Andrzej Lukowski

London’s theatre scene is the most exciting in the world: perfectly balanced between the glossy musical theatre of Broadway and the experimentalism of Europe, it’s flavoured by the British preference for new writing and love of William Shakespeare, but there really is something for everyone. Between the showtunes of the West End and the constant pipeline of new writing from the subsidised sector, there’s a whole thrilling world, with well over 100 theatres and over venues playing host to everything from classic revivals to cutting-edge immersive work. This rolling list is constantly updated to share the best of what’s coming up and currently booking: these choices aren’t the be-all and end-all of great theatre in 2025, but they are, as a rule, the biggest and splashiest shows coming up, alongside intriguing looking smaller projects.   They’re shows worth booking for, pronto, both to avoid sellouts but to get the cheaper tickets that initially go on sale for most shows but tend to be snapped up months before they actually open. Please note that the prices quoted are the ‘official’ prices when the shows go on sale – with West End shows in particular it can unfortunately be the case that if they sell well, expensive dynamic prices can be triggered. Want to see if these shows live up to the hype? Check out our theatre reviews. Check out our complete guide to musicals in London.  And head over here for a guide to every show in the West End at the moment.

Hello parents and guardians! I’m Time Out’s theatre editor and more relevantly, I'm in charge of our kids coverage. As a parent of two childen myself I can confirm that London is an amazing city raise kids in if your priority is ‘keeping them occupied’. Yes, you have to put a bit of commuter time in to take advantage of it all, but there’s a virtually endless stream of stuff for children to do, from playgrounds and parks to incredible children’s theatres, free museums to slightly more expensive zoos and aquariums, and all sorts of stuff inbetween. This is a sort of checklist of what we think the 50 best things to do in the city with kids are. Some of it is incredibly obvious: you’re probably aware that London has a Natural History Museum. But it’s worth stressing is a really, really great Natural History Museum, and whether you’re just visiting or have lived here all your life, a visit is a terrific day out. Alongside that, we’ve got 49 other ideas for things to do with childen in London – the focus is inevitably on younger children of nursery and primary school age, but we aim to cater for all here, from tots to teens. That’s all ages, all budgets and all times of the year – as well as adding new London attractions as they open or return, this list will be switched around seasonally: ice rinks, grottos and pantiomimes are great to take your children to in winter, less so in summer. Of course, there are more than 50 things for children to in London, and we’ve got plenty of ot

Hello, and welcome to the Time Out theatre reviews round up. From huge star vehicles and massive West End musical to hip fringe shows and more, this is a compliation of all the latest London reviews from the Time Out theatre team, which is me – Time Out theatre editor Andrzej Łukowski – plus our freelance critics. RECOMMENDED New theatre openings in London this month. A-Z of West End shows.

The only school holidar bar the summer  where you can reasonably expect nice weather, May half-term is a sort of last minute practice session before the beast that is the six-week school summer holidays. The (hopeful) nice weather is a big deal:  ‘go to the park’ or ‘day-trip to the seaside’ are viable options now when they most certainly aren’t in mid-February or late October. However, there are still many, many fun things to indoors in London itself for kids of all ages. My name is Andrzej and I’m Time Out’s lead kids’ writer, and here’s my pick of the best things to do this May half-term. As ever, the idea with this list is to highlight the best new, returning or last chance to see shows; London also has plenty of evergreen fun for children of all ages, quite a lot of which you can find in out list of the 50 best things to do with kids in London. When is May half-term this year?  This year, London’s May half-term officially falls between Monday May 26 and Friday May 30 (ie children will be off continuously between Saturday May 24 and Sunday June 1). Monday May 26 is a bank holiday. Here’s our roundup of all the best things to do with your children this May half-term. 

There are over a hundred theatres of all shapes and sizes throughout London, from tiny fringe venues above pubs to iconic internationally famous institutions like the National Theatre. And at the heart of it is the West End, aka Theatreland. What is a West End theatre? Unlike Broadway, where there are strict definitions based upon capacity, there is no hard and fast definition of a West End theatre. However, West End theatres are all commercial theatres – that is to say, they receive no government funding – and on the whole they are receiving houses, that is to say they don’t have in house artistic teams creating the work that they show (although often theatre owners like Andrew Lloyd Webber or Nica Burns may commission or even create the work). They are mostly based in the West End of London, although it’s not a hard and fast rule, with two major ‘West End’ theatres at Victoria. Most West End theatres are Victorian or Edwardian, although Theatre Royal Drury Land and Theatre Royal Haymarket have roots a couple of centuries before that, while @sohoplace is the newest (it opened in 2022). Capacity is similarly all over the shop: the 2,359-set London Coliseum is the biggest; the smallest is generally held to be the 350-set Arts Theatre. Many mid-size theatres like the Harold Pinter, Duke of York’s or Wyndham’s are greatly in demand for drama and serve as home to several different productions every year. Others, like the Lyceum or His Majesty’s have played host to a single musica

February half-term is here again – oh joy. Usually the coldest and wettest of school holidays, it’s not that promising on paper, but London always rises to the challenge magnificently – of all the half-terms, this is the one that boasts the large number of things for kids to do indoors, with the mighty Imagine Festival at the Southbank Centre probably the biggest annual event in the London kids’ calendar, and plenty more on besides, from a Robot Zoo at the Horniman to the new Ancient Egypt exhibition at the Young V&A. I’m Time Out’s lead kids’ writer – because I have to amuse my own children over the holidays – and here are my top suggestions for the half-term, from brand new exhibitions and plays to your last chance to see a couple of excellent attractions for younger audiences. And remember: this is London, and there’s always loads of things for youngsters to do, from enjoying the city’s many child-friendly museums and galleries that really come into their own when school is out, to taking in one of the many, many children’s theatres that our glorious city and its surrounds have to offer. When is February half-term this year?  This year, London’s February half-term officially falls between Monday February 17 and Friday February 21 (ie they will continuously be off Saturday February 15 to Sunday February 23).  Here’s our roundup of all the best things to do with your children this February half-term. 

