The London Theatre Review

Self Esteem aka Rebecca Lucy Taylor returns to the stage for the second time: after playing a singer on the verge of a breakdown when she took on the role of Sally Bowles in Cabaret in 2023, now she plays an alcoholic singer on the verge of a breakdown in David Hare's 1975 play Teeth 'n' Smiles - the gang give their verdict. They also review Kimberly Belflower's Tony-nominated hit US play John Proctor is the Villain currently at the Royal Court. Plus the delightful Gwyneth Keyworth chats to Nancy about starring in the National Theatre production of Summerfolk, which we...

This week Nancy and the Nicks head to Hampstead Theatre for Aaron Loeb’s ROI (Return on Investment), where cancer has potentially been cured, and there's lots of money to be made.

Plus the gang are at the National Theatre for Summerfolk, Maxim Gorky’s caustic portrait of the pre-revolution Russian middle classes, eating, drinking and complaining their way towards a fairly inevitable reckoning.

Theatre Royal Stratford East's artistic director Lisa Spirling talks to Nick Curtis about her debut season, which has already got off to a stunning start with the harrowing Here Ther...

With Nancy in Mexico on the trail of Frida Kahlo, producer Tim steps in to join the Nicks as they discuss The Holy Rosenbergs at the Menier Chocolate Factory and Marie and Rosetta @sohoplace.

Matt Willis from Busted chats to Nancy about taking on the role of the Emcee in Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, and the Orange Tree Theatre's artistic director Tom Littler answers one listener's question about which plays are chosen for revivals and why.

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Michael Sheen's first production for his new company Welsh National Theatre is Our Town, the classic American play by Thornton Wilder transposed to Wales. Nick, Nick and Nancy give their verdicts.

They also visit the Young Vic for Broken Glass, one of Arthur Miller's late plays in which a woman becomes paralysed after reading about the horrors of Kristallnacht.

Nick Curtis talks to director Monique Touko about having three plays on simultaneous: Marie and Rosetta, The Boy at the Back of the Class and Jaja's African Hair Braiding.

And Bridgerton's...

This week the gang review Bird Grove, the George Eliot origin story that nobody was quite sure they needed. How did Mary Ann Evans become one of the most famous novelists of all time? Did she fall in a vat of radioactive acid? Or get bitten by a radioactive spider? No, the answer is much more church-focused.

They also visit the Donmar Warehouse for Anna Ziegler's new play Evening All Afternoon about a mother/daughter relationship and functionally extinct rhinos.

Mad Men and Billions star Maggie Siff talks to Nick Curtis about playing...

The biggest show of the year so far has finally opened, with puns about sucking and biting in full flow. Yes it's Cynthia Erivo's one-woman Dracula, adapted and directed by Kip Williams, in which the Wicked star plays all 23(ish) parts. So as Nick, Nick and Nancy sink their teeth into their review, does it get their blood pumping? Or will they B negative?

Downton Abbey and Paddington treasure Hugh Bonneville plays CS Lewis in the West End transfer of Shadowlands. The inimitable Jenna Russell, who brings emotional charge and huge class to every show she...

This week the gang is talking about walking as they make a pilgrimage to Theatre Royal Haymarket for new musical The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, based on the beloved book by Rachel Joyce with music by Passenger.

They also had a dose of daddy issues with Terence Rattigan's little-revived play Man and Boy at the National.

Director, writer and theatremaker Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu talked to Nick Curtis about directing the late Chadwick Boseman's play Deep Azure at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse and Andor star Elizabeth Dulau answered five questions.

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A few months on from his death, Tom Stoppard's dazzling play Arcadia comes to the Old Vic and puts the brains of Nancy, Nick and Nick to the test - that's if Mr Clark is able to get across Albert Bridge and make it to the recording on time...

Then it's back to the eighties for shell suits, ripped bodies and all kinds of excess - and that's just from the LTR gang - as they review American Psycho The Musical at the Almeida.

Plus producer Tim talks to musical theatre icon Keala...

