Theatre

TIM WALKER reviews A Christmas Carol at the Charles Dickens Museum. When A Christmas Carol is done really well – and Dominic Gerrard does it sublimely – members of the audience are compelled to play the part of Scrooge, albeit passively from their seats. This powerful work ought always to grab hold of everyone out […]

Writing fraternal wrongs Sam Shepard’s True West is supposedly a homage to the vanishing American West, but it’s more about a writer losing control of what he’s writing and the triumph of mediocrity over talent.​ There is, of course, only one difference between good writing and bad writing, and that is, in the case of […]

In his latest review, TIM WALKER watches Joanna Murray-Smith’s Switzerland at London’s Ambassadors Theatre. When Christmas approaches – and with it the prospect of big family reunions – the thoughts of the nation always seem to turn inexorably towards murder. No festive season is, after all, complete without Miss Marple making an appearance on television, […]

Tim Walker gives five stars to this production about a highly-strung minister’s daughter who, falls in love with a local lad named John, but is never quite able to find a way to express it until it is too late.​ As a young reporter, sent out to do big interviews, I had a stock question […]

Orpheus goes down in style at the National Theatre, says TIM WALKER Hadestown 
National Theatre, until January 26 The National Theatre likes to put on a big blockbuster in the run-up to Christmas and Hadestown is certainly that. It’s a big jaunty, lively, rhythm-and-blues re-imagining of the ancient myth of Orpheus descending into the underworld […]

Tim Walker gives five stars to this heartfelt cry for tolerance. The one thing that Indhu Rubasingham, the brilliant artistic director of the Kiln Theatre, has always got is the big picture. It’s all very well to keep obsessing about the refurbishment and the new branding she’s put in place at the venue – both […]

TIM WALKER reviews The Wipers Times, on at Arts Theatre, London, until December 1, in this week’s Stage Review. One of the most wearying aspects of Brexit has been the endless harping back to the days when Britain was at war. Boris Johnson likes, of course, to see himself as Churchill, and the way the […]

Heart-throb Douglas Booth proves he is more than just a pretty face. Astonishingly still working after lately celebrating her 93rd birthday, Dame Angela Lansbury attributes the longevity of her career to her plainness in youth. It is was typically self-deprecating remark from this great survivor, but maybe she has a point. She explained that the […]

‘A very boring play that is very well acted’. TIM WALKER reviews The Height of the Storm. The first thing to be said about The Height of the Storm is that it is a very boring play. The second thing to be said about it is that it is very well acted. I suppose Dame […]

Confession of a theatre critic. When it comes to Harold Pinter, I feel we critics are party to a conspiracy against the theatre-going public. At some point, one of our number ­– possibly inebriated – must have knocked off a review saying that there is some point to this man’s plays, that there is more […]

A chance to make a great escape. Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, until January 5 Bonnie Langford in 42nd Street. PHOTO: Brinkhoff/Moegenburg – Credit: Archant Musicals traditionally do well in bleak times so it’s no wonder that 42nd Street is doing a roaring trade. That grand old showman Michael Grade is behind this lavish stage version […]

TIM WALKER reviews Foxfinder at the Ambassodors Theatre, London, which runs until January 5. It is seldom acknowledged that theatre-reviewing is actually one of the most stressful jobs in journalism. I was all set to review Sylvia at the Old Vic for you this week, but, for a second time, I got a last-minute email […]

Tim Walker on Indhu Rubasingham, the best and brightest young theatre boss we have in this country. One of the occupational hazards of being an artistic director of a theatre is that you can all too easily find yourself distracted from what’s happening on the stage by the lampshades that need to be replaced in […]

The award winning play fails to live up to the hype, says Tim Walker. The first thing to be said about Clare Barron’s Dance Nation is that it isn’t going to get you boogying in the aisles. The title suggests an upbeat song and dance extravaganza with a jaunty, attractive, young cast, some big, bold […]

Play’s not quite the thing here The two apostrophes in Love’s Labour’s Lost do not engender confidence. This rarely performed work – uncertain if it’s a morality play, a bawdy comedy or just an excuse for a lot of exhausting verbal acrobatics – shows that even Shakespeare had his off days. The director Nick Bagnall […]

TIM WALKER reviews Little Shop of Horrors at Regent’s Park Theatre LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS by Ashman ; Directed by Maria Aberg ; Designed by Tom Scutt ; At the Regents Park Open Air Theatre, London, UK ; July 10 2018 ; Credit : Johan Persson – Credit: Archant It is right of course that […]