Paris: the food, the fashion, the fromage, the fantasy. No matter how many times we visit the French capital, its charms never ever grow old. And we’re not alone in thinking that. Paris is a major tourist destination that attracts thousands upon thousands of enthusiastic travellers with heads filled with images of Breton jumpers, tiny dogs, and decadent pastries - the kind you can dip in your hot chocolate. But how do you enjoy this gorgeous city without just succumbing to the age-old clichés (as much as we do love all of them)? We’ve compiled a list of the 51 best attractions in Paris, from the big-name ‘must-see’ paris attractions to something a little bit more bespoke and treasured locally. So whether you’re looking for lesser-known museums, late-night live music, or the best places for shopping, we’ve got plenty of ideas - and they’re all as tasty as a Ladurée macaron. Time Out tip: If you want avoid taxing, RATP App and Citymapper will be essential for getting around Paris like a local.  RECOMMENDED: 🇫🇷See our full guide to the best things to do in Paris🥖Check out the best food tours in Paris📍Here's where to head for the best tours in Paris🛏 Stay in the best airbnbs in Paris🚍The best Paris bus tours This article includes affiliate links. These links have no influence on our editorial content. For more information, click here.

There’s a lot of talk about the state of London nightlife right now. Naysayers lament the fact that venues are closing at an alarming rate, blame Gen Zs for not going out and claim that it’s impossible to get a drink in central after 1am (it’s really not). With all that negativity and uncertainty, it’s tempting to just stick to what you know – or worse, stay in – rather than get out there and experience what this vast city has to offer after dark.  There are new nights popping up all the time. Heart of Soul, Jungyals and Gays, Club Stamina and Joyride are all relatively new (and totally brilliant) additions to London’s club scene. There’s also the nights that have remained classics for good reason – Rowans, the Palm Tree fridays, K-Hole – as well as more wholesome late-evening activities like life drawing, spoken word nights and supper clubs.  There’s nights out for everyone in this city. Nights for foodies, film buffs, audiophiles. Nights for marathon ravers, old-school movers and for when you need a proper good singalong. Even nights out for when you just want a nice sit down.  We curated this list by asking Time Out staff members for their favourite nights out in the city – and trust us, we know our stuff. Our list features nights in central London, east London, west London, north London and in south London. They all take place frequently, or semi-frequently, throughout the year and each offers something unique. So what are you waiting for? Start planning your next night o

Thanks to some frankly pretty wacky decisions made at the Council of Nicea in the year 325AD, the Easter weekend famously jumps around crazily from year to year, making the Easter holiday undoubedly the most erratic of all school breaks. For 2025, the school Easter hols stretch from Saturday April 5 to Monday April 21, with that Monday of course Easter Monday – Easter being so late this year that the holidays end with it. That’s a lot of child entertaining to do, but with the weather hopefully staying nice and spring now fully sprung, it’s a great opportunity to go out and have fun with the family and take advantage of the most fun family activities available this April.  Stuck for ideas on how to fill all this free time? That’s where we come in. Below is a list of ideas for things you can get up to in London with the kids this Easter holidays.  RECOMMENDED: Crack open our full guide to the Easter weekend.  

There’s perhaps nothing more magical than seeing a play or musical in the open air, and London is absolutely the city for it. In defiance of the weather gods, our outdoor theatre season now stretches from March to late October: we’re are just that tough. Or at least, optimistic about the weather. Substantially it revolves around a few key theatres, notably Shakespeare’s Globe – open March to October and generally boasting a cheeky outdoor Christmas production – and the delightful Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, which is open late spring to the end of summer. The former specialises in Shakespeare plays, while the latter has a musical theatre focus. But there’s plenty of other stuff, especially as the summer reaches its height, from the ambitious street theatre of the Greenwich and Docklands International Festival to the musical theatre blowout of West End Live. Not sure what you'll need for an open-air theatre trip? Then don’t miss our guide to practical open-air theatre info.  If you’re interested in taking in some outdoor cinema this summer, head to our dedicated page.

To say that William Shakespeare bestrides our culture like a colossus is to chronically undersell him. Over 400 years since his death, the Stratford-born playwright is virtually uncontested as the greatest writer of English who has ever lived. Even if you’re not a fan of sixteenth century blank verse – and if not, why not? – his influence over our culture goes far beyond that of any other writer. He invented words, phrases, plots, characters, stories that are still vividly alive today; his history plays utterly shaped our understanding of our own past as a nation. And unsurpisingly he is inescapable in London. The iconic Elizabethan recreation Shakespeare’s Globe theatre is his temple, with a year-round programme that’s about three-quarters his works. Although based in Stratford-upon-Avon, the Royal Shakespeare Company regularly visit the capital, most frequently the Barbican Centre. And Shakespeare plays can be found… almost anywhere else, from the National Theatre – where they invariably run in the huge Olivier venue – to tiny fringe productions and outdoor version that pop up everywhere come the warmer months.  This page is simple: we tell you what Shakespeare plays are on in town this month (the answer is pretty much always ‘at least one’). We we tell you which of his works you can see coming up in the future. No other playwright is staged nearly enough to get his own page. But for William Shakespeare, it’s essential.