Boo!! This week Nancy and the Nicks are cowering behind their large, slightly warm glasses of chardonnay as they experience the stage adaptation of supernatural horror Paranormal Activity. Two out of three critics were terrified - listen to find out who has nerves of steel.

The trio also take in Luke Norris's harrowing play Guess How Much I Love You at the Royal Court, and Nick Curtis talks to Fiona Button, currently starring in one of Tom Stoppard's masterpieces Arcadia at the Old Vic.

Plus, Arty Froushan takes a break from murdering people...

With pistols drawn and chaps on, Nancy and the Nicks review the stage version of classic Western film High Noon. It's been adapted by the legendary Hollywood screenwriter Eric Roth (Dune, Benjamin Button, Forrest Gump) and stars Billy Crudup and Denise Gough. Then it's back further into the American past with Oh, Mary!, Cole Escola's ridiculously silly Broadway smash play which very much does not tell the story of Mary Todd Lincoln. She may still be the wife of Abraham in Cole's telling, but she's also an alcoholic and frustrated cabaret star. But no fear, because Nick Clark talks to...

What better way to start the new season than with an absolutely jam-packed episode full of the most exciting things in theatre right now? Nancy, Nick and Nick are back and they are reviewing the mega production of Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods at the Bridge Theatre as well as Alan Ayckbourn's 1986 play Woman in Mind starring Sheridan Smith and Romesh Ranganathan at the Duke of York's.

The brilliant Mason Alexander Park has taken on the deranged role of Mary Todd Lincoln in the West End transfer of Cole Escola's Broadway smash hit Oh, Mary! They...

The latest season of the podcast may be over, but 'tis the season for things like presents and surprises - so here is both! Just in time for Christmas, enjoy this bonus episode in which producer Tim talks to Paddington writer Jessica Swale and Julian Clary slips away from playing King Julian in his panto at the Palladium to answer our five questions. Happy Christmas and thanks for listening this year.

The London Theatre Review will return...

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Another season of the London Theatre Review comes to an end with a HUGE episode in which we unveil the inaugural London Theatre Review Awards: our pick of the very best shows of the year, the result of long and passionate arguments, to champion the productions, writers and performers that have stayed with us throughout the last twelve months. Find out who the deserving winners are...

As if that weren't BIG enough for the season finale, we also review Paddington the Musical, the most hotly anticipated show of the year, which has a lot to live...

More than a decade after his stupendous production of A View From The Bridge, director Ivo Van Hove returns to Arthur Miller with All My Sons starring Bryan Cranston and Marianne Jean Baptiste. David Eldridge's trilogy of plays about relationships comes to an end with End at the National Theatre. And Nick Clark speaks to Éanna Hardwicke who is about to star in Playboy of the Western World by JM Synge, also at the National - although Nick seems a little more interested in the fact Éanna has just played Roy Keane in a new film, Saipan. Ruby Ashbourne Serkis an...

A bit of a shambles this week as cancellations and illness got in the way of reviews but here, nevertheless, are reviews of the hotly anticipated new musical Coven at the Kiln Theatre about the Pendle Witch Trials and Porn Play at the Royal Court starring Ambika Mod. Paapa Essiedu chats to Nick Curtis about starring in All My Sons alongside Bryan Cranston, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Tom Glynn-Carney and Hayley Squires. And Jackie Clune answers five questions with a great Mamma Mia! mishap.

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Nancy Durrant, Nick Clark, and Nick Curtis offer themselves as tributes this week to review The Hunger Games at the new and massive Troubadour Canary Wharf theatre. On the complete other end of the spectrum, and the other side of London, they take in Nancy Farino's debut play Fatherland at Hampstead Theatre's teeny downstairs studio. Nick Clark gets very excited because he talks to the wonderful Saskia Reeves, managing not to talk just about Slow Horses, but also End, David Eldridge's new play which Saskia stars in alongside Clive Owen at the National. And Toby Stephens takes a break from b...

