Sarah Crompton

“It’s a bold, moving play of extraordinary impact.”

“All in all, this is a hugely enjoyable revival of a musical that is standing the test of time, even as it conjures stories from the past.”

“At its best moments, this production of Hay Fever works like a well-oiled clock, each of its comedic elements clicking neatly into place.”

“It is a great night at the theatre.”

“This is art about the importance of art and is both uplifting and hopeful.”

“But there’s an uncomfortable sense that by setting out to trigger a reaction, it is a little too sure of its own importance.”

“Dyer’s direction is superbly confident, and beautifully realised as characters speak and argue in parallel scenes.”

“In Timothy Sheader’s immaculate production – first seen to Olivier-winning effect at Regent’s Park 10 years ago, and harnessing Drew McOnie’s pin-sharp choreography – this is a religious leader ensnared by his own cult.”

“But amidst the mayhem, it’s sometimes difficult to discern what the overall point is.”

“The euphoria of the show’s conclusion, marking an event that really did change people and perceptions, is impossible to resist.”

“This is a Misanthrope full of interesting ideas and fine effects, but not quite enough bite or fury.”

“This new production, directed by Patrick Marber, has an all-female cast and a shifted perspective that is bold and thought-provoking, if not always theatrically successful.”

“He isn’t either as moving or as desperate as some of his predecessors in the role, adopting a richer voice for the recording and a reedy growl as the older Krapp querulously interjects about the younger man’s foolishness.”

“Miranda Raison brings her to wonderfully spirited, clever life, as the play examines her relationship with Henry Irving.”

“Sweid is an extraordinarily engaging presence. He flirts with the audience, turning emotions this way and that, never losing the thread of the complexity of the ideas he wants to convey.”

“Manville and Turner are simply superb, their performances deep and thoughtful.”

“If it isn’t quite up there with Icke’s best, that’s only because he has set the bar so high.”

“Taylor is sensational as Maggie, full of self-loathing and fight in almost equal measure.”

“This version of Summerfolk, directed with verve by Robert Hastie, is 40 minutes shorter than its last incarnation on the National’s stage, when Trevor Nunn directed it some 25 years ago.”

“Erivo deserves it, but she also deserves far better – a Dracula with a bit of red meat rather than this bloodless, soul-sapping affair.”

“Its theology and its psychology don’t stand up to too much scrutiny, but like the fruit cake its characters eat over endless teas, it is satisfying while it lasts.”

“The play is superbly written, never losing either its tension, its humour or its ability to involve the audience in this searing set of choices.”

“It’s a lovely, naturalistic performance, but it exposes the artificiality of the play.”

“It’s silly, irreverent, and utterly irresistible, full of shocks and surprises.”

“It wants you to love it, and it is ultimately impossible to resist.”

“It has demanded that attention must be paid from the very start.”

“Sophia Chetin-Leuner has written a brave play on a difficult subject: pornography.”

“All in all, it is a curiously old-fashioned and superficial version of a play that cries out for a powerful vision.”

“In their hands, this odd conceit just about works, creating images of a life both lived and wasted, pre-ordained and chosen.”

“Hastie has provided a handsome, clear-sighted production. But it's Mills who provides its heart.”

“As opening productions go, this one is a firecracker, full of life and promise.”

“It is a staggeringly good production of a play that is already a classic, that does so much by seeming to do nothing.”

“Not all the tension of Evans’ direction and the energetic choreography of Ira Mandela Siobhan can quite disguise the fact that the play returns again and again to Shakespeare’s reluctance to play the spying game and Marlowe’s threats to betray him.”

“This Evita might be regarded as the apotheosis of Lloyd’s mid-period style and Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice should be down on their knees thanking him for allowing their strongest, darkest show, first seen in 1978, to gleam with diamond-sharp brilliance.”

“It isn’t a bad night out, but it’s like a fizzy drink, lively on the tongue but ultimately unsatisfying.”

“It is an overwhelming experience.”

“Stereophonic arrives on the London stage with the resonance of a guitar classic.”

“It is a truth not sufficiently acknowledged that something can be not very good but also hugely enjoyable at the same time.”

“The result is an extraordinary tour de force that brings the play to vivid and compelling life.”

“The Fifth Step, carefully directed by Finn den Hertog, spins through many moods and multiple questions but it never loses its grip.”

“It’s a terrific production that reveals the extraordinary power in this slightly old-fashioned play that has outlasted many more modish works.”

“It feels like a late-career bonus, a curiosity but one that gleams.”

“It is exactly the kind of play you want the Royal Court to present in this space.”

“As the evening progresses, it becomes so weird and distancing that it is hard to care about its outcome.”

“It’s a frustrating play, always watchable, so nearly great, so nearly soaring, yet somehow held earthbound by the weight of its intent.”

“Icke’s direction and command of an excellent cast playing many roles is disciplined and often audacious.”

“The play has a subtle sadness to it, a sense of hopes betrayed but also achieved.”

“The production is big, broad and for all its contemporary trimmings, absolutely Shakespearean in the way that it welcomes everyone into the entertainment.”

“It’s never dull and often devastating, but somehow it fails to land with the weight for which it is striving.”

“But the production, full of strangeness and insight, feels half-baked, as if all its elements haven’t quite had time to gel.”

“Overall, it’s a frustrating, uneven production, full of good ideas and powerful images, but ultimately dancing on the surface of Sophocles’s profoundly questing play, never quite piercing to its dark heart.”