London theatre has a reputation for being expensive. And there’s no getting away from the fact that it can be: in particular top West End prices have soared in recent years, with many popular shows having an upper price of over £200 or even £300 – as much as a music festival. However, the exorbitant top prices really aren’t the whole story. London theatre is vastly cheaper than America’s Broadway, and the cheapest tickets for any given show are almost always less than £30, and often less than £20. And there will always be inexpensive ways into a show, be it snagging a discounted online ticket or buying a bargain basement standing ticket. Want to go to the theatre in London but don’t think you can afford it? Here’s a hopefully exhaustive guide to why you’re wrong. I’m Andrzej Łukowski, Time Out’s theatre editor, and arguably I got this job purely to avoid having to pay for theatre tickets. But I’ve picked up a few tricks on the way that I’m delighted to share with you, gentle reader. Buy early A lot of West End naysayers act as if the top prices are the standard prices, and that couldn’t be further from the truth. Every show has cheap seats, but they often sell out. Pay attention to what’s coming up and try to get in as early as possible. If there’s a long-running West End show you want to see, follow its socials so you when new blocks of tickets go on sale.  Online lotteries and rush tickets  Virtually every show will have cheap last-minute tickets available digitally. Broadl

This review is from Christmas 2024. Ballet Shoes returns for Christmas 2025. The National Theatre’s big family Christmas show is a sumptuous adaptation of Noel Streatfeild’s classic 1936 children’s novel Ballet Shoes. It’s slick, classy and meticulously directed by Katy Rudd. But ultimately it lacks dramatic punch. The story follows the eccentric household initially headed by Justin Salinger’s Great Uncle Matthew (aka GUM), a paleontologist in the old-school explorer vein. A confirmed bachelor, he is initially aghast when he is abruptly made legal guardian of his 11-year-old niece Sylvia (Pearl Mackie). But he soon changes his tune when freak circumstances lead to him taking in three baby girls: Petrova (Yanexi Enriquez), Pauline (Grace Self) and Posy (Daisy Sequerra), each of whom he found orphaned while out on an expedition. But then he disappears on one of his trips; the meat of the story is about his three daughters growing up in the unconventional, almost entirely female household headed by Sylvia and their redoubtable housekeeper Miss Guthridge (Jenny Galloway). Each girl’s life is defined by seemingly having a calling that they are simply born with: Pauline to be an actor, Petrova to be a mechanic, and Posy to be a dancer, spurred on by the titular ballet shoes left to her by her mother.   To be honest… that’s sort of the whole plot. On a beautiful, fossil-filled set from Frankie Bradshaw, Rudd directs gracefully, pepping things up with various plays within the play, m

Patrick Marber’s reputation as a playwright was sealed with 1997’s Closer, but wowee his debut Dealer’s Choice is good.  ‘1995’ screams a giant projection at the start of Matthew Dunster’s production. It’s a fun gesture but it does not foreshadow a nostalgia fest. It’s actually a remarkably prescient play - a mobile phone is showcased prominently and there’s a whole bit in it about the gentrification of Bow. One running joke about how Hammed Animashaun’s hapless Mugsy wants to turn a disused public toilet into a restaurant sent chills down my spine (I live in Beckenham where we have literally turned the old public loos into a cafe).  Above all, it is a play about men, under pressure, playing poker. If anything truly does date it to its era it’s that the fizz and crackle of Marber’s lads-only dialogue recalls the Brit gangster films of the time (although it does actually predate most of them). Regardless, it’s a lean and thrilling beast, that centres on a group of blokes who work in the restaurant in which the after hours poker games are played. The first half is all set up, as we’re introduced to the ensemble. Alfie Allen – brother to Dunster’s regular muse Lily – was kind of billed as the star, but really the show belongs to Animishawn’s ebullient Mugsy. His toilet-centric dreams are mocked by all and sundry, but really he’s the only one who feels like he might be able to move on from the gambling. At the start of the story Theo Barklem-Biggs’s deadpan chef Sweeney protests

There has been a note of enigma to the promotion of this new West End drama by largely unknown US playwright Lila Raicek. The official line is that it’s a response to Ibsen’s The Master Builder but not a rewrite, but there has been a pointed refusal - in cast interviews and other publicity - to say any more about the specifics of the play. Having now seen My Master Builder I’m not sure I’m any the wiser as to what the big secret was. Perhaps it’s simply that a full plot summary felt like it was virtually begging interviewers to ask star Ewan McGregor about the end of his first marriage. Or if we’re going for the idea that there was a more poetic mystery, I guess the big revelation is that the play is somewhat autobiographical. It’s *My* Master Builder because Raicek has incorporated her own life into it, or at least one experience (that she owns up to, anyway). She was invited to a posh dinner party and realised upon arrival that she’d been cast as a pawn in a weird psychosexual drama between her hosts, a married couple. First world problems and all that, but it gave her a route into updating Ibsen’s odd late play about a tortured architect haunted by a past encounter.  Henry Solness (McGregor) is a starchitect who lives in the Hamptons with his publisher wife Elena (Kate Fleetwood). They are throwing a party for the completion of a local arts centre he’s designed, that is intimately connected to the sad early death of their son. It doesn’t take long to determine their marria

