sensational turns from Anderson and Billy Crudup are made even better by the ultra-intimate staging at @sohoplace.”

“It is, to be fair, almost certainly the most enjoyable play about an economist ever written.”

“The Last Ship is an awesome spectacle and a heartfelt one too.”

“Tilda Swinton has still got it.”

“There’s always a place for some thrills in the theatre.”

“Electra is good, Persona is good, Electra/Persona isn't necessarily one for the ages.”

“At best, the magic on display here is jaw-dropping.”

“All in all it’s a good production that slots into the Jamie Lloyd era of Sexy Lloyd Webber very nicely indeed.”

“A delicious cackle in the dark, at a subject that’s not becoming irrelevant anytime soon.”

“The songs are great but this compromised bio-musical tries to make Frank Sinatra seem as boring as humanly possible”

“Overall, a mixed bag that ends strong.”

“It's a fascinating idea, and while it would be odd to see this without at least having seen the film for reference, I'd say it's an experiment that works.”

“Really it’s broad, dated humour salvaged by a tremendous cast headed by Jamie Lloyd veteran Mason Alexander Park as Mary and the redoubtable Giles Terera as ‘Mary’s husband’ (ie Abe).”

“As disturbing an hour of theatre as you’ll see on the London stage.”

“But I think it’s fair to say that just because William Kamkwamba did a genuinely astonishing thing aged 13, it doesn’t mean that his story provides enough material for a pitch-perfect 2.5-hour musical.”

“The ‘war’ section that takes up most of the play is, at its most intense, astonishing, a roiling living Guernica of nocturnal horror and nightmarish imagery.”

“Ultimately it has nice sets, nice ballads and if you like aggressively knowing 21st century Broadway humour you’ll have fun.”

“He is, to be clear, bloody good in Krapp’s Last Tape.”

“Between the River and the Sea is a moderate show and a modest one, but it‘s a pleasure to spend time in Sweid’s garrulous company.”

“Accept all that, and Jason Moore’s revived production is a fun piece of naughty noughties nostalgia that raises a smile from the sight of its fluffy yellow stage curtain onwards.”

“But the bottom line is: it just doesn’t work.”

“What can I say: it’s a really good production with two sensational leads, of a play that has long stopped being a sexy novelty and now kind of sits as a guilty pleasure.”

“It’s a fascinating subject that Pinnock approaches mischievously: there are some much bigger laughs in the final third than one might envisage.”

“In our branch of the multiverse, we’ll have to settle for one that’s merely very good.”

“But as a complete production, it just doesn't work, and was probably never going to work.”

“So this is a generational production, really, and whatever its flaws are, they shouldn’t put you off seeing the sort of luxury revival that the NT was made for.”

“But when the action moves to London and the character count rises (but the actual Count becomes a more peripheral character) it bogs down.”

“It’s philosophically interesting and Bonneville and Siff are great as two versions of real people.”

“It also liberates star Ben Daniels from period constraints, freeing him up to deliver what is easily the best stage performance of the year to date.”

“It’s a bit cosy, but not entirely so – there’s a wildness and darkness bubbling beneath the surface that means The Unlikely Pilgrimage packs a surprising punch.”

“Major rising star Isis Hainsworth is phenomenal as Thomasina.”

“It is extra as hell, every scene drenched in song, dance, wild fantasy asides, fourth-wall-breaking irony and other assorted shtick.”

“Hercules, though, is one unit of generic Disney stage entertainment.”

“But for all its tongue-in-cheek chutzpah, when the music stops you’re not left with much.”

“Main attraction aside, a fine creative team led by director Luke Sheppard has created a very enjoyable show indeed.”

“It’s entertaining, looks great, has a superb cast and Bruce Springsteen songs.”

“This is an extremely handsome production: I loved Soutra Gilmour’s lush but menacing garden set, and the way the two worlds are initially, jarringly divided by a partially raised safety curtain.”

“Thoroughly exorcising the memory of that catastrophe, Paranormal Activity is about as good as stage horror gets.”

“Mostly, Eldridge and co make the case for the 62-year-old novel’s enduring appeal, with Keenan’s study in disillusionment crossed with dogged determination really clinching the deal.”

“Bryan Cranston and Paapa Essiudu offer two of the best stage performances of 2025.”

“Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical about Alexander Hamilton, the first secretary of the US Treasury, is actually better than the hype suggests.”

“It’s a very pleasurable show, that has a fundamentally funny central premise, and genuinely great songs from Brooks himself.”

“Inter Alia hits home thoughtfully and forcefully.”

“There is so much that is good about it that I can look past a few negatives.”

“A gloriously improbable triumph.”

“Every setpiece you’re willing to be a stunner, is a stunner, an endless cavalcade of sweet, strange joy.”

“Making him so nice he won’t offend anyone is certainly one idea, but it does further defang Dickens’s yarn.”

“It’s undeniably a fun way to start 2025.”

“But the story simply doesn’t need them, isn’t built to accommodate them, loses pace when the singing starts.”

“Really it’s just not good enough - everyone here has the capacity to make work better than Barcelona.”

“I found it brilliantly, bizarrely funny, the sort of auteur performance that no other actor alive would so much as think of giving.”

“A big commercial musical is probably never going to be the medium for the great Michael Jackson drama.”

“With its decent-sized cast of heavyweight thesps – foremost the superb Melville, who sells every word, no matter how hokey – and a creative team outside of the Court’s usual circle, ‘Cowbois’ is a ray of sunshine and a blessed relief after a gruelling recent stretch of shows.”

“Really, it's a delight from start to finish.”

“I don’t think anybody could realistically see this imperfect, absurd, magnificent show and suggest that its crown as London’s longest-runner is in any danger.”

“‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ is an absolute hoot, a joyous, big-hearted, ludicrously incident-packed and magic-heavy romp.”

““Webber's gothic spectacular is totally '80s in the best possible way...The most successful entertainment event of all time...It still works hard for its audience...‘Phantom’ remains strong because its high production values haven’t been allowed to sag...”

“From Casey Nicholaw's kitsch choreography to the sheer detail of a book that hops with elan from Biblical Egypt to eighteenth-century America to a sort of vaginal version of hell, this is a tremendous show, as accomplished as it is funny.”