WORTH A LOOK?: ***
WHERE: Middle Temple Hall
WHEN: 5/4, closes 6/4, tours UK throughout April
Middle Temple Hall is the London venue where Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night was first performed 400 years ago.
WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHERE: Old Vic
WHEN: 2/4, runs to 14/5
It’s 19 years since star Timothy Spall last acted on stage and just over one since his tremendous grumbling titular turn in Mike Leigh’s biopic Mr Turner inexplicably failed to earn him a best actor Oscar nomination.
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHERE: Coliseum
WHEN: 1/4, runs to 7/5
The home of the English National Opera bursts into a round of spontaneous applause as the biggest star in the West End takes to the stage.
WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHERE: Phoenix Theatre
WHEN: 20/3, runs to 30/10
This Chichester Theatre production is up for six Olivier Awards on 3/4 and we gave it 5* when it opened at the Savoy in December.
WORTH A LOOK?: ***
WHERE: Dominion Theatre
WHEN: 29/2, runs to 30/4
The cast for this stadium-sized show which has found its way to the Dominion Theatre is as varied as it is star-studded and features, deep breath, David Essex, Michael Praed, Jimmy Nail, Daniel Bedingfield and Heidi from the Sugababes.
WORTH A LOOK?: ***
WHERE: Young Vic
WHEN: 11/3, press night 16/3, runs to 16/4
SETLIST: Anthrax (Gang Of Four); Atrocity Exhibition (Joy Division); Fiction Romance (Buzzcocks); Isolation (Joy Division); Nag Nag Nag (Cabaret Voltaire); What Do I Get (Buzzcocks); Empire State Human (The Human League); Hot On The Heels Of Love (Throbbing Gristle); My New House (The Fall); Memorabilia (Soft Cell); I Know It’s Over (The Smiths); Life Is A Pigsty (Morrissey); Temptation (New Order).
We loved Jane Horrocks in Little Voice and Absolutely Fabulous and when we discovered the premise of this show we were at the front of the queue to buy tickets.
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHERE: St James Theatre
WHEN: 12/3, press night 14/3, runs to 9/4
Bovvered? We had no idea Catherine Tate could sing and in this world premiere of a new musical her voice is as fine as she is funny.
WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHERE: Almeida Theatre
WHEN: 4/3 runs to 26/3
Director Robert Icke’s Oresteia which originated here last year has been nominated for three Oliviers and we can see this production of Uncle Vanya proving similarly successful.
WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHERE: Trafalgar Studios
WHEN?: 26/2 runs to 21/5
We bought front row seats for this the moment tickets went on sale.
WORTH A LOOK?: ***
WHERE: Vaudeville Theatre
WHEN: 19/2, runs to 11/6
Puppet sex? Hand To God’s generated mixed reviews and for us the way it is being sold as a cross between Avenue Q and Book Of Mormon didn’t quite ring true.
