Woman in Mind - Review

Duke of York's Theatre, London

*****

Written by Alan Ayckbourn

Directed by Michael Longhurst

Sheridan Smith

Sheridan Smith as Susan in Alan Ayckbourn’s Woman in Mind gives one of the finest performances to be found on a London stage. Barely a comedy, the play shows the playwright's deepest, darkest brilliance, his narrative exploring Susan’s descent into psychosis. Smith gives the most harrowing portrayal of a woman whose mind is decaying before our eyes, unable to separate the reality of her own naturally flawed family from the false creations of her illness-oppressed brain.

In what is perhaps Michael Longhurst’s greatest work as a director, Smith captures Susan’s complex fragility with a conviction that seems almost effortless and which belies her acting genius. Onstage throughout, Smith delivers a masterclass in her craft.

The supporting cast are almost as magnificent as their leading lady. Tim McMullan is Gerald, Susan’s husband. A vicar and historian, his loving support for his wife is made all the more poignant when set against her apparent hatred for his professional commitments. Fine work too from Louise Brealey who plays Muriel, Susan’s live-in sister-in-law, whose calamitous catering gives rise to the evening’s few truly comedic moments.

In a heavily promoted stunt-casting, comedian Romesh Ranganathan plays Susan’s doctor, Bill. Albeit an accomplished performer Ranganathan proves the show’s weakest link, lacking the heavyweight chops to tackle a major West End role. As Susan’s imaginary family however, Sule Rimi, Chris Jenks and Safia Oakley-Green are all magnificent. Similarly, and in a comparatively tiny role, Taylor Uttley as Susan and Gerald’s son Rick adds an exquisitely painful layer of emotional agony to his mother’s tragedy.

Technically outstanding, Soutra Gilmour’s set enhanced by Andrzej Goulding’s subtly haunting video projections, delivers a beautiful creation of an English garden. Paul Arditti’s sound design proves to be another of the production’s ingenious treats.

In a performance that demands to be recognised at the Olivier Awards, Sheridan Smith makes Woman In Mind unmissable.

Runs until 28th February in London

Then touring:

4 – 7 MARCH 2026

Sunderland Empire, High Street West, Sunderland SR1 3EX

10 – 14 MARCH 2026

Theatre Royal, Glasgow, 282 Hope Street, Glasgow G2 3Q

Photo credit: Marc Brenner

Oh, Mary! - Review

Trafalgar Theatre, London

*****

Written by Cole Escola

Directed by Sam Pinkleton

Mason Alexander Park and Giles Terera

Exploring the life of another lesser-known figure from the pages of American history, Oh, Mary! sets out to do for First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln, what Hamilton achieved for Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton. Well, almost….

 

Cole Escola’s play (with some music) is all about Mary in the weeks leading up to Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. In an irreverent and hilarious pastiche on the Lincoln White House and as the American Civil War is in its closing days, Mason Alexander Park plays Mary, an alcoholic with a past as a cabaret singer and an unrequited desire to achieve more from her life in so many ways.

 

Escola’s script is insanely brilliant. Riddled with shockingly ingenious and occasionally breathtaking (and, depending upon your perspective, offensive) twists, it is nigh-on impossible to describe the plot without spoiling any number of gags. And the gags are just so perfectly delivered, with tantalising build-ups leading to eye-watering punchlines.

 

Be assured that not only is the script first-rate, but the brilliant Park is supported by the equally gifted Giles Terera as Mary's Husband, Dino Fetscher as Mary’s Teacher, Kate O’Donnell as Mary’s Chaperone and last but certainly not least, Oliver Stockley as Mary’s Husband’s Assistant.

 

Sam Pinkleton who directed the Tony-winning show on Broadway has flown over to recreate a fusion of dialog and physical comedy that is sheer theatrical hilarity - all rehearsed immaculately and delivered with pinpoint accuracy and timing.

 

Oh, Mary! is the funniest new writing in town.

Runs until 25th April 2026

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan

Indian Ink - Review

Hampstead Theatre, London

***

Written by Tom Stoppard

Directed by Jonathan Kent

Felicity Kendal and Ruby Ashbourne Serkis

Tom Stoppard’s Indian Ink is a time-hopping study on India towards the end of the Raj, that’s written and researched with meticulous detail and acted, in this revival, with equal finesse.

