Sam Marlowe

“It’s irredeemably dry and ultimately, I’m genuinely sorry to say, a colossal yawn.”

“Tilda Swinton is mesmeric in this landmark revival of the confrontational German monodrama”

“Outhwaite seizes and stomps her way through it with glittering conviction.”

“But it also feels overlong and occasionally laborious, the comic engine taking time to grind into gear and the broadly drawn characters sometimes grating, for all the energy of their embodiment here.”

“Instead, it’s ploddingly literal, often lapsing into mawkishness and soapy tedium – repeatedly ramming its social conscience down our throats, theatrically it’s almost in Blood Brothers territory, although it’s significantly less emotionally effective.”

“It captures something of the quality of crowd contagion – the way an impulse can spread through a mob until it reaches a frenzy – but it could be more dynamically exciting, and it becomes a little visually monotonous.”

“This is a potent and dismayingly timely revival.”

“This is a serrated, stylishly arresting debut that reveals Dettmer as a writer of striking theatrical imagination.”

“Up springs David Fynn’s Beetlejuice straight away, our gratingly eye-popping guide through a story so aimless and scrappy that, before long, you give up even attempting to follow it.”

“Gary Oldman is vividly engaging in Beckett’s bleak monodrama”

“It’s difficult to invest in what feels like storytelling by numbers: disappointing.”

“As a drama, it emerges as elegant and divertingly nasty; it needs to matter more.”

“Belflower’s play is, in many ways, one familiar story wrapped in another; but it’s done with wit and leaves us, with its final, glorious act of rebellion, on a high of irrepressible optimism.”

“Yet, the problems with Hare’s play persist.”

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say it sucks, but it certainly doesn’t bite.”

“As the hands on that clock finally approach 12, what you’re chiefly left thinking is, what a waste of talent – and what a waste of time.”

“For all that, though, the play’s contrivances become tiresome and there’s something crass about its closing scenes, the tonal balance uncertain, the ending – despite Smith’s bravura performance – unearned.”

“In truth, the material needs more work. But whatever the faults of the show, it's sweeter than a marmalade sandwich, and if the cuddly creation at its heart doesn't make it a hit, I'll eat his hat.”

“As we watch them all rip themselves and each other apart on a stage littered with red autumn leaves that irresistibly recall memorial poppy fields, this brutal dismantling of the American dream feels more pertinent than ever.”

“Matthew Warchus' production, performed by an impeccable cast led by Hollywood royalty Susan Sarandon and Andrea Riseborough, could hardly be more finely calibrated.”

“A languid, low-key chamber piece, in the end it leaves you unsatisfied.”

“But while that celerity guards against the piece becoming ponderous, it comes at the price of dramatic and emotional heft.”

“And above all, it’s an absolute blast.”

“There's not much more to it, but as far as it goes, it's amiable fun.”

“But in electing to give us a piece that dwells on the painful, mundane minutiae, Adjmi is authentic almost to a fault.”

“There’s an inescapable sense, though, of artificiality; the ideas neatly stacked up, but the humanity oddly absent.”

“But for all the polish of Mantello’s staging, this really just feels like a purposeless waste of time – an experiment that should have stayed in its masterly creator’s bottom drawer.”

“But the dialogue is so carefully manicured that there’s an inescapable sense of effort and contrivance.”

“But for a drama that is concerned with desire, it’s verbose and oddly passionless, and its circuitous musings verge on frustrating.”

“This staging shrewdly roots all the boisterous shenanigans in a rich sense of Victoriana.”

“As a musical it’s pretty and uninteresting, shot through with the kind of obviousness and mediocrity that Miranda Priestly would abhor.”

“Tragic, absorbing and coolly compassionate”

“Walking away from this work unaffected or free from a brain-buzz of complexities is simply not an option.”

“This harrowing, tough-minded musical about mental illness, trauma, love and family is a genuinely courageous attempt to expand the form.”

“The staging feels diffuse, the overlapping stories failing to cohere or acquire momentum.”

“But emotional impact is a casualty.”

“But as an exploration of women who left us such sinewy, sexy, courageous writing, it feels like a sadly wasted opportunity.”

“The acting here is dauntless: a monumental testament to domestic agony.”

“In fact, it’s hard to know what the point is of any of it.”

“But the play is effectively a series of Escher staircases leading nowhere, ingenious but inconsequential.”

“Imperfect, but stirringly impassioned.”

“It's jubilant and defiant, with the emotional force of a juggernaut.”

“But there is a dramatic artlessness that verges on the naive, a lack of shape and intent; however scorching the singing, this is an undernourished parade of numbers rather an achieved theatrical work.”

“It's unsubtle and overlong, but it's determined to show you a great time. If you're in the mood, you might just give in.”

“In a pitch-perfect production from Sam Mendes, it is devastatingly moving, bitterly funny, tender, cruel and wise.”

“...it’s a theatrical museum piece, barely in working order, dusty and decidedly creaky.”

“This wickedly entertaining show will surely put a mischievous grin on anyone’s face.”

“It’s amusing, and toys gingerly with social issues, among them the peculiarly British business of class divide and deference.”

“Instead, this production mostly feels meaningless and mechanical, with even the notorious, horrific eye-gouging scene stubbornly unmoving.”

“It is utterly mesmerising and thrillingly theatrical.”

“If the show doesn’t feel completely achieved, it breaks new ground and takes its audience on an exceptional journey.”

“Breathless hip-hop history of the suffragette movement is broad, but at times exhilarating”

“It’s unadulterated joy: a huge, healing hug of a show, generous and utterly beguiling.”

“Otherwise, this is a tremendously effective adaptation that not only does justice to the original but, where it matters most, improves upon it.”

“But it has a big sticky lollipop where its heart should be, and instead of starlight, only sequins.”

“This may be feminism-lite, but it ignites powerful passions.”

“The opening scene, where they meet among West End crowds in a rainstorm, is a cacophony of overblown acting and frenetic movement.”

“It takes too long to ignite, yet this slow-burn staging flickers with a kind of compulsion.”