thespyinthestalls.com

OUR LATEST REVIEWS

OUR COSMIC DUST

★★★

Park Theatre

OUR COSMIC DUST Park Theatre ★★★ “charmingly human and unique” “Our Cosmic Dust” takes a heavy topic and makes it light. Paradoxically, it looks at its subject matter through a child’s eye and, by doing so, tackles the mechanisms of grief and loss with a clarity and maturity that can

Read the full review >>

CANDY

★★★★

White Bear Theatre

CANDY White Bear Theatre ★★★★ “a truly enthralling seventy minutes of theatre about love and addiction” Can love truly conquer all? Candy, the stage adaptation of Luke Davies’ novel about love and heroin addiction, would argue it cannot. Director and co-adaptor Kate Elliott along with star and co-adaptor Freya James,

Read the full review >>

DOUBTING THOMAS

★★★½

Theatre Royal Windsor

DOUBTING THOMAS Theatre Royal Windsor ★★★½ “a poignant exploration of memory’s erosion and the human connections left in its wake” At first glance you might think that the Theatre Royal Windsor’s world premiere of Doubting Thomas, a new play written by husband and wife team (and Writers in Residence) Catherine

Read the full review >>

THE MOUNTAINTOP

★★★★

Royal Lyceum Theatre

THE MOUNTAINTOP Royal Lyceum Theatre ★★★★ “a powerful play with a satisfying, if unrealistic, ending” Katori Hall’s award winning play The Mountaintop is a timely revival at Edinburgh’s Lyceum Theatre, as the United States once again faces, in King’s words, “the urgency of the moment.” Directed by Rikki Henry, with

Read the full review >>

THE RECKONING

★★★★

Arcola Theatre

THE RECKONING Arcola Theatre ★★★★ “a beautiful tribute to the lives of Ukrainian war survivors” Dash Arts has brought to life transcripts of Ukraine War survivors, creating a wonderful verbatim art piece that reminds us not to forget the people behind the numbers. Co-written by Anastasiia Kosodii and Josephine Burton

Read the full review >>

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF

★★★★★

Barbican

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF Barbican ★★★★★ “Fein’s direction and Julia Cheng’s muscular choreography is marked by sublime precision” In its Barbican transfer, director Jordan Fein’s revelatory Fiddler on the Roof retains the elemental power that made it a five-star phenomenon in Regent’s Park. He strips the beloved 1964 musical of

Read the full review >>

LETTERS FROM MAX

★★★★

Hampstead Theatre

LETTERS FROM MAX Hampstead Theatre ★★★★ “The pair occupy the stage for two hours but there is rarely a moment that does not busy the mind or heart” The friendship of Sarah Ruhl and her student Max Ritvo was lyrical, beautiful and tragically – horrendously – short. Ruhl’s epistolary play,

Read the full review >>

M-OTHERING

★★★★

The Old Market

M-OTHERING The Old Market ★★★★ “The choreography and movement work here are beyond impressive” What does it mean to be a mother? And don’t all women act as mothers at some point in their lives? Chess Dillon-Reams’ powerful, dance-based play M-Othering drives this point home with equal parts humour, love,

Read the full review >>

CUL-DE-SAC

★★★

Omnibus Theatre

CUL-DE-SAC Omnibus Theatre ★★★ “Ultimately it is a moving piece, that takes us behind the twitching curtains of suburbia” Northwood Hills. Zone 6 London. The middle of nowhere. With apologies to the residents of HA6, that is where we find Ruth Townsend and company, at a bit of a dead

Read the full review >>

MRS WARREN’S PROFESSION

★★★★★

Garrick Theatre

MRS WARREN’S PROFESSION Garrick Theatre ★★★★★ “A masterfully acted, visually exquisite and morally knotty production” Dominic Cooke’s production of George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs Warren’s Profession receives a thrillingly sharp and stylish revival that balances moral complexity, aesthetic beauty, and arresting performances. This production proves Shaw can still provoke and entertain,

Read the full review >>

HOUSE OF LIFE

★★★★★

UK Tour

HOUSE OF LIFE Soho Theatre ★★★★★ “this is how art can uplift and bring hope in trying times.” Sheep Soup’s Gospel Church inspired Rave brings joy to the heart of London with this wonderful hour’s worth of music, glitter and audience interaction. An experience that not only aims to bring

Read the full review >>

MACBETH

★★★★

Bread and Roses Theatre

MACBETH Bread and Roses Theatre ★★★★ “The atmosphere is not built with materials, but with sound, silence, and breath” On a stark, shadow-drenched stage, Macbeth breathes again – visceral, raw, and chillingly relevant. This stripped-back production brings Shakespeare’s tragedy into the present with terrifying clarity, proving that ambition, guilt, and

Read the full review >>

AFTER THE ACT

★★

Royal Court

AFTER THE ACT Royal Court ★★ “it remains an interesting and worthwhile history lesson” Jenny lives with Eric and Martin was just another children’s book in 1988. It wasn’t new and wasn’t even originally British, as it had first been published in Copenhagen in 1982. So how did this book

Read the full review >>

THE FROGS

★★★

Southwark Playhouse Borough

THE FROGS Southwark Playhouse Borough ★★★ “Dan Buckley’s Dionysos and Kevin McHale’s Xanthias make a wonderful double act” “The Frogs” – the musical ‘freely’ adapted by Stephen Sondheim and Burt Shevelove from the ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes – opens with a paradox. The time is the present and the

Read the full review >>

ALiCE

★★★★

Sadler’s Wells Theatre

ALiCE Sadler’s Wells Theatre ★★★★ “The thrill is in the spectacle and the sheer acrobatic virtuosity of the dancers” We first see the eponymous heroine, in Jasmin Vardimon’s dance interpretation of Lewis Carroll’s nineteenth century classic children’s novel, as a chalk animation shifting across the page of a giant book.

Read the full review >>

RADIANT BOY

★★½

Southwark Playhouse Borough

RADIANT BOY Southwark Playhouse Borough ★★½ “There are some neat, if underplayed, genre twists.” In its own publicity, Radiant Boy was described by one cast member as “a queer coming-of-age meets The Exorcist via A Taste of Honey”. That’s a tall order, cramming in a range of genres into a

Read the full review >>