A coquettish young flapper named Flora travels to India in the 1930s to restore her health. A poet with a love for art, as she beds her way across the subcontinent we witness her discovery of the complexities of Indian society and politics. Ruby Ashbourne Serkis plays Flora, as Felicity Kendal plays Mrs Swan, Flora's (now elderly) younger sister who, towards the end of the 20th century, looks back and reflects on her sibling's short, colourful life.

Jonathan Kent directs his cast with pinpoint precision, against Leslie Travers’s ingenious (if sometimes wobbly) set and Peter Mumford’s impressive lighting design, but it’s all just far too long. Stoppard’s attention to the historical minutiae was impressive, but the evening for all its excellence, feels like a tedious, culturally name-checking, three hours. That this 1995 play started out as a 1991 radio drama, In The Native State (that back then, in an enchanting theatrical alignment, starred Felicity Kendal) is revealing, for it is possible that Stoppard's arguments may have been forged more concisely under the discipline of radio.

Indian Ink may perhaps crave yet a further adaptation, this time into a TV mini series such is its richness. On stage today however it feels like a bloated self-indulgence, albeit brilliantly performed.

Runs until 31st January 2026

Photo credit: Johan Persson

Paranormal Activity - Review

Ambassadors Theatre, London

****

Written by Levi Holloway

Directed by Felix Barrett

Melissa James and Patrick Heusinger

Drawn from the seven-movie Paranormal Activity franchise, this new tale sees James (played by Patrick Heusinger) and Lou (Melissa James) move from Chicago to London in the hope of escaping a presence that has been haunting their lives. 

Within moments of the curtain rising the tone is set and tension is firmly on the menu (with a healthy increased heart rate as a side), followed by a rollercoaster of fear that is best left to be experienced first-hand.  Chris Fisher’s illusions are sensational, delivering scares good enough to garner loud, theatre-wide reactions. As the interval lights came up the audience’s relieved chatter, grateful for the brief respite from the terror, was audible. 

The second act takes advantage of one’s lowered guard, immediately ramping up the tension, rarely letting up till the close of the show, the tight and creative delivery of the effects packing a punch around every turn.

All of this is only possible due to the impressive cast who deliver convincing performances throughout. It took very little time to become convinced and invested in the relationship of the young couple and quickly sympathetic to their struggles

Experiencing Paranormal Activity in a packed theatre amidst the audience’s reactions to the evening’s scares only enhances the experience. Terrifying fun!

Runs until 28th February 2026

Photo credit: Johan Persson

Reviewed by Kishan Lukha

The Nutcracker - Review

London Coliseum, London

****

Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Choreographed by Aaron S. Watkin and Arielle Smith

The English National Ballet

In a gorgeous display of Christmas tradition, the English National Ballet bring Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker to the London Coliseum for the holiday season. Aaron S. Watkin and Arielle Smith co-choreograph the piece to deliver an evening of stunning dance, music and spectacle.

The fairytale dream of the story is beautifully realised by the ballet’s company and creatives. A roster of children dance as the young Clara. On the night of this review, Delilah Wiggins was on stage, and as she fell into a deep sleep following a beautifully danced party, Ivana Bueno took over the role of the adolescent Clara, with Paulo Rodrigues playing the Nutcracker Prince who whisks her off to the enchanted Land of Sweets and Delights. Their departure, flying off in a magical sleigh drawn by a seahorse, was but one of the ballet’s stunning design touches from Dick Bird.

Act two plays out entirely in the land of sweets, where Bird has created a staging that is as visually satisfying as a box of chocolates! All sorts of confection from around the world are danced to Tchaikovsky’s timeless tunes with a corps of Wiggins’s juniors, all from the Adagio School of Dance performing a great routine as the contents of a box of Ballet’s Liquorice Allsorts. The Nutcracker's melodies of course remain a reminder of just how much the Russian composer’s music has imprinted itself onto our consciousness.

Bird’s visuals along with Leo Flint’s video designs are breathtaking, and as Sangeun Lee brings the evening’s ballet-work to a crescendo with her Dance of The Sugar Plum Fairy, the moment is exquisite.

Technically wonderful, and with the English National Ballet Philharmonic under the baton of Maria Seletskaja sounding delectable, The Nutcracker is a fabulous festive treat.

Runs until 11th January 2026

Photo credit: Johan Persson

Cinderella - Review

Richmond Theatre, Richmond

*****

Written by Harry Michaels & Alan McHugh

Additional material by Gary Wilmot

Directed by Gary Wilmot

Jak Allen-Anderson, Charlie Stemp & Stephen Guarino

Richmond Theatre’s Cinderella is an absolute fairytale of a pantomime. With countless recent years’ featuring in London’s Palladium panto, Gary Wilmot steps off the stage to direct at Richmond and he helms an absolute blast of a show!