Nancy’s back from her holidays to join Nick Curtis and Nick Clark for a packed episode of reviews, interviews, and theatre gossip, including their thoughts on the big reveal of the week: how the Paddington musical is creating the bear live onstage. The team tackle Tom Morris’s starry Othello at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, with David Harewood and Toby Jones, and head to the Park Theatre for Hannah Doran’s debut drama The Meat Kings! (Inc.) of Brooklyn Heights. Plus Nick Curtis chats to Pearl Chanda about playing Hedda Gabler in Tanika Gupta’s bold new adaptation at the Oran...

With Nancy away (possibly raving in Ibiza), producer Tim Bano steps into the co-hosting chair alongside Nicks Clark and Curtis for a packed episode. The trio take flight with the RSC’s enchanting Wendy and Peter Pan at the Barbican, and dive into the glossy, satirical world of 1980s privilege in The Line of Beauty at the Almeida. Nick Curtis chats with Andy Nyman about his double West End whammy—starring in The Producers and co-creating Ghost Stories. Plus, Matthew Rhys channels Richard Burton in Five Questions ahead of his one-night-only performance at the Old Vic.

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This week, the team review Nicola Walker’s searing performance in Nick Payne’s The Unbelievers at the Royal Court, and Kip Williams’ dazzlingly bonkers reimagining of Jean Genet’s The Maids at the Donmar Warehouse. Nick Curtis interviews rising star Jasper Talbot about leading The Line of Beauty at the Almeida, and Tamzin Outhwaite answers five questions from backstage at the Young Vic with a fantastic/terrifying story about the worst thing that's ever happened to her onstage. Plus, a look ahead to the National Theatre’s 2026 season and a quiz about the origins of the Donmar’s name.

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This week, the team review Samuel D. Hunter’s Clarkston at Trafalgar Theatre, starring Heartstopper’s Joe Locke, and Katherine Moar's gripping Ragdoll at Jermyn Street Theatre based on the trial of Patty Hearst. Nick Clark chats to Kate Phillips about starring in Conor McPherson’s haunting revival of The Weir, and we hear from Munya Chawawa about his inspiring Black Boys Theatre Club. Plus, a double dose of Five Questions from Bridgerton star Yerin Ha, who's currently on stage in The Maids at the Donmar, and director Matthew Xia whose production of The Harder They Come is at Theatr...

This week, the LTR gang dive into Robert Hastie’s fresh and funny Hamlet at the National Theatre, with Hiran Abeysekara as a manic, compelling Prince and Francesca Mills delivering a revelatory Ophelia. Susan Sarandon makes her UK stage debut in Tracy Letts’ Mary Page Marlowe at the Old Vic, but she's matched by Andrea Riseborough and Rosie McEwen in a starry ensemble cast. Nancy chats to David Shields about starring in James Graham’s deeply moving play Punch, now at the Apollo, and the team remember the formidable Patricia Routledge. Plus, five questions with Nathaniel Parker and a Hamlet...

This week the gang have been to see The Importance of Being Earnest as it transfers to the West End, with Olly Alexander and Nathan Stewart Jarrett starring alongside Stephen Fry as Lady Bracknell. Plus they catch Rizzle Kicks singer Jordan Stephens in his stage debut in Entertaining Mr Sloane alongside Tamsin Outhwaite at the Young Vic. And Rosy McEwen chats to Nick Curtis about playing alongside Susan Sarandon and Andrea Riseborough in Tracy Letts's play Mary Page Marlowe at the Old Vic. Plus we put five questions to the brilliant Ronkẹ Adékọluẹ́jọ́, who answers them while cooking her...

Nancy Durrant, Nick Clark and Tim Bano head to the National for Indhu Rubasingham’s first production as its new artistic director, Nima Taleghani’s bold, chaotic new spin on Euripides's Bacchae. Guinness (and a small one) all round as they settle in for Brendan Gleeson’s spellbinding West End debut in Conor McPherson’s chilling ghost story The Weir at the Harold Pinter Theatre. Plus Nick chats to Nathan Stewart-Jarrett playing Jack (or is it Earnest?) in The Importance of Being Earnest (or is it Jack?), while Oliver Johnstone, currently starring in Romans at the Almeida, is subject to our f...