The great Irish playwright Conor McPherson returns from his long absence with a bang this year. Next up at the Old Vic is a return for his hit Dylan’s musical Girl from the North Country; later this autumn he’s the adapting playwright for the stage version of The Hunger Games. But before that is what the real McPherson heads have been waiting for: The Brightening Air, his first original play since The Night Alive in 2013. It’s a slow, wistful start, the dial firmly tuned to ‘Chekhov’. The setting is a semi-dilapidated County Sligo farmhouse, at some point in the ‘80s. McPherson - who also directs - meticulously builds up a sprawling cast of characters centring on the trio of siblings who inherited the farm from their father. There’s intense, troubled Stephen (Brian Gleeson), who does most of the running of the place; there’s train-mad Billie (Rosie Sheehy), whose tar-thick accent and general lairiness briefly distracts you from the fact she’s obviously on the spectrum and incapable of independent living; and there’s Dermot (Chris O’Dowd), a deeply annoying, reasonably successful businessman. Dermot has long since moved out, but the occasion of their reunion is the arrival of their uncle Pierre (Seán McGinley), a blind, discredited priest who they regard with a mix of fondness and pity.  McPherson probably has a couple more characters than he strictly speaking needs here, but it’s still deft stuff, a slow-burn, bittersweet drama about a family finally disintegrating under forc

F Scott Fitzgerald’s estate seems pretty chill. Over the years they’ve licensed innumerable adaptations of his magnum opus The Great Gatsby, from the blockbuster Baz Luhrmann film (itself the fourth major screen adaption) to that immersive version that did the rounds a while back, to GATZ, Elevator Repair Service’s legendary eight-hour unexpurgated theatrical reading of the entire novella. Never at any point during the 1925 book’s near century in copyright did Fitzgerald or his heirs allow a musical adaptation and you have to hand it to them: they were right.  However the copyright expired in America two years ago and suddenly there are two big US musical adaptations hovering around: Florence Welch’s Gatsby and this, from Kait Kerrigan, Jason Howland and Nathan Tyson, with direction from Marc Bruni. Transferring over in double quick time (possibly to head off Welch), The Great Gatsby looks absolutely ravishing and will doubtless cater to those who see the book as a bling-encrusted parable of how being rich is awesome but also sometimes sad.  Let’s not get all lit crit though. The biggest problem here is not so much how the creatives have gone about making a Great Gatsby musical, but rather that it only takes a few minutes to conclude that the very idea of a Great Gatsby musical is inherently flawed.  On the one hand, the book is inevitably so heavy on Fitzgerald’s own perfectly weighted prose that it feels asinine when we lurch into vaguely jazzy showtunes with lyrics clearly

This review is from 2019. A Midsummer Night’s Dream returns to the Bridge Theatre in 2025 with a cast that includes JJ Feild as Oberon/Theseus, Susannah Fielding as Titania/Hippolyta, Emmanuel Akwafo as Bottom and David Moorst returning to the role of Puck/Philostrate. ‘For fuck’s sake,’ mumbled a member of the Bridge Theatre crew as he sprinted past me. It was three hours since Nicholas Hytner’s production of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ had begun and it was unclear as to whether it had technically finished or not. But it probably had, as the unfortunate staff member was trying to retrieve one of the two enormous glowing moon balls that the audience was still furiously punching around the theatre. Meanwhile, to my right, the actual Brienne of Tarth was having a boogie. It’s quite possible that she’s still there now. A weird dream? Nope: just Hytner finally tackling Shakespeare’s beloved comedy. Usually his modern-dress takes on the Bard are precise and revelatory, and certainly he applies *some* of his usual rigour here; but then there’s the feeling that he just got stumped by what is effectively a story about some fairies banging in a wood and decided that – screw it – he might gobble a couple of pills for inspiration (NB I am sure that Sir Nicholas did not actually do this). The results are messy, sprawling and quite glorious. Integral to Hytner’s vision is the effective swapping of the roles of fairy king Oberon (Hytner regular Oliver Chris) and queen Titania (towering ‘Ga

Show writer Kate Trefry explains all you need to know about ‘The First Shadow’. ‘Stranger Things: The First Shadow’ is a sprawling maximalist monolith, a gargantuan entertainment that goes beyond being a mere ‘play’. It’s too unwieldy and too indulgent to be a theatrical classic. But nonetheless, this prequel to the Netflix retro horror smash is the very antithesis of a cynical screen-to-stage adaptation.  As overwhelming in scale as as the show’s monstrous Mindflayer, it’s a seethingly ambitious three-hour extravaganza of groundbreaking special effects, gratuitous easter eggs and a wild, irreverent theatricality that feels totally in love with the source material while being appreciably distinct from it.  It’s clearly made by a fan, that being big-name director Stephen Daldry, who used his Netflix connections (he’s the man responsible for ‘The Crown’) to leverage an official collab with the Duffer Brothers, creators of the retro horror smash.  It starts as it means to go on, with pretty much the most technically audacious opening ten minutes of a show I’ve ever seen, as we watch a US naval vessel deploy an experimental cloaking device in 1943, to catastrophic effect. Yes, the sets wobble a bit, and yes, writer Kate Trefry’s dialogue is basically just some sailors bellowing cliches. But we’re talking about watching a giant vessel getting pulled into a horrifying parallel dimension on stage. It is awesome; and when it cut into a thunderous playback of Kyle Dixon and Michael St

