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CSI: Crime Scene Improvisation will be making their debut at Underbelly Boulevard Soho on Friday 18 September as part of...
15/09/2026

CSI: Crime Scene Improvisation will be making their debut at Underbelly Boulevard Soho on Friday 18 September as part of the Fringe Fix Festival, celebrating the best of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in the heart of London.

Cast: Lee Apsey, Steve Bond, James Cann, Danielle Downey, Sarah Kempton, and Nicola Lucey

Read our Q&A with Sarah Kempton

Q: CSI: Crime Scene Improvisation has been running for more than 12 years. When you first created the show, what were your initial thoughts? Did you ever imagine it would have this kind of longevity?
Sarah: Yes and no...that's nice and vague, isn't it?! It never occurred to me that we would go on for so many years and 13 years ago there were very few long-form, theatrical-style improv shows. We really looked up to and admired 'Showstopper' and 'Austentatious '; they showed what could be possible, where improv could go in the UK.

It's a really exciting moment for us; performing in a venue like this in the heart of the West End is something we could only dream of when we started.

ROYO and Curve are delighted to announce that following its sold-out UK & Ireland tour, LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL will ...
15/09/2026

ROYO and Curve are delighted to announce that following its sold-out UK & Ireland tour, LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL will transfer to the London Coliseum from 22 March 2027 to 22 May 2027 for a strictly limited season. Tickets are on sale now.

Following rave reviews on tour, Amber Davies* will reprise her starring role of Elle Woods in the West End.

Amber Davies most recently was a runner-up in the 2025 series of Strictly Come Dancing with her partner Nikita Kuzmin. She returns to the London Coliseum as Elle Woods, having previously originated the role of Jordan Baker in the London production of The Great Gatsby there in 2025 (for which she won the WhatsOnStage Award for Best Supporting Performer in a Musical). She also gave acclaimed performances as Vivian Ward in the UK Tour of Pretty Woman, Lorraine Baines in the West End production of Back to the Future The Musical and Campbell in Bring It On at London’s South Bank Centre.

LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL will transfer to the London Coliseum from 22 March 2027 to 22 May 2027.

It used to be said – and it might still be said in some quarters – that if you’re attending the opera, you’re better off...
13/09/2026

It used to be said – and it might still be said in some quarters – that if you’re attending the opera, you’re better off going to one sung in Italian with English subtitles (or, to use the technical term for words displayed above the stage, ‘surtitles’) than going to one translated and sung in English. That way, one can understand what on earth is being sung in the first place. Well, in this case – the first opera was originally performed in German, the second in French – my trepidation about possibly not following proceedings dissipated within the first minute: every lyric was crystal clear in a production that balanced, without any amplification, acoustic instruments with singing voices, at a volume that was comfortable and never too quiet or too noisy.

It’s not a perfect setup: the first opera (originally written and usually performed as a ‘sung ballet’) only had the one Anna (Katherine McIndoe) instead of the usual two.

Two very different operas are presented together in a production that flows well, works well and is performed well.

Darren Raymond’s Tartuffe (Remixed) is rightly b***y, bold and broad. I am cheered that this production grabs all that i...
13/09/2026

Darren Raymond’s Tartuffe (Remixed) is rightly b***y, bold and broad. I am cheered that this production grabs all that is farcical with two hands and rides it home. Of course it’s a vehicle for Mark Rylance – whose first appearance as Pastor Blake with mutant Turkey-teeth-on-crack – tells us everything is going to be played big; his comedy choppers all the better for chewing the scenery. But it’s also a true ensemble piece with the wider cast doing far more than serving as a backing chorus to Rylance.

Raymond’s adaptation preserves the Alexandrine couplets, which is no mean feat both in English and a modern setting.

Thankfully not on-the-nose or too self-conscious, Tartuffe (Remixed) is simply a hoot that doesn’t require overthinking.

13/09/2026

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Originally developed at the beginning of the current century (a little more than three decades after Mr Guthrie’s death)...
12/09/2026

Originally developed at the beginning of the current century (a little more than three decades after Mr Guthrie’s death), the music and stories brought to life in Woody Sez feel even more apt today. It is indeed a treat to have David Lutken (channelling the iconic Woody Guthrie and performing his songs) with three other actor-musicians, David Finch, Nyssa Grand and Raquel Chavez, return to the London stage.