Helen George takes the show’s starriest billing as the story’s enchanting Fairy Godmother, and with a stunning voice to match. The evening quickly launches into a cover of Petula Clark’s Downtown covered instead into Richmond. It's fabulously sung by all the cast and sets the tone for top-notch pantomime humour, brilliantly delivered.

Taking the honours as Buttons is one of the nation’s greatest musical theatre triple-threat performers, the incomparable Charlie Stemp. His is a brilliantly bashful, bungling Buttons, combining physical comedy with bursts of sensational dance numbers. Stemp has also polished his pantomime craft at the Palladium and it shows. Adults and children alike, he holds the audience in the palm of his hand, working the room magnificently. 

Stemp and George have to share the spotlight however with that venerable old fox, Basil Brush as Baron Basil Hardup . With 63 performing years to his name Brush knows his way around a panto and while the kids in the audience may have been confused as to what the role was of this on-stage ventriloquist’s *mouse* (I kid you not, I heard them call Basil a mouse. Oh yes I did!), the grown-ups groaned with laughter at every one of the puppet’s trademark “Boom Booms”.

Did I mention dance? Well it helps that the show is choreographed by the world-class legend that is Stephen Mear. Rarely (maybe even never) are out-of-town pantomimes performed with such classy choreography, as Mear coaxes brilliance not just out of Stemp, but from his entire ensemble. Don’t ask how they fit into the narrative, but the cutest routine of tap-dancing polar bears, drilled to pawed perfection, has to be seen to be believed!

The show’s baddies are wickedly played by Jak Allen-Anderson and Stephen Guarino as the ugly stepsisters, American actor Guarino making his panto debut! The pair are great fun, well-earning the evening’s boos.

Hope Daw, Tom Major and Michael Lin respectively play the relatively straight roles of Cinderella, Prince Charming and Dandini, with all delivering fine work that makes the evening soar.

The second act rolls out the comedy highlights, with a hilarious tongue-twisting scene, matched only by a hilariously and (almost) perfectly co-ordinated take on the physically demanding If I Were Not At Hardup Hall Someone Else I’d Rather Be. Equally, the show’s penultimate number, the little know ABBA gem, Gimme Gimme Gimme A Slipper That Fits Me is another festive gem!

It’s not often that one sees pantomime of top-notch West End quality for the cost of a local ticket. Don’t miss Cinderella at the Richmond theatre. It’s a Christmas cracker! 

Runs until 4th January 2026

Photo credit: Ian Olsson

Cinderella And The Matzo Ball - Review

JW3, London

***

Written by Nick Cassenbaum

Directed by Abigail Anderson

Talia Pick and Debbie Chazen

Cinderella and the Matzo Ball marks the JW3rd pantomime from Nick Cassenbaum at London’s eponymous community centre.

Talia Pick plays the titular heroine in a fantastic performance. Talya Soames as Buttons is equally strong. 

Yet again however, Cassenbaum and his director Abigail Anderson choose not to cast a man (or men) in drag for some of this classic fairytale’s famously monstrous roles. There’s scope for hideousness (which both adults and children adore) in Cinderella’s famously ugly sisters and while the competent Libby Liburd and Rosie Yadid dutifully fulfil their sisterly responsibilities with strong turns, the show would have been so much funnier if they’d been replaced by men in frocks. At long last however Debbie Chazen is perfectly (and appropriately) cast in a JW3 panto as the story’s Fairy Godmother.

It is also hard to fathom why Cassenbaum has upended the traditional narrative by making the usually anodyne (but charming) Prince Charming, in this iteration, a money-grabbing villain. There’s enough antisemitic tropery in the world as it is, without such a troublingly unhelpful blunder.

For the most part Cassenbaum's gags are weak. The one truly sparkling gem of humour is his take on Wicked’s Popular, reworked here into Secular. Josh Middleton’s musical adaptations are excellent, with Yael Lowenstein’s choreography similarly an impressive treat in the tight confines of the JW3 space.

Children will love the show with its strong acting and visuals - Cinderella's transition into her ballgown is a delight - and parents will enjoy their kids' laughter. But this show could have been so much more.

Runs until 4th January 2026

Photo credit: Charlie Flint