Not even the world’s most slavish Ibsen junkie will ever be able to fully appreciate the impact Ghosts had upon its London debut in 1891. ‘A dirty act done publicly’ thundered an infamous Telegraph review, genuinely horrified by the Norwegian dramatist’s dabblings with STIs, incest, adultery, euthanasia and a lil’ bit of good old blasphemy. Still, even if your jaw no longer drops that it would ‘go there’, Ghosts has hardly lost its edge: STIs, incest, adultery, euthanasia and blasphemy haven’t become twee. And I’d say playwright Gary Owen has bitten off a bit more than he can chew in trying to aggressively modernise a play that is, at heart, extremely modern.  Following in the footsteps of his excellent Iphigenia in Splott and Romeo and Julie, Ghosts is his third radical update of a major classical tragedy in collaboration with Lyric Hammersmith boss Rachel O’Riordan (presumably nobody could think of a cute new name for this one). But although it’s a solid production with an excellent cast, it feels like Owen has ripped out some of its character in an effort to logically set it in the present.  Helena (Victoria Smurfit, fresh from her caged tiger turn in Rivals) is a widow who has used her late husband Captain Alving’s vast fortune to fund the creation of a children’s hospital on the unspecified English island the play is set on. But a series of dark truths about the deceased are set to come to light and shatter the measure of happiness Helen and her actor son Oz (Callum Scot

I choose to believe that the name of Mohamed-Zain Dada’s new drama about a speed awareness course in Birmingham is a nod to the seminal Keanu Reeves ‘90s thriller of the same name. Okay, it would have to be an ironic nod. But not as ironic as you might think. Speed starts off in wilfully mundane Britcom territory, but ends up somewhere rather more Reeves-friendly. Harleen, Samir and Faiza are a mismatched trio of British Asians who’ve each acquired nine points on their driving licences. This course is their last chance: get through it, and they have a reprieve. Don’t, and there’s no more driving for the foreseeable. Unfortunately they have to contend with Nikesh Patel’s stupendously annoying Abz, the course leader.  Like the ungodly offspring of Alan Partridge and Pauline from League of Gentlemen, Abz spouts patronising cliches and wields his leverage over the group like a cudgel: if they don’t go along with his course they can kiss driving bye bye. Nonetheless, he seems to genuinely want to help them better themselves. But what’s with his bizarre, therapy-like techniques? Why does he keep running off to answer his phone? And it is weird that everyone here is Asian? No spoilers, but despite the fact we never leave Tomás Palmer’s magnificently mundane hotel function room set (complete with a real fish tank), Dada takes us on quite a journey over 80 minutes.  At first the playwright simply has fun with the characters and the set up. Patel’s uptight Abz is a lot of fun of course

A discrete Notting Hill mainstay since it opened in 2012, The Shed is part of a mini empire of London eateries owned by the Gladwin brothers – a trio of siblings who own a farm and vineyard in Sussex and are determined to bring their rural values to the fancier bits of the capital.   That all sounds a bit like tweed and fox hunting are involved, but The Shed would actually be horizontal if it got any more relaxed. It’s a wilfully slightly shambolic, bric-a-brac stuffed building that is presumably so named because of its passing resemblance to a garden outbuilding. The staff do seem to have a loose uniform revolving around the wearing of braces, but service-wise they‘re mostly on ‘reassuringly affable’ vibes.  This is fare based around a few simple, clean flavours  The menu isn’t formally divided into starters, mains and the like, but rather an escalating series of sizes of dish that loosely correspond to the above. We started, or possibly amuse bouched, with some savoury pastries: a mushroom and marmite eclair was a bit full-on intense, but the Devon crab donut was sublime, an explosion of light, oceanic deliciousness, decent-sized but not stodgy.  Various farm-grown dishes were consumed: highlights included a vivid but pleasingly straightforward tasting heritage tomato and strawberry salad with both lovage and borage, and a coley crudo with dashi and watermelon radish, which delightfully contrasted light sheets of crunchy radish with fractionally chewier, notably more flavo

This review is from 2013. Brace yourself for a shock: ‘South Park’ creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s Broadway-munching musical is not particularly shocking. Sure, there are ‘fucks’ and ‘cunts’ and gags about baby rape – but most of it is deployed ironically; beneath it all, this is a big-hearted affair that pays note-perfect homage to the sounds and spirit of Broadway’s golden age. The strapping young Latter Day Saints missionaries in ‘The Book of Mormon’ are as cartoonish as any ‘South Park’ character, with the endearing alpha-male woodenness of the ‘Team America’ puppets. In other words, they are loveable, well-intentioned idiots, traversing the globe like groups of pious meerkats, convinced they can convert the heathen through sheer politeness. And if they have doubts, then as Stephen Ashfield’s scene-stealingly repressed Elder McKinley declares in glorious faux-Gershwin number ‘Turn it Off’, ‘Don’t feel those feelings – hold them in instead!’ His advice is ignored by the show’s heroes, narcissistic, highly-strung Elder Price (Gavin Creel) and dumpy, lying Elder Cunningham (Jared Gertner). The pair are sent to Uganda in an effort to convert a village to Mormonism, a religion that essentially tells the penniless villagers how great distant America is. The locals are not keen: Price cracks and unwisely clashes with a crazed local warlord; Cunningham makes up his own version of Mormonism which involves fucking frogs to cure oneself of Aids. ‘The Book of Mormon’ is, above

