April 2025

______ 29 April 2025 ______ 4**** 1/2 ______ One of the huge pleasures of the theatrical year last year was to witness some of the best storytelling I have seen for a long time. Nicolas Ridley’s biographical play about his Father, the playwright and actor Arnold Ridley, is revelatory, funny, touching, fascinating and deeply moving. […]

______ 22 April 2025 ______ 4**** ______ The message of ‘Kinky Boots’ is writ loud and clear, ‘Accept others for who they are’; has this show ever been played out against such a background of controversy, debate and anger? A story of inclusion cannot be told in more heartfelt terms than with Johannes Radebe in

______ 15 April 2025 ______ 4**** _____ One of the refreshing things about the musical ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ is the depth of the story which is sustained throughout the length of the show. The titular character suffers with his mental health and while trying to explain away his issues becomes embroiled in a muddle of

______ 9 April 2025 ______ 5***** ______ From the opening minor keys to the gloriously rich, deeply romantic climax, Prokofiev’s 1940s score for the ballet of Cinderella is so varied and immensely cinematic in the many themes and moods built into it. As ever, the Royal Ballet Sinfonia, under the baton of Charlotte Politi provide

______ 1 April 2025 ______ 5***** ______ ‘The Shark is Broken’ could be seen as a more modern take on Jerome K Jerome’s ‘Three Men in a Boat’, not with a dog, this time, but with a shark called ‘Bruce’. There are story similarities, but they diverge rather widely. The behind the scenes story of