Kicking off our new season in style with The London Theatre Review's first ever LIVE episode, recorded at the Royal Court Theatre on Saturday 20th September 2025 as part of the Chelsea Arts Festival.

Nick, Nick and Nancy have been itching to get back into the groove after a long summer break, and what better way to do it than with a live episode of the podcast featuring star of One Day and This Is Going To Hurt, the incredible Ambika Mod, as well as the Royal Court's artistic director David Byrne.

Plus reviews...

Yes we're on a summer break but we need to tell you that our live show at the Royal Court on September 20th at 12pm is selling fast and if you want to buy a ticket you'd better do it sharpish!

The gang will be chatting to Ambika Mod (star of One Day and This Is Going To Hurt) and Royal Court artistic director David Byrne, as well as reviewing two of the hottest shows in London.

For one lunchtime only, LTR will be LIVE!

https://royalcourttheatre.com/whats-on/the-london-theatre-review-live-with-ambika-mod-david-byrne/<...

In the big, sexy season finale the gang review Burlesque the Musical at the Savoy Theatre. Are the rumours about its troubled previews true? Susie Miller's new play Inter Alia follows her huge hit Prima Facie, so how does this second play set in the judicial world with a difficult to pronounce Latin title fare? And Jeevan Braich who plays Rusty in the huge production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Starlight Express at the Troubadour Wembley Park tells Tim Bano about being cast on Tiktok, dropping out of school and what it takes to roller skate around a huge stage...

Michael Sheen returns to the National Theatre to reprise his role as NHS founder Aneurin Bevan. Nancy, Nick and Nick give their verdict. They also head to the Globe (Nick Clark narrowly avoided a thorough summer soaking) to see Shakespeare's stupidest play The Merry Wives of Windsor. And Beth Steel, whose fantastic play Til the Stars Come Down has just transferred to the West End, talks to Nick Curtis.

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Zachary Hart from hit play Stereophonic - about a 70s rock band recording their second album - tells Nancy what it's like to play a drug-addicted, alcoholic bass player while also performing live music with the onstage band. He also talks about working with Cate Blanchett in The Seagull.

The gang review the adaptation of Malorie Blackman's seminal book Noughts and Crosses at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, and the transfer of Beth Steel's play Til The Stars Come Down at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.

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We've been in the crowds on Argyll Street to watch the balcony scene, and now we've been inside the Palladium too and finally the LTR team are ready to give you their bumpe review of Jamie Lloyd's production of Evita, the show that no one can seem to stop talking or thinking about. Expect strong reactions, disagreements, and loads of superlatives. Janie Dee pops by to talk about her show Beautiful World Cabarets which blends stunning renditions of songs with stories of the climate emergency. And the gang review Lynn Nottage's Intimate Apparel at the Donmar Warehouse.

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For some reason, Nancy decided to abandon theatre for a few days and instead take to a tent in a field in Somerset for some big music festival...but not before she managed to catch Hercules in the West End, Disney's latest screeen-to-stage adaptation. She and the Nicks give their verdicts, with some cross words about Roman gods and goats' feet. Producer Tim joins the gang to review the Almeida's production of Eugene O'Neill's final play A Moon For The Misbegotten. It stars Ruth Wilson, David Threlfall and Michael Shannon and is very rarely revived...is there a reason for...

Star of His Dark Materials, Luther and so much other stuff, the incredible Ruth Wilson, talks to Nick Curtis about starring in a very little-revived Eugene O'Neill play A Moon For the Misbegotten. She also talks faith, creativity and roles for older women.

Nancy is very excited because the show she saw and adored on Broadway, Stereophonic, has just transferred to the West End. For legal reasons it is very much NOT about Fleetwood Mac making Rumours...but the band members are packing up, shacking up and falling out - it's written by David Adjmi with...

