Clive Davis

“This musical still burns brightly.”

“But Karge’s overextended portrait of a woman who could be a modern Mother Courage becomes a test of endurance.”

“Sadly, it doesn't add much to the conversation.”

“As theatre, though, it lacks spontaneity.”

“Fall’s production, first seen at Stratford East in 2024, is so deftly crafted that the best of the dialogue sounds freshly minted.”

“Allam delivers a masterclass in comic timing.”

“Still, there is unabashed energy to the performance and the new songs, co-written by Welsh and the dance music producer Stephen McGuinness, that just about keeps the evening aloft.”

“The psychological asides may be quintessentially French, but they’re not particularly profound.”

“Sinatra the Musical, which takes the story up to the From Here to Eternity comeback in 1953, is a similarly erratic affair.”

“By the time the piece stumbles towards its meta conclusion at a baroque-themed costume party, we’ve long ceased to care about the outcome.”

“But, collectively, this reinvention has the aura of a rehearsal room exercise in which accomplished actors sketch personalities without, for the most part, getting to the heart of the characters.”

“She also deserves to be in a better play.”

“It’s just a shame that a good proportion of the lyrics were lost in the sound mix, at least where I was sitting.”

“Still, my colleague Dominic Maxwell was slightly underwhelmed when he saw the piece in York, and I have to admit I came away from this evening in much the same mood.”

“An evening that celebrates the art of illusion weaves one shimmering backdrop after another.”

“Take this as a story about the wild challenge of balancing morality and legality, of protecting your children and letting them go, and you have something fine indeed.”

“The three actors do their very best to keep The Authenticator on course in the National's Dorfman space, but in the end it's a lost cause.”

“What's often missing, though, is the sense of abject cruelty that ought to lie at the heart of this story of cold-blooded seduction.”

“There’s certainly plenty to savour in Danya Taymor’s high-energy production, recast for London audiences, which burrows deep inside the overheated psyches of teenagers. At its sharpest, the dialogue generates waves of laughter too.”

“She gives a formidable portrayal of a talent in free fall, fighting off her demons while making life just about impossible for everyone around her.”

“The new regime at the National has delivered its first bona fide hit.”

“Bonneville certainly deserved the acclaim he received at the end of the evening: this was a shrewdly understated performance”

“Sadly, Anthony Lau’s febrile expressionist production is so overheated that it’s impossible to ignore the implausibilities in the storyline.”

“Arcadia does sparkle, especially in the opening scenes, set in a country house, Sidley Park, in the early years of the nineteenth century.”

“It’s so cheering to see the West End can still take risks, and even more encouraging to know that Smith and co will be taking the play out of London, albeit briefly, after the run finishes.”

“These actors know how to fail with a flourish.”

“Eye-catching, yes, but not quite enough to make the drama seem more than a mildly intriguing period piece.”

“Those few flaws aside, the bear captures our hearts.”

“Porn Play operates on a broader canvas but delivers a portrait of a woman who remains more symbol than substance.”

“That aura of profound evil is harder to detect in Tom Morris's stolid production at the Haymarket.”

“It's always a bad sign, however, when you catch yourself admiring the actors' technique rather than caring about the characters they represent.”

“So we’re left with a fitful evening that lurches from one lush tableau to another.”

“It’s all very jolly and extravagant, but ultimately a little bit relentless.”

“After sitting through this travesty, I suspect it could well be the last.”

“For all its ecological pretensions, this oddball production ends up leaving you longing for a little old-fashioned silence.”

“At times, Deaf Republic has more of the static quality of an art installation.”

“At its heart, though, it hovers at the level of conscientiously researched fan fiction.”

“But for all the quality of the production, I have the nagging feeling that deep down it’s really a lecture.”

“The shouting and the fighting are as synthetic as the soundbites.”

“All credit to the hip young director for having the audacity to smack down the fourth wall.”

“Still, it’s hard to work up much enthusiasm about Casey Nicholaw’s musclebound production at Theatre Royal Drury Lane.”

“This production is an exercise in the actor’s craft, an exquisitely wrought gilt frame surrounding an empty canvas.”

“It's all very cool, but is this play chart-topping material? I don't think so.”

“Welcome to the worst show of the year so far... so inept that part of me suspects it must be part of some Reform UK psy-ops campaign to put political theatre out of business.”

“The symbolism is heavy-handed and aside from Robert Glenister’s leering businessman Sir George Crofts, the men in Kitty and Vivie’s orbit never really seem more than a neatly ordered set of opinions.”

“The revised version at London’s Sohoplace is leaner and all the more compelling.”

“Lewis... steals scene after scene as Douglas Woodbead, a monumentally self-satisfied thespian.”

“The musical fantasy that unfolds on the National’s Lyttelton stage is, for long stretches, utterly absorbing.”

“Unfortunately, her characters express themselves in sophomoric dialogue in which every other sentence tries to express some grand philosophical truth.”

“By the time the revellers return for a reprise of Roaring On, the champagne has lost its sparkle.”

“Just when you think the play is going to eclipse the much more conventional Punch, the piece begins to lose focus.”

“It is mainly in terms of visuals that the show falls short.”