This review is from 2024. What a long, strange trip it’s been. Indie-folk musician Anaïs Mitchell’s musical retelling of the Orpheus story began life in the mid-’00s as a lo-fi song cycle, which she gigged around New England before scraping the money together to record it as a critically acclaimed 2010 concept album that featured the likes of Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and Ani DiFranco on guest vocals as the various mythological heroes and villains. Going through the next 14 years blow-by-blow would be time-consuming, but in short thanks to what I can only describe as THEATRE MAGIC, Hadestown is now a full-blown musical directed by the visionary Rachel Chavkin, its success as a show vastly outstripping that of the record. It played the National Theatre in 2018, on its way to becoming the most unusual Broadway smash of the modern era. And it’s finally come back to us. Now in a normcore West End theatre, its otherness feels considerably more pronounced than it did at the NT. The howling voodoo brass that accompanies opener ‘Road to Hell’ is like nothing else in Theatreland. Mitchell”s original songs are still there but have mutated and outgrown the original folk palette thanks to the efforts of arrangers Michael Chorney and Todd Sickafoose. Rachel Hauck’s set – which barely changes – is a New Orleans-style saloon bar, with the cast all dressed like sexy Dustbowl pilgrims. It’s virtually sung through. It is essentially a staged concert, but it’s done with such pulsing musical inte

May is here and with it the London open air theatre season gets into full swing. The Globe kicks things off with a cowboy-themed Romeo and Juliet followed shortly thereafter with a rare revival for a modern play – Arthur Miller’s peerless The Crucible. Over in Regent’s Park and new theatre boss Drew McOnie gets his tenure off with a bang as he bags the much anticipated UK premiere of Broadway comedy musical Shucked. But it’s another musical that’s the month’s big talking point: the National Theatre will host the UK premiere of the late great Stephen Sondheim’s final musical. The best London theatre openings in May 2025 Photograph: Courtesy Emilio MadridHere We Are 1. Here We Are What is it? Here We Are is the final work by the greatest composer of musical theatre in history – that is to say, Stephen Sondheim. It is, plot wise, a mash up of two surreal class satire Luis Buñuel films: The Exterminating Angel and The Discrete Charm of the Bourgeoise. Joe Mantello’s premiere production played a season off-Broadway already and now transfers here with a starry new cast. Why go? Because it’s Sondheim. When is the next time you’re going to the premiere run of a Sondheim musical? Never, that’s when. New York reviews were warm – FWIW the main fault cited is that he didn’t quite write enough songs before he passed away – and the cast is insane, including the likes of Rory Kinnear, Jane Krakowski and Martha Plimpton. National Theatre, now until Jun 28. Image: Feast Creative 2. Shucke

New National Theatre boss Indhu Rubasingham has unveiled her first programming today (April 29), the first part of what she declares is a mission to unveil a more international version of the National. The caveat before breaking down today’s announcement is that it covers a very long period of time, with several shows announced that won’t run until 2027 – some of these announcements are very much medium term, but they’re all very exciting. Rubasingham’s programming will begin this autumn For slightly tedious reasons (it had to close for an emergency refurb) the smaller of the NT’s three theatres the Dorfman will be running shows programmed by Rubasingham’s predecessor Rufus Norris until the end of the year. But the two bigger theatres are all hers and will open with her first two shows in September. The Olivier will play host to a striking, rhyme-based new adaptation of Euripides’s shocking Bacchae (Sep 13-Nov 1) by actor Nima Taleghani, directed by Rubasingham and starring James McArdle, Clare Perkins and Ukwili Roach. At the same time in the Lyttelton it’s the first production of Hamlet (Sep 25-Nov 22) to run at the NT since Rory Kinnear did the honours in 2010 – it’ll star Olivier winner Hiran Abeysekera as the doomed Danish prince, and new NT deputy Robert Hastie will direct. Photograph: Anton Corbijn The next two shows have also been announced: last year’s Christmas smash Ballet Shoes will return to the Olivier (Nov 17-Feb 21 2026), and the Lyttelton ‘Christmas’ show w

It’s my first visit to London’s newest theatre, and the press officer says she wants to hang about for a bit: ‘just until I see the look on your face when you see the auditorium for the first time’.  I immediately start worrying that I’ll offend everyone by not looking impressed enough, but it’s all good: my jaw duly thuds to the floor when I step into the main house of Soho Theatre Walthamstow.  The ‘original’ Soho Theatre on Dean Street in central London is a truly wonderful comedy, cabaret and theatre venue, but the building is not what you’d call architecturally noteworthy. Soho Theatre Walthamstow is a different matter entirely.  Photo: David Levene It has a long and complicated history, but the short version is that it opened in 1930 as The Granada, a 2,700-seat cinema on busy Hoe Street. It eventually fell into disrepair. Now it’s been born again as a 1,000-seat comedy and theatre venue. And it looks incredible. While the exterior has been given a clean, white, unobtrusive paint job that brings it somewhat in line with the Dean Street venue, the inside is like stepping back in time – a ravishing art deco masterpiece so instantly iconic that I feel a twinge of frustration that it’s just been sitting here unused for decades.  The slide into dereliction The original Granada cinema was a special place: built by prolific London theatre architect Cecil Masey and with interiors by the great stage designer Theodore Komisarjevsky, it was beloved by noted Leytonstone residen

Of all the new theatres to open in London this century, none feel so vital as the Yard. Built in just a few weeks in 2011, from reclaimed materials – including some dubiously acquired scaffold planks and unwanted lino scavenged from the Olympic development – the Hackney Wick venue was billed as a pop-up when it opened with an eccentric programme of theatre that bore little resemblance to anything being staged elsewhere in the city. Early shows include a jokey micro-budget adaptation of John Bunyan’s epic Christian allegory The Pilgrim’s Progress (A Progress), a show about the mathematical phenomenon of emergence (Game of Life), and a 40-minute opera about a samurai rampaging through an old people’s home (Manga Sister). Emerging in a then-desolate corner of east London alongside various other cultural start-ups and club nights, founder artistic director Jay Miller set up the theatre on a shoestring because it seemed cheaper than the alternatives. ‘I graduated during the last recession,’ he says. ‘There were hardly any opportunities, I couldn’t afford to live in London and I naively thought it would be easier to start a theatre than to get a job in one. The Yard was my last-chance saloon’.  Photo: Manuel Harlan Since then, the Yard has not only survived but thrived, gaining Arts Council funding and playing a pivotal part in the launch of the careers of the likes of Michaela Coel, Ncuti Gatwa and director Alexander Zeldin. Late at night, it also serves as a pretty great night