Profane rockstars, metaphorical elephants and childish innuendoes - don't say we don't bring the variety on LTR. This week, with Mr Clark away, producer Tim steps in to review Just For One Day the Live Aid musical at the Shaftesbury Theatre alongside Nick and Nancy, as well as Miss Myrtle's Garden at the Bush Theatre. Nick also chats to the very multi-talented Anoushka Lucas - blowaway star of 'sexy' Oklahoma! and Jesus Christ Superstar - whose debut play Elephant is back on the London stage at the Menier Chocolate Factory after two sellout runs at the Bush Theatre.

This week the gang review Fiddler on the Roof at the Barbican, The Comedy About Spies at the Noel Coward, and Nick Curtis chats to Heartstopper's Corinna Brown about starring the new production of Malorie Blackman's Noughts and Crosses at the Open Air Theatre.

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Imelda Staunton and Bessie Carter (from Bridgerton) take to the stage together in George Bernard Shaw's play Mrs Warren's Profession? How do mother and daughter fare playing mother and daughter? Nick Curtis, Nancy Durrant and Tim Bano review the production at the Garrick Theatre. Plus they head to the Royal Court to see After the Act, a musical about Section 28 which banned the 'promotion of homosexuality' in schools and local authorities. And the lovely John O'Farrell has a chat with Nick about his huge musical successes including Mrs Doubtfire which has just closed, the Live Aid musical Just For One...

A cornucopia of corn puns awaits as the gang review hit Broadway musical Shucked! at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, and Slow Horses star Jack Lowden reprises his role in David Ireland's Alcoholics Anonymous play The Fifth Step alongside Martin Freeman. Plus, Kevin McHale, best known for his role as Artie in hit musical TV series Glee, talks to Nick Curtis about playing the assistant to a Greek god in Stephen Sondheim's weird and wonderful musical The Frogs at Southwark Playhouse.

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For the last time ever, it's a brand new musical from Stephen Sondheim. Here We Are has just opened at the National Theatre, the show Sondheim was working on for almost a decade, and which he finished with writer David Ives and director Joe Mantello just before he died in 2021. Nick, Nick and Nancy give their verdict on the absurdist plight of rich Americans trying to get brunch. Plus, Nick Clark has a chat with Sondheim's biographer David Benedict about who Sondheim was, and why he matters.

The brilliant Beverley Knight natters to Nick Curtis about...

After a lovely break, thanks for asking, the gang have taken their seats in the stalls once again to bring you the best (and sometimes the less than best) that London theatre has to offer.

To kick off the new season, it's a Roald Dahl special as Nick, Nick and Nancy review Giant in the West End, an award-winning play starring John Lithgow as Dahl which looks at the fallout of an antisemitic book review written by the children's author. The play's writer Mark Rosenblatt also talks to Nick Curtis about why he chose this highly...

We've reached the end of the second season, and to celebrate we're dropping a day early with a bumper Olivers special edition so that you can listen to this episode before the Olivier Awards ceremony on Sunday 6th April. As well as insight, analysis and predictions from Nancy and the Nicks, we've also got a chat with special guest THE Billy Porter talking about what we can expect as he co-hosts the awards on Sunday night (there will be singing and there will be outrageous costumes), as well as his role in Cabaret At The Kit Kat Club in...

The warm, wise and completely wonderful Julie Hesmondhalgh talks to Nancy about playing Joan Scourfield, the woman whose son was killed with a single punch in 2011, in James Graham's incredibly moving play Punch.

And the smell of whiskey and cigar smoke hang in the air as the gang give their views on the West End transfer of Ryan Calais Cameron's play Retrograde, a snappy period thriller in which the actor Sidney Poitier meets a TV lawyer in an office in 1950s New York and is asked to denounce his friends. (If you want to hear about...

Another iconic 90s movie gets the musical treatment as KT Tunstall and Amy Heckerling turn Clueless into a stage show. Nancy and the Nicks review. And there have been more than 200 adaptations of Bram Stoker's Dracula - but there's always room for one more. The gang visit high-camp comedy Dracula: A Comedy Of Terrors at the Menier Chocolate Factory. Plus, Nancy talks to Tom Burke, currently playing Trigorin in The Seagull at the Barbican.

Thanks to Art of London for sponsoring the podcast. Find out about brilliant things to do in London at artoflondon.co.uk.<...