Sarah Hemming

“The Standard of Living will prove to be anything but dry, rolling through the momentous events and multiple crises of the early 20th century.”

“It’s bracing to see someone use the stage with such emphatic intent to provoke discourse, and Rodrigues draws on writers as varied as Aeschylus, Lorca, Brecht and Shaw to work up his unique, disturbing brew.”

“But it’s a shame that the play doesn’t quite live up to its promise thanks, ironically, to its own narrative choices.”

“As theatre, however, it’s dense, overlong and rather sterile, draining away the energy of the first half.”

“Nadia Fall’s astringent staging retains the period setting, rolling the whole thing out on Peter McKintosh’s gloriously strident set and lacing it with 1970s music, but it also drives home the current resonances.”

“Phillip Breen’s highly enjoyable revival at London’s Old Vic relishes the period detail, while also scoping out the shrewd social commentary and fundamental human truths that underpin the chaos.”

“You could say the same of this intoxicatingly lovely show.”

“Instead, it feels like a pale imitation of better iterations.”

“Yet there are raw truths in here that don’t quite land amid all the pizzazz.”

“This is still an enjoyable, eccentric and immensely topical evening, delivered with enormous flair.”

“There’s hope and heartache, triumph and adversity, disco dancing and Welsh choirs — it’s the stuff of musical theatre heaven.”

“But the trouble is that the format doesn’t allow for in-depth exploration of these issues, resulting in a somewhat superficial account of events — curiously anodyne too, given the extraordinary details of Sinatra’s life.”

“It’s definitely a comedy, and a very funny one at that.”

“It’s characteristic of an evening that bubbles with sharp insights and yet somehow feels like less than the sum of its parts.”

“In real estate terms: ambitious, masses of potential — but not quite the finished article.”

“There’s wit and compassion to the piece, which celebrates the uniqueness of this generous, eccentric person and touches on some probing questions about society’s response to those who are different in any way.”

“It’s a highly impressive professional debut, tackling burning issues with snap, wit and rage.”

“This show remains a stunning piece of theatre: an immensely moving response to the futility of war.”

“But gradually the thin yet complicated plot begins to stall and sag, and the spiky script, ingenious design and sheer gutsy energy of the cast aren’t enough to compensate.”

“And what is never in doubt is the sizzle of the songs by Robert Lopez (Frozen) and Jeff Marx, and the brilliance of the puppeteers in Jason Moore’s effervescent staging.”

“He’s the beating heart of this restless, revealing production.”

“But it’s a curious piece: very easy to admire; harder to love.”

“It’s a production charged with adolescent passion and buzzing with fresh insights.”

“And what a joyous, blazingly intelligent play this is: at once a restless interrogation of the role of art in defining and expressing who we are; a compassionate, funny portrayal of what it means to be a teenage girl; and a furious appraisal of the way power games repeat across generations.”

“It’s the two sensational performances that make the evening.”

“Kavanaugh’s pacy staging, bleeding one scene into another, conveys the force of unexpected love but can’t quite overcome these drawbacks.”

“It’s a promising debut and just the sort of premiere the Royal Court should be staging in its tiny upstairs studio as it turns 70.”

“In the end it’s their show and their final scene, drawing hope out of darkness, is very moving.”

“It’s chewy in places and overlong, but this is still a mighty play, lovingly revived — its final image, of two couples waltzing through time, an immensely moving expression of the themes tumbling through it.”

“A generous, humane play, Guess How Much I Love You? is a fine start to the Royal Court’s 70th anniversary season.”

“It feels somehow distant and etiolated on the wide stage of the Lyttelton Theatre; the pacing goes awry in places and some plot twists become muffled.”

“And the production becomes intensely moving by the end.”

“Seen here, Miller’s coruscating takedown of the American dream feels like a play for our time.”

“That’s what makes this play beautiful: in defiance of its own title, it’s about what endures.”

“What does hold the play back is that the framing of characters’ attempts to grapple with the inexplicable sometimes feels too strategic and rather obvious: a séance, a discussion of religious faith.”

“There’s a quiet wisdom to that, beauty in celebrating an ‘ordinary’ life, and the play’s elusiveness suggests it’s hard to know anyone fully.”

“And this is an oddly uneven Hamlet, strangely lacking in tension and weight.”

“Even so, this is an exuberant, joyous, celebratory evening.”

“This playful, provocative version of Euripides’ tragedy is set on celebrating that status.”

“It’s a magnificent piece of theatre: richly funny, deeply moving and superbly acted by an outstanding ensemble led by Brendan Gleeson.”

“Overall this is a beautiful piece, and throughout there’s a playful yet provocative use of theatre.”

“It’s greatly entertaining, peppered with literary gags and impish anachronisms, and delivered with immense flourish.”

“What is never in doubt is the immense importance of what Miller is tackling or the power of Pike’s performance, which is simply superb.”

“It’s a great idea, splicing political comedy and family drama together to pointed effect, and though the play struggles somewhat under the weight of its own ambition — a little like its characters — it’s delivered with a deliciously nasty flourish by Daniel Raggett’s cast.”

“It’s stunning: the apex of a show that, like Lloyd’s Sunset Boulevard, boldly reframes a much-loved musical for today.”

“What emerges is a snappily staged pantomime, complete with villain, comic sidekicks, love interest, slash-and-bash fight scenes and even a ‘he’s behind you’ moment of sorts, as Hercules sprints across the stage with a monster in hot pursuit.”

“This quietly brilliant production by James Macdonald, still definitive in my view, is less literal and embraces the musicality of the piece.”

“David Adjmi's superb, gorgeously textured drama — which scooped a hatful of Tony Awards after its first New York run and is brilliantly staged here by Daniel Aukin and an outstanding cast — sinks us into the creative fever dream that follows.”