The production, of course, pays tribute to Woody Guthrie, but Lutken and his musicians are no tribute act.

Over the years, I have attended many ‘immersive’ theatre productions, ranging from modest, low‑budget pieces with minima...
12/09/2026

Over the years, I have attended many ‘immersive’ theatre productions, ranging from modest, low‑budget pieces with minimal staging to large‑scale works supported by substantial resources, elaborate sets and sizeable professional casts. In the awkwardly shaped confines of the subterranean Barons Court Theatre, Shhh Theatre have created a truly interactive work which demonstrates considerable ambition and imagination.

The show begins as you descend the stairs into the performance space. The walls are lined with posters of missing people and chilling newspaper clippings which set an immediate tone of unease. A (literally) faceless authoritarian figure hands out a newspaper containing reports of unrest and disappearances and gives each member of the audience a metal badge to wear that reduces everyone to a number. The dehumanising process at the heart of the play has begun...

Despite its flaws, this is a refreshing departure from conventional dialogue‑driven theatre.

A few days ago I saw my first (and I thought only) “choreopoem”, a word coined by writer Ntozake Shange to describe her ...
12/09/2026

A few days ago I saw my first (and I thought only) “choreopoem”, a word coined by writer Ntozake Shange to describe her work for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf. I assumed it might be a genre of one, but last night, like London buses, another one came along. Night City also combines poetic dialogue and choreography – although this time, rather than telling the stories of a downtrodden group of Black American women, it shines a light on the night workers who are often forgotten and whose stories are seldom told.

Like Shange’s work, Night City uses a small group of actors to tell big stories, employing song, music, powerful lighting, sound design and costume. The difference is that while the costumes for colored girls are awash with colour, those in Night City are dark, brooding and decidedly nocturnal.

Night City may or may not be a “choreopoem”, but whatever you want to call it, it’s a fine piece of new writing and deserves to have a big audience

Set in 1962, Marina Gregg (Sara Crowe), a famed American movie star, has come to a village in England. For reasons that ...
12/09/2026

Set in 1962, Marina Gregg (Sara Crowe), a famed American movie star, has come to a village in England. For reasons that become clear in the narrative, she is making a ‘comeback’ after stepping away from the limelight. A Hollywood production company is shooting a period drama about the wives of Henry VIII – her co-star, Lola Brewster (Saskia Strallen), can’t always recall her lines, which at face value makes a scene in which the same dialogue is repeated amid cries of ‘Cut!’ and ‘Action!’ from director Jason Rudd (Jordan Taffe-Wilson) more than a tad tedious. It transpired there was a point to it all, after something occurred that could have (but, spoiler alert, didn’t) caused a tragedy.

Repetition of dialogue was something of a running theme throughout the evening. It was as if the audience apparently required spoon-feeding.

As ever at The Mill at Sonning, the pre-show dinner was delicious and delightful. It was a pity the show itself was overcooked.

There are some musicals that arrive with a premise so bizarre that you wonder whether the writers had been digesting mag...
11/09/2026

There are some musicals that arrive with a premise so bizarre that you wonder whether the writers had been digesting magic mushrooms - Kimberly Akimbo is one of them. A 16-year-old girl who looks like a pensioner because she ages four times faster than normal? Add a very dysfunctional family, teenage romance, a criminal aunt and ice skating, a game of Uno and a tuba solo and you might reasonably expect theatrical chaos. And, in many ways, that is exactly what you get – but at times, gloriously so.

David Lindsay-Abaire’s book and lyrics and Jeanine Tesori’s music have already collected five Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Book and this production brings the show to the UK for the first time. At its heart is Kimberly Levaco, a teenager desperately trying to have an ordinary adolescence while knowing that her body is ageing at an extraordinary rate. It’s a potentially depressing subject but Kimberly Akimbo refuses to wallow.

Funny, touching, occasionally heartbreaking and, above all, wonderfully strange.

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