Paddington supremacy continues. The last year has seen the beloved Peruvian bear expand his portfolio to encompass a third film, a permanent London immersive experience, and his own limited edition run of Time Out magazine. Next up: Paddington the Musical. Announced at the tail-end of 2023, the musical has been in development since and this autumn it’ll hopefully be ready for its debut at the Savoy Theatre. Beyond a date and venue we don’t actually know a huge amount about more about the show than we did before: it’s still going to be written by playwright Jessica Swale with songs by McFly mainstay and kids’ author Tom Fletcher; the director is still Luke Sheppard, who has admittedly become an even bigger in the world of family friend musicals since the initial announcement thanks to his work on the smash revival of Starlight Express. Story-wise, it sounds like we’re getting the origin again, as the young bear turns up at Paddington Station, is taken in by the bougie Brown family, and gets to grip with British society. However, we presumably shouldn’t expect a straight up retelling of the first film – we’re promised this is ‘Paddington as you’ve never seen him before’. There is no word on casting, though rumour has it the bear himself with be a puppet rather than a bloke in a bear suit. Paddington the Musical is at the Savoy Theatre from Nov 1. Tickets go on sale May 15, or sign up here for priority booking on May 13.  The best new London theatre shows to book for in 2025. Wh

Sir David Attenborough may be homing in on his ninety-ninth birthday, but the most treasured of all national treasures is still out there plugging away at being history’s greatest ever TV naturalist. On May 8 – the day he turns 99 – his new documentary film Ocean will hit cinemas, ahead of its arrival on Disney+ later this year. And a month later he’ll present Our Story with David Attenborough, a new attraction at the Natural History Museum. We’re not 100 percent sure of exactly what this involves, but we’re about 95 percent certain it’s effectively a new documentary that will be displayed at large scale on the walls and floors of the museum’s Jerwood Gallery. We do know what it’s about, though: us! Running for 50 minutes, the documentary offers an overview of our species, presumably from a more evolutionary than historical perspective. Quoth Sir David himself: ‘Humanity is the most influential species on Earth. We depend entirely on this magnificent planet, yet its future is in our hands. My hope is that visitors of all ages will experience our extraordinary journey at the Natural History Museum and come away feeling inspired, informed and most of all, empowered about their integral role in our world. This is our story and we can all play a significant role.’ Basically yes blah blah it’s ‘immersive’ but it’s also a new David Attenborough documentary, and what sort of sick freak doesn’t want one of those? Our Story with David Attenborough opens June 19, with adult tickets sta

Tooting-born, Catford-bred playwright Ryan Calais Cameron is a massive rising star. That’s not a subjective assessment: just take a look at the man’s diary. ‘People used to call my agent and she’d say: Ryan isn’t free for 18 months,’ he says. ‘And that was a deterrent. Now they’re like: cool, can we get him signed up now for next year? So now we have to have deeper conversations about what I take on, because there are whole chunks of the next four, five years that are no longer my own.’ As writer of two hit West End plays, under commission to create three TV shows, he’s not saying this to boast – in fact, it takes me the best part of our 45 minute chat to get him to explain how mad his life has become. But the truth is, things have gotten so serious that he has to leave London and its temptations to get on top of all the writing he’s agreed to.  ‘I have a place at an apartment in Rotterdam overlooking the harbour,’ he explains. ‘Downstairs you've got the spa, you've got the sauna, you've got really good food around the town. But it's also really, really boring. It means I can immerse myself in my writing. I just can’t do that if I’m easily accessible.’ Much of this work is for screen: he’s written for shows including Queenie and Boarders, and now things are really taking off for him, he’s developing two shows of his own with Netflix and Channel 4.  The reason this is happening for him can squarely be traced back to his 2021 play For Black Boys who have Considered Suicide when

Celebrity actors are famously reluctant to tour plays around the country: most of the time you’ll be lucky to get a cheeky week in Brighton ahead of a West End transfer. So immense credit then to nascent Brit superstar Jodie Comer, who scored a huge West End hit with Suzie Miller’s play Prima Facie in 2022 and repeated the feat in 2023 on Broadway. And she’ll be doing it again at the start of next year, as she dusts off the acclaimed monologue about a hotshot lawyer whose life is turned upside down after she is sexually assaulted.  The Justin Martin-directed play will tour the UK and Ireland for two-and-a-half months next year, starting with two dates in Richmond – its only London performances – and then playing a week each in Dublin, Edinburgh, Cardiff, York, Bath, Canterbury and Birmingham before wrapping up a year from now in Comer’s hometown of Liverpool The show was a virtual instant sellout on the West End and Broadway, and clearly it’s going to be a nightmare to get tickets to any given individual date when they go on sale Tuesday March 25. Nonetheless, thousands of people will see the run, and how cool Comer is doing this rather than another West End stint? The complete Prima Facie UK tour is  Jan 23-24 – Richmond Theatre, London Jan 27-31 – Gaiety Theatre, Dublin Feb 3-7 – Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh Feb 10-14 – New Theatre, Cardiff Feb 17-21 – Grand Opera House, York Feb 24-28 – Theatre Royal, Bath Mar 3-7 – Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury Mar 10-14 – The Rep, Birm