“Their humour is warm, and embracing; the cleverness of their story-telling robust.”

“In its confident social comedy and defiantly difficult dilemmas, A Good House very much belongs on its illustrious stage.”

“Kyoto, about the behind-the-scenes battles to create the first global agreement on combating dangerous climate change, is a work of Shakespearean sweep and ambition, an invigorating and challenging piece of political theatre.”

“The entire production is stripped of poetry or wonder but doesn’t offer any alternative revelation in its place.”

“It’s an odd construct but somehow it works.”

“It’s entertaining but never quite as savage as you expect.”

“Mark Strong and Lesley Manville’s Greek tragedy is a political thriller”

“It’s a deep disappointment on every level, a reminder that star dust can sometimes cloud the picture rather than illuminate it.”

“Yet it’s a slick production rather than an involving one.”

“Director James Macdonald unlocks its tensions with perfect poise, letting its seriousness and sadness emerge but also filling it with a surprising amount of love.”

“Its energy and bravery spring from its wild inventiveness.”

“All in all, then, this is a sophisticated and enjoyable revival of a play that still, beneath its beautiful veneer of humour, has the heft to raise troubling and endlessly fascinating questions about the state of the human heart and how we describe it.”

“This is a genuinely enjoyable show with its heart in the right place.”

“A modern classic has been resurrected.”

“It’s a fascinating start to a new era in the larger Royal Court space.”

“It’s an enjoyable romp but doesn’t peer beneath the surface of its suggestion of a society that holds women writers back.”

“The clarity and directness of Herrin’s production and the way that the cast both speak and listen with absolute intent brings it to vivid life once more.”

“It’s not the least engaging evening of musical theatre I’ve ever sat through, but it is one of the most baffling wastes of talent.”

“It’s a real tour de force of storytelling and performance, an old-fashioned pleasure with a modern twist.”

“It’s engaging, never less than interesting, but it doesn’t always find the balance between great gobbets of historical information and reaching the heart of the man and his vision.”

“It’s a terrific musical and a sensational evening but in the end, for me, the material just doesn’t quite coalesce into the ending I long for.”

“The whole thing has a contemporaneity that makes it feel urgent, a tribute both to Ibsen’s prescience and to Ostermeier’s rigorous analysis of its relevance.”

“It's possibly only because of the exalted standards expected of Butterworth that somehow it remains an interesting evening rather than a revelatory one.”

“Their warmth, their subtlety and their ability to portray a family in love and at war make this rewarding, utterly unmissable play a theatrical event to remember.”

“All the pieces, skilfully directed by John Benjamin Hickey, have a deeply jaundiced view of male and particularly female behaviour beneath their smooth surfaces, yet Parker’s honesty, her vigour, and her pure gift for comedy both physical and verbal, disguise some of their obvious shortcomings.”

“The real mystery here is why The Enfield Haunting, directed by Angus Jackson, is so crushingly bad.”

“It is the triumph of both play and performance that he is so much more than that.”

“Everything here is ready to swallow you up faster than a demogorgon.”

“This is a terrific play, understated yet rich, utterly engrossing.”

“It’s a superb night of theatre, a new look at a difficult but always timely play.”

“Backstairs Billy, for all its humour, feels like a smudged snapshot rather than a fully realised portrait.”

“It’s not quite enough, but it certainly passes the time.”

“But his King Lear, much-awaited, is a misfire.”

“Yet it’s also frustrating, ending up – despite some twists and turns along the way – much more conventional and obvious than it promises.”

“It’s a striking beginning to a wonderful, compassionate play.”

“Closing Time has been unfortunate in that it has – like the entire sequence – been affected by Covid. Illness caused the postponement of its opening night and the cancellation of some performances. Jo Martin, the actress originally cast as Denise, has been replaced by Sharon Duncan-Brewster who takes to the stage script in hand.”

“It’s an extraordinary performance in a beautiful rethinking of one of Lloyd Webber’s greatest shows.”

“It is both a tribute to Sondheim and an exploration of the qualities of curiosity, intelligence, humour and high seriousness that made him a giant of the theatre.”

“It is so full of feeling and empathy that you cannot quite believe that you are actually watching a single man sitting alone, holding the arm of a chair. It is a great achievement.”

“All in all, it’s an incredibly frustrating evening, a wasted revival of a play that for all its old-fashioned notions, still speaks resonantly – and impeccably – to the modern age.”

“The result is a rivetingly intelligent evening, set by Soutra Gilmour on a traverse stage that splits the Lyttelton in two, suddenly transforming its tricky proscenium arched stage into a thrilling space of exploration.”

“It's an extraordinarily subtle and emotional performance.”

“The whole evening is full of joy.”

“On this showing, it emerges as a clever, resilient piece of writing but less profound than perhaps it hopes to be.”

“That’s what makes Groundhog Day such an enjoyable show: it earns its happy ending, which unfolds with grace and a sense of wonder.”

“Where this new version of Brokeback Mountain struggles is in finding a way to let the emotion penned within the story fly; it feels confined in feeling, not in action.”

“Nevertheless, the honesty of both writing and performances shines through, making the play an involving examination of exactly why women continue to suffer in silence, in homes where they should feel safe.”

“The insight into the process of alteration – the way he has had to raise himself as a man – is riveting.”