“Sadly, however, the script tries to squeeze too many themes into a rambunctious sitcom-style format.”

“Lloyd’s mischievous club-culture reinvention of About Nothing has colour, passion and, in the form of Tom Hiddleston, a head-miked leading man who is absolutely in command.”

“After the twelfth box of vibrators starts buzzing away, a certain boredom sets in.”

“All I can say is that the supposedly grand twist at the end landed with all the force of a blancmange.”

“When it works, though, it's a joy.”

“If you weren’t won over by the Hollywood version of the tale, starring Brad Pitt, rest assured this musical really does touch the heart.”

“The sleek dialogue can’t camouflage the lack of basic plausibility.”

“It also made you wish the show’s co-adaptors, Armando Iannucci and Sean Foley, had applied a few more creative flourishes to what is, all in all, a stolid remake of the classic Stanley Kubrick Cold War satire.”

“Long stretches feel like a rehearsal from a student production.”

“But the first requirement of a tragedy, surely, is that it should hold an audience transfixed: if we feel manipulated, tension seeps away.”

“Warchus and Rylance haven’t pulled off the same trick here.”

“Are we likely to see a more enthralling play in the West End this year? I very much doubt it.”

“Macdonald’s revival forces you to listen and learn.”

“This show is a laugh-a-minute feast.”

“Fifty years from now, people will look back on this satirical slice of life and wonder how we allowed the simple business of getting an education to turn into a blood sport.”

“It’s one of those productions where a compelling central performance, imbued with raw emotion, takes your mind off the flaws in the play itself.”

“Sadly, after all the acclaim for his footballing drama Dear England, the playwright stumbles in this co-production with Liverpool’s Royal Court.”

“Here, 80 minutes begins to feel like eight hours.”

“I’m pleased to report that this genial condensing of three episodes delivers a hugely entertaining blast of unadorned nostalgia.”

“Still, it’s an epic — directed by the Les Mis veteran John Caird — which, despite its intelligent use of traditional Japanese imagery, grinds you into submission.”

“By turns stern and maudlin, Cox is always watchable, but he’s still not able to prevent long-winded confrontations and confessions from slipping into melodrama.”

“It’s a shaggy dog story, and a thoroughly entertaining one, even if it turns dark towards the end.”

“Throughout it all, Sheen burns with genuine passion.”

“Standing ovations have become a nightly ritual in the West End. Just for a change, this one didn't quite seem adequate.”

“But for all its occasional longueurs, the evening is lifted by an imperious performance by Lindsay Duncan as a grandmother presiding over golden anniversary celebrations that come close to being thrown off course by domestic tensions and romantic intrigues.”

“Jez Butterworth’s eagerly awaited new drama...close to sweeping us off our feet”

“Since none of his own relations is present, he is very much the outsider. Although he serenades Sylvia with a cornily romantic but touching song, disharmony lurks beneath the disco glitterball. Sylvia’s abrasive sister Hazel (Lucy Black) resents the growing presence of eastern Europeans in the town.”

“As drama, on the other hand, the saccharine piece lumbers along.”

“It’s an exuberant little set-piece.”

“Paul Unwin’s play, inspired by the notorious case of a poltergeist said to be rattling around a house in the London suburbs in the 1970s, is certain to make the list of worst plays of the year.”

“But by the end, you long to escape from this overwrought battle of wills and step out into the sunshine.”

“ I’ll admit that, perhaps because of the Olivier’s treacherous acoustics, I wasn’t able to catch every syllable of the quicksilver lyrics. If I’m being ultra-critical, I’d add that the mechanised mice were a tad slow. But don’t be put off: this is a stunning achievement.”

“I’d rather watch the complete works of Jeremy Kyle than sit through this again.”

“A disjointed evening begins to generate an authentic sense of the tragic.”

“To find it in the West End, with Kristin Scott Thomas and Lily James in the lead roles, is bizarre.”

“The characterisation is flimsy, the storytelling perfunctory and the performances strikingly uneven.”

“It’s just a pity that this story doesn’t come fully alive.”

“The best of the repartee still sparkles, but I’ll admit that I spent much of the evening admiring the designer Simon Higlett’s Deauville hotel façade and the luscious, semicircular evocation of Amanda’s Paris apartment.”

“Perhaps not. But the performances are impassioned, and by giving extra weight to those who experienced the terrifying events of June 2017, Slovo's script provides more insights into what the disaster entailed at the most visceral level.”

“In its combination of glamour and tawdriness, Cabaret remains one of a kind.”

“Watching this production carried me back to the bleak night, long ago... Elton’s script is almost as slapdash, shoehorning songs into one scene after another”

“If you’re a neutral, as I am, be warned that it’s an evening which has its longueurs as well as its charms.”

“Perched on a wooden bench as the old lady sits shiva for the dead, Lipman makes it all so real, so tangible.”

“But you sit through the two and a half hours hoping that the characters will acquire some sort of depth. They never do.”

“This gloriously inventive musical, based on a celebrated Second World War intelligence operation, is the nearest thing to those hyperactive Tex Avery cartoons that kept cinema audiences entertained during the war years.”