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INSANE: 2 | Vintage Vibes

London Theatre Week: our pick of the best West End shows to book from £15

Log on and land some amazing deals on some of London’s top shows

Evening Standard

Just For One Day review – Live Aid musical has soaring voices and pancake-flat characters

Jukebox show celebrating sweary Bob Geldof’s 1985 mega-fundraiser piles homily on cliche in a production in thrall to white saviour stereotypes

The Guardian - UK

The Boy at the Back of the Class review – a refugee’s lessons in humanity

Onjali Raùf’s morality tale for children, adapted by Nick Ahad, fluidly harnesses schoolkid energy, though important details are often reported rather than enacted

The Guardian - UK

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Till the Stars Come Down review – your invitation to the wedding of the year

Beth Steel’s new drama is dazzlingly performed and full of pain, joy and laughter in a deft production by Bijan Sheibani

The Guardian - UK

Going going gone! From Frozen to Backstairs Billy, the shows now closing in the West End

Frozen shocked theatreland this month by announcing its September 2024 closure. These are the other shows not to miss before it's too late

Evening Standard

‘That’s impossible!’ Why UK theatre’s gone mad for magic and wild special effects

Need to make an elephant vanish, an aeroplane take off or a wizard fly? As magic grips the stage, illusionist supremos reveal how they turn the likes of Stranger Things into eye-popping spectaculars

The Guardian - UK

The Frogs review – Spymonkey’s search for ancient comedy and catharsis

The Aristophanes play is interwoven with the theatre company’s personal quest in a ramshackle show that loses its way

The Guardian - UK

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Stranger Things: The First Shadow review – Netflix explodes into the West End with thrills galore

Humungous projections, a big musical score, an onslaught of foam, dry ice and flares: this big-budget stage play from the ‘Stranger Things’ universe spares no bombastic effect to bring new audiences flocking to the West End

The Independent UK

Stranger Things: The First Shadow review – breathtaking theatre

This origin story has all the dark mystery of the Duffer Brothers’ Netflix series and delivers one coup de theatre after another

The Guardian - UK

Rock’n’Roll review – Tom Stoppard’s blast from the past

Stoppard’s 2006 play asks important ideological questions with typically fizzing wordplay but its growling, feral energy comes too late

The Guardian - UK

Can Stranger Things replicate Harry Potter and save the West End?

The production team behind the most anticipated show of the year tell Annabel Nugent about what makes ‘The First Shadow’ so different from the usual screen-to-stage adaptation, and why they hope the ‘Stranger Things’ monsters will frighten away the curse of Covid from the West End

The Independent UK

The week in theatre: Infinite Life; The Homecoming; Pacific Overtures – review

Chronic illness is captured to extraordinary effect in Annie Baker’s slow yet absorbing new play. Elsewhere, snarling Pinter lacks bite, while the songs eclipse all in rarely revived Sondheim

The Guardian - UK

The Enormous Crocodile review – Roald Dahl’s dastardly reptile stalks the stage

This production for over-fours has clever touches, lively performances and splendid puppets but the songs and the story grow monotonous

The Guardian - UK

The Homecoming review – Pinter’s timeless study of toxic masculinity

Playing a man meeting his daughter-in-law for the first time, Jared Harris brings out the dark comedy in Pinter’s snapshot of misogyny

The Guardian - UK

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The Guardian - UK

Pacific Overtures review – small Sondheim is beautifully done

Co-production with Osaka company brings 1976 study of American imperialism arriving in Japan to subtle, funny life

TechRadar

I've watched Stranger Things prequel stage play The First Shadow, and it's a must-see before season 5

I've seen the play Stranger Things: The First Shadow – here's my spoiler-free take of why you need to see it.

Evening Standard

The best (non-festive) shows to book this Christmas from Stranger Things to David Tennant's Macbeth

Want to hit the theatre but sick of the seasonal fare? Look no further...

The Guardian - UK

A Christmas Carol: this safe bet should still startle us – past, present or future

There may be comfort in the retelling of Dickens’ familiar tale, but the best adaptations show the imagination to still surprise

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The Guardian - UK

The Inquiry review – drama about a Whitehall cover-up hints at deeper stories left untold

Despite fine acting, Harry Davies’ political thriller about a contaminated water scandal fails to plumb the depths of its characters

The Guardian - UK

Lyonesse review – Kristin Scott Thomas charms in messy #MeToo tale

Starry cast including Lily James and Doon Mackichan are tossed around in a plot that never gets hold of its many concerns

The Guardian - UK

Pygmalion review – Patsy Ferran and Bertie Carvel don’t find play’s heart

This Shaw revival has wonderful moments but there is little spark between Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins

The Guardian - UK

The week in theatre: Grenfell: In the Words of Survivors; Cuckoo; The Sound of Music – review

Gillian Slovo’s new verbatim play about the 2017 tragedy is overpowering theatre that doubles as activism; a comedy of iPhone-fixated family dysfunction is hilariously relatable; and the hills are alive again

The Guardian - UK

The Sound of Music review – climbs ev’ry mountain, ticks ev’ry box

Gina Beck is radiant as Maria in this immaculate and impish production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical

The Guardian - UK

Cuckoo review – springy dialogue lifts slow study of a modern family

Three generations of women in a Merseyside house banter, bicker and disappear into their smartphones in this nuanced play from Michael Wynne

The Guardian - UK

Mrs Doubtfire: The New Musical Comedy review – all energy, no emotion

The cast do their exuberant best but this bland, by-the-numbers retread of the 1990s film lacks feeling and adds nothing original beyond a reference to Love Island

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