Time Out’s theatre editor Andrzej Lukowski heads to his local multiplex to get to the bottom of the Minecraft Movie phenomenonAs I write this review of A Minecraft Movie, the discourse around Jared Hess’s big budget big-screen spin-off of the most successful video game in history has palpably shifted.  When the first trailer dropped in September, it became a virtual truism that this thing was going to be horrible: a folly, a flop, an abomination, with the main offender the retina-searingly weird way Hess had used CGI to make a ‘realistic’ looking version of the Minecraft world. The fact that no advanced screenings were laid on for critics only served to confirm its stinker status. Now, though, quite another story has replaced it: this thing is a stonking great hit, with deliriously fan-serviced audiences so loud and demonstrative that complaints have been made on Mumsnet and special noisy screenings have been laid on to try and contain the madness.  Part of me still wonders if the basic point of what A Minecraft Movie is has still been missed in its abrupt lurch from folly to crowd pleaser. Yes, it pays appropriate tribute to the game, veritably groaning with easter eggs. But at heart what Hess has crafted is a goofy and genuinely quite loveable homage to the ‘80s ‘quest’ movie. Think Willow, think Labyrinth, think The NeverEnding Story, think Legend.  The Minecraft world – in which everything is block shaped, and the sunny, safe days turn into monster-filled night every 10

Legendary Belgian director Ivo von Hove had a torrid time of it last time he was in in town: last year’s oddball ‘musical’ Opening Night was a notorious flop (although I liked it). Still, that clearly hasn’t deterred him or his producers Wessex Grove: Van Hove returns to the West End in 2025 in admittedly much safer territory as he tackles another play by Arthur Miller, the legendary US playwright who gave Van Hove his big UK break with his stunning 2014 Young Vic production of A View from the Bridge. This time out he’ll be tackling Miller’s breakthrough early classic All My Sons, about Joe Keller, a self-made businessman in 1943 America whose former business partner has gone to jail for selling defective equipment to the US airforce. Joe escaped any blame. But was that justice? It’s a classic play last seen here in a solid 2019 production at the Old Vic, with a cast headed up by Bill Pullman and Sally Field.  And it’s got an equally enviable ensemble in this 2025 incarnation: Bryan Cranston - who led Van Hove’s excellent Network - and Marianne Jean-Baptiste will star as Joe and Kate Keller, with Paapa Essiedu as their son Chris. Van Hove is a prolific and mercurial director, and the fact his View from the Bridge was an all-timer doesn’t mean this will be. But it’s an astonishing play and an astonishing cast - Van Hove’s plans for it will decide the difference between ‘good’ and ‘seminal’, but this one’s not going to be closing early. Tickets are on sale here. All My Sons is

Ncuti Gatwa doesn’t just share a regeneration with David Tennant. The current star of Doctor Who is the first since Tennant to display such a clear desire to get back on stage and make use of his enhanced profile to bag bigger roles. Last year he anchored the National Theatre’s hyperreal, warmly-reviewed The Importance of Being Earnest.  And this summer he’ll follow in the footsteps of longterm RSC associate Tennant and star in the company’s new West End drama. Born with Teeth is a new play by US writer Liz Duffy Edwards that concerns the relationship between Gatwa’s Christopher Marlowe and Edward Bluemel’s William Shakespeare. Set in 1591, the two-hander play sees the two legendary playwrights and pals flirt, fight and collaborate on Henry VI in paranoid late Elizabethan London.  An unknown American playwright coming in and writing a ‘sexy’ play about two of our greatest writers does have the slight air of fanfic to it, but the steadying hand of the RSC and its co-director Daniel Evans (who will direct here) suggests we’re on pretty safe ground.  After gamely joining in with the ensemble fun for Earnest, this two-hander is a real opportunity for Gatwa to give a proper star turn. And the same can be said for Killing Eve man Bluemel, who dabbled in stage work earlier in his career but hasn’t been back since. We don’t have a lot of rune reading for Who watchers here, but it is worth pointing out that it’s relatively unusual for a big West End show to start its run in the middle

It’s April now, and you can look forward to an enjoyably eclectic month on the London stage. There’s a little something for everyone: a bit of celebrity magic – Ewan MacGregor and Elizabeth Debicki in My Master Builder – a blockbuster musical – Broadway transfer The Great Gatsby – and some cool international work at the Barbican in the shape of a very unusual Hamlet and a prestige production of Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape. But there’s one production that’s really piqued my curiosity, as the greatest director of his generation Robert Icke makes his debut as a playwright with a truly fascinating (not to mention controversial) looking play…  The best new London theatre openings in April 2025 Photo: Royal Court 1. Manhunt Part of the reason Robert Icke has established himself as the greatest British director of his generation is that on the quiet he’s a remarkable playwright, with his brilliant contemporary adaptations Oresteia, Oedipus and The Doctor et al all vastly different to the source material. He’s never really sought any credit for his writing. But in another coup for the David Byrne-era Royal Court, Icke makes his debut there as both director and – for the first time officially – playwright. Manhunt is a drama about Raoul Moat, the fugitive who precipitated a deadly and eccentric chase across the North East after he shot his ex fiance and her new partner with a shotgun in 2010. It’s a strange and queasy story and if Icke can pull a great original play out of it then G