“For all its exuberant defiance, After the Act is a serious and timely reminder of that fact.”

“Staunton and Carter make a wonderful double act, bringing painful emotional truth to the twisting narrative.”

“The play dances to and fro, interweaving serious questions with crisply funny dialogue and combining the absurd with the profound.”

“It’s a delicate, sensitive revival of Rattigan’s compassionate masterpiece.”

“It’s not Sondheim at his greatest, but it’s still uniquely him: witty, wry and suddenly wise.”

“This new piece feels like one of those renovations that hasn’t quite worked.”

“It’s charming and fun but, in the end, I fear this is one result even Cher might struggle to negotiate up to an A.”

“Though lacking the depth and intricacy to make it a truly great play, given a few tucks itself by playwright Trish Cooke, it’s a lively comedy about Black British life that springs into life in Lynette Linton’s warm, exuberant production.”

“From start to finish, the show is a joy: a love song to the exhilaration, pain and giddy nonsense of passion, with Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell absolutely acing it at the helm.”

“And, as with the Old Vic’s Oedipus — which features another Hollywood star, Rami Malek, in the title role — it proves only fitfully successful.”

“But for all its stark physicality, this telling of the tale doesn’t reach into your core and rattle you with its painful, nagging questions about fate and human agency.”

“Another wildly clever, madly innovative and suddenly moving show from this inspired duo.”

“Jephta’s highly enjoyable play has echoes of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, Bruce Norris’s Clybourne Park and Yasmina Reza’s waspish comedies of manners.”

“This is theatre purely for those who want to laugh and be entertained.”

“The production, though sadly undermined by its flaws, is bleakly spectacular.”

“This gorgeous, joyously out-there staging feels almost like payback.”

“But in the end, despite its thrust, this feels like a curiously flimsy affair.”

“Perhaps it’s that framework that makes this something of a hit-and-miss evening.”

“Icke brilliantly remakes Sophocles’ profoundly disturbing tragedy for our times.”

“Zeldin’s script dives from black comedy to horror, while his staging gives us a brilliant compound of the ordinary and the eerie.”

“But his performance is also so overdone and insistent that it unbalances the play, drawing focus from other characters and undermining the darker elements.”

“That fact is front and central in Lyndsey Turner’s mighty production of Coriolanus, led by a terrific, deeply troubled David Oyelowo, which fuses past and present, public space and playing space, to brilliantly eloquent effect.”

“One joy in James Macdonald’s superb new production — led by stunning performances from Ben Whishaw and Lucian Msamati — is that it honours, so eloquently, the irony in that.”

“This super-smart 1982 comedy represents Stoppard’s own wrestle with the same conundrum.”

“The result is playful, elusive, sometimes frustrating and ultimately moving: a boldly experimental piece that meditates on home, on belonging and on the way both theatre and technology can seemingly bend time and shrink the space between people.”

“Weise’s production savours both the playfulness and the emotional truths in the plot, and his cast all give affectionately observed and beautifully rounded performances.”

“It’s an irresistible performance.”

“A tough, troubling, revealing play: proof again that the stage has become an excellent place to grapple, collectively, with our fraught and freighted times and to help us listen better to our own responses.”

“In the hands of an irresistible cast, it’s certainly fun — fetch, one might even say.”

“Towards the end, the play feels overloaded to the point of confusion. But it is still an original and entertaining piece, the shifts in mood beautifully managed by director Jack McNamara.”

“It arrives in the West End expanded from its original shorter format and has perhaps lost some of its charm in the process.”

“But few playwrights can match Miller's ability to combine astute political analysis with poignant humanity and, flaws and all, this richly acted production still hits home.”

“But even so, it’s a wonderful, moving play, crackling with the city’s famous gallows humour — ‘Unemployment is a growth industry’ — that puts the human casualties of economic upheaval centre stage.”

“But, overall, it’s a chance to check in for some familiar dishes rather than sample anything fresh.”

“In the end, this is a superb play about addiction but also about the sheer difficulty of living in today’s world.”

“All of this comes to the fore in Ian Rickson’s restless, intelligent, absorbing production.”

“Overall there’s a piercing, vivid immediacy to Icke’s staging.”

“It’s mightily entertaining if, in the end, limited by its style.”

“The subtle family dynamics are beautifully traced and the ending is magnificent.”

“Now recognised as an audacious masterpiece, it was the inspiration for The Second Woman — the 24-hour-epic delivered by Ruth Wilson last year — and it drives this similarl...”

“What’s not in doubt is the slippery skill of Cale’s writing and Crudup’s consummate, magnetic performance.”

“This is, unashamedly, a play about principle, passion and compassion, driven by a fantastic ensemble and an electrifying performance from Sheen.”

“Chris Bush’s Standing at the Sky’s Edge announces itself and the mixture of sweet and tart, tender and tough, that will drive this exhilarating, big-hearted musical.”

“And what an unexpected treat it is.”

“And this is a virtuoso performance in an astonishing piece of theatre.”

“It’s ingenious and often very funny, as the cast play with levels of reality.”

“But as drama it struggles, weighed down by trying to outline the history and emphasise its current relevance.”

“But it’s not quite enough to blow the dust off the play and its creakily dated depiction of the sexes.”

“All this could be both unsettling and intriguing and yet here it runs into the ground.”

“Infinite Life concludes with a remarkably moving moment of compassion and connection — a breakout from the isolating misery of pain.”

“Hattie Morahan as Helene and Stuart Thompson as Osvald bring a mesmerising intensity to this mother-son dance of death, and there’s welcome black comedy from Paul Hilton as the self-serving priest.”

“But, for all its promise, the play doesn’t gel, too often seeming to strain for effect, and the production follows suit.”