Local News
New Paddington musical ‘takes you to place of nostalgia’ – Bonnie Langford
The show will premiere in London’s West End next week.
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Munya Chawawa launches theatre club to open doors for the next generation of black talent
The comedian and satirist hopes to make the arts more accessible for young black boys across the capital with his new arts initiative
Les Misérables: a musical full of heart and hope that continues to defy its critics
When it opened in 1985, Les Mis got some rotten reviews. Forty years on, our writer sees it afresh and Cameron Mackintosh reflects on the show’s spectacular successSo were we wrong? By “we” I mean the overnight critics, myself included, who gave largely negative reviews to the musical of Les M...
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Soho's G-A-Y Bar to close this weekend in latest hammerblow for London's nightlife
G-A-Y Bar owner Jeremy Joseph said it was ‘time to say goodbye’ to the venue after 25 years
Illegal erectile dysfunction drugs and antidepressants sold in West End souvenir shops
Sachets and blister packs of imported sex drug Kamagra were seized by Westminster Council during visits to four shops
Salomé review – breathtakingly boring spin on Oscar Wilde’s baroque tragedy
Theatre Royal Haymarket, London Maxim Didenko delivers Wilde’s version of the biblical tale with a blingy design, topless men in hoods and yodellingIs it morally acceptable to host an Israeli theatre company in London’s West End in the midst of the war in Gaza? Reviving Oscar Wilde’s baroque o...
The Importance of Being Earnest review – Stephen Fry’s Lady Bracknell presides over merrily queered comedy
Noël Coward theatre, LondonMax Webster’s frisky Oscar Wilde revival, first seen at the National Theatre, arrives in the West End with a new castOscar Wilde’s comedy was, he said, “written by a butterfly, for butterflies”. Real life may threaten: the mercenary Victorian marriage market and c...
Clarkston review – Heartstopper’s Joe Locke joins lonely souls looking to make life matter
Trafalgar theatre, LondonCo-starring Ruaridh Mollica and Sophie Melville, this bleak three-hander by Samuel D Hunter leaves little unsaidDrugs, unemployment and a heavy air of purposelessness gnaw at the trio in Samuel D Hunter’s bleak 2015 play, which considers what it means to live, work and tra...
Unions urge UK theatres to limit at-seat alcohol sales as staff face ‘unacceptable abuse’
Rowdy audience members have disrupted performances with heckling, violence and even copulation in the stalls“Speak clearly and don’t bump into the furniture” – so goes Noël Coward’s timeless advice to actors. But for those treading the boards of London’s West End this weekend, there is ...
The Weir review – a riveting return for Conor McPherson’s lonesome barflies
Harold Pinter theatre, LondonAlmost 30 years on, the Irish playwright’s intimate drama brims with painful memories and comedy – brought to dazzling effect by a flawless castConor McPherson’s rural Irish bar-room drama seeps into your bones. Almost 30 years since its first production, I can sti...
Sheridan Smith to star in new production of Alan Ayckbourn play
Described as a ‘gripping exploration of identity, family, and mental escape’, Woman In Mind will be performed in London, Sunderland and Glasgow.
Dozens of dangerous fake Labubus seized in London raids
The counterfeit dolls were found to be death traps for toddlers – with eyes that pop out and feet that fall off, posing a serious choking hazard
High Noon heads for the West End as Billy Crudup takes on Gary Cooper role
The Tony award-winning actor will play the marshal in a London stage adaptation of the 1952 western that won Cooper an OscarBilly Crudup is to take on the role that won Gary Cooper an Oscar in a new stage adaptation of the 1952 western High Noon. Based on Carl Foreman’s screenplay, the production ...
Self Esteem to star as raging rock star in revival of David Hare’s Teeth ’n’ Smiles
Rebecca Lucy Taylor will play Maggie, a role originated by Helen Mirren, in a ‘landmark’ 50th anniversary production in London in MarchFifty years after Helen Mirren originated the role, Rebecca Lucy Taylor AKA Self Esteem is to play a raging rock star in a West End revival of Teeth ’n’ Smil...
Girls Aloud’s Nicola Roberts: ‘Lady Gaga told me she wanted to be the moon for a day. I’m like: where do I go next?’
Ahead of her debut in London’s West End with the musical Hadestown, Roberts answers your questions on navigating overnight fame as a teenager and why she would drop everything to work with Kate BushHow does it feel to finally be making your West End debut in Hadestown, after City of Angels was can...
The best theatre to stream this month: Basil’s back as Fawlty Towers reopens for business
John Cleese’s stage version of his beloved sitcom, a cast recording of Cornish musical The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Robert Wilson’s production of Handel’s Messiah are among September’s highlightsFifty years ago this month, Torquay’s most famous rat trap opened for business on th...
The Guardian view on Christopher Marlowe: it’s time to read him and honour him | Editorial
England’s second most famous playwright is the star of a new play. But his own works should be staged more, and he should be commemorated betterFor a limited season this autumn, Christopher Marlowe will become a star of the London stage again. Enjoy it while you can, for Marlowe has become an ep...
Susan Sarandon, Whoopi Goldberg and Caliban’s take on The Tempest: the best theatre, comedy and dance of autumn 2025
Andrea Riseborough and Sarandon deliver a decade-hopping drama, superstar standups hit the road and Shobana Jeyasingh rewrites Shakespeare• See the rest of our unmissable autumn arts preview picks here Continue reading......
Please take your seats, the carnage is about to begin: what will Quentin Tarantino’s West End debut look like?
The director has announced he’s turning to theatre, and mounting a play in London soon. The matinee coach parties may need to brace themselvesIf the last few days have taught us anything at all, then it is this: if you want Quentin Tarantino to open up about anything, invite him on to a podcast ca...
Every Brilliant Thing review – Lenny Henry gets audience on board for list of life’s joys
@sohoplace theatre, LondonHenry is the first of a group of star performers taking Duncan Macmillan and Jonny Donahoe’s hit show about depression into the West EndSince its premiere in 2013, Duncan Macmillan’s one-person play about depression has gradually become a cult hit. It’s been performed...