TIM WALKER on how this seductive production of the comedy classic makes it funnier than ever. Vaudeville Theatre, London, until October 20 There is a great deal of kissing going on in Michael Fentiman’s adaptation of The Importance of Being Earnest. Men kiss women, women kiss women and men kiss men. Fehinti Balogun’s dashing Algernon […]

TIM WALKER gives five stars to King Lear at London’s Duke of York’s theatre King Lear Duke of York’s, London, until Nov 3 ***** (Five stars) Two kings, neither in full possession of their faculties, are currently holding dominion in the West End, and across the Thames, at the National Theatre. One is sublime, and […]

TIM WALKER gives three stars to Alkaline at London’s Park Theatre Alkaline Park Theatre, London, until August 4 *** (Three stars) It is now more than half a century since Katharine Hepburn had to pluck up the courage to tell Spencer Tracy that their blonde-haired daughter was marrying Sidney Poitier in the film Guess Who’s […]

TIM WALKER reviews Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s production of ‘As You Like It’. Seldom, if ever, can the fates have conspired against a first night in quite the way they did for As You Like It at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre last week. No one could have known when they scheduled it […]

TIM WALKER on the plays that show nothing ever changes in politics. Gielgud Theatre, London, until September 7 If there’s one political speech that’s stood the test of time – and I always wonder at how brilliantly manipulative it is every time I hear it – it’s the ‘Friends, Romans, countrymen’ eulogy that Mark Antony […]

TIM WALKER gives five stars to The Lieutenant of Irishmore at London’s Noël Coward Theatre The Lieutenant of Irishmore Noël Coward Theatre, London, until September 8 ***** (Five stars) Over the years, Daniel Radcliffe, Nicole Kidman, Jude Law and Ben Whishaw have all been only too happy to tread the boards for the director Michael […]

Stage review of Monogamy, at Park Theatre, London by TIM WALKER Sometimes, not often, a great ensemble cast can take a mediocre play and turn it into something special by a real collective act of will. I’ve seen it happen only a few times before – I think, for instance, of what wonders Roger Allam […]

TIM WALKER gives Killer Joe at London’s Trafalgar Studios one star Killer Joe Trafalgar Studios, London, until August 18 * (One star) The programme notes for Killer Joe state that Orlando Bloom is ‘best known’ for his roles in the Lord of the Rings and the Pirates of the Caribbean franchises. It would appear that […]

TIM WALKER gives The Chalk Garden at the Chichester Festival Theatre four stars The Chalk Garden Chichester, until June 16 **** (Four stars) When Penelope Keith was awarded a DBE, she was quick to point out that the honour was for her charitable work, rather than her acting. The star of To the Manor Born […]

TIM WALKER gives four stars to 3Women at London’s Trafalgar Studios 2 3Women Trafalgar Studios 2, London, until June 9 **** (Four stars) The playwright Alan Bennett once noted that every family has a secret – and the secret is it isn’t like any other family. Katy Brand’s new comedy drama 3 Women certainly doesn’t […]

TIM WALKER gives five stars to Red at London’s Wyndham’s Theatre Red Wyndham’s Theatre, London, until July 28 ***** (FIVE STARS) A great play talks to you because it talks to you about your own life. Red is such a play. It tells the story of how the brilliant, unconventional artist Mark Rothko took a […]

An ideal cast overcomes a flawed play ‘It takes great courage to see the world in all its tainted glory, and still to love it,’ observes Viscount Goring in An Ideal Husband. In so many of Oscar Wilde’s works, the wit is the master of the plot, whereas in this one it’s very much the […]

A show to give London a happy Face When I was starting out on local newspapers, I remember heading off with a sense of morbid fascination to cover the re-enactment of the Battle of Britain by a small Townswomen’s Guild in a village hall. The question that occurred to me as I sat watching this […]

Tim Walker writes that ‘Faceless’ raises some interesting questions about diversity, but shouldn’t a court room drama end with a verdict? In the run-up to the opening of The Book of Mormon, I well remember how its publicists did a great job of putting about the idea this was a show that went beyond the […]

TIM WALKER reviews a ‘stylish and highly intelligent’ Hampstead Theatre production ‘Glyndebourne is quintessentially English,’ opines Nancy Carroll as Capt John Christie’s wife Audrey in The Moderate Soprano. ‘Fritz, Carl and Rudy made sure of that.’ The playwright Sir David Hare clearly sees in the story of how the eccentric captain set about creating an […]

TIM WALKER gives The Way of the World at the Donmar Theatre, London, four stars The Way of the World Donmar Theatre, London, May 26 * * * * (Four stars) William Congreve’s The Way of the World is one of those big, sprawling and very, very long Restoration comedies that most theatre directors – […]