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West End theatres to dim lights in memory of ‘acting giant’ Sir Patrick Stewart
Sir Patrick’s career included movies, TV and the theatre including 16 years with the Royal Shakespeare Company and acting on stage well into his 60s.
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‘Fear is contagious’: why horror shows are taking over the New York stage
Hit London plays 2:22, Paranormal Activity and A Ghost in Your Ear are now spooking audiences on and off Broadway amid high demand for communal experiencesAs we escaped the restrictions of the pandemic, with many also trying to escape the smartphone addiction that was exacerbated by it, there was wi...
‘I laughed so hard my Tampax fell out’: Michael Gambon’s pranks revealed by the stars he cracked up
He made Daniel Radcliffe’s Harry Potter fart, left Judi Dench unable to control herself and told a fry-up fantasy about Helen Mirren. A new biography details the star’s mischiefJasper Rees’s authorised biography of Michael Gambon, published three years after the great actor’s death, has nuan...
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As mega-hit Into the Woods wows the West End, what’s the secret weapon of this Sondheim spectacular?
With its shimmering forest and its plunge into darkness and destruction, this fairytale romp bagged an Olivier for its lighting – and, reveals designer Aideen Malone, it wasn’t even finishedFor a minute I worry that Aideen Malone might return her Olivier award. “It’s funny that I won an awar...
Derren Brown turns into Nostradamus – and I predict you’ll submit to one gasp-inducing stunt after another
Apollo theatre, LondonProphecies are impossibly fulfilled by the superstar who takes his cue from the legendary French seer in his show Only HumanDo we have free will – or are the words I am about to write, the four stars twinkling atop this review, pre-ordained? That’s the stuff Derren Brown co...
Amy Winehouse musical in development for West End
Stage show based on late singer reportedly set to feature her best-loved songs with involvement from her father MitchA musical based on Amy Winehouse is in development for London’s West End.The project is still in early stages with Catherine Schreiber, a Tony award-winning producer (Cabaret, Rent)...
Martin Guerre review – return of Les Mis duo’s melodrama reveals a surprise new hero
Old Vic theatre, LondonMatthew Warchus directs a radical and intimate revival of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg’s musical about a Frenchman who flees homeSome revivals overstate their revisionism but Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg’s musical, which premiered 16 years after...
West End to get another lesson from The History Boys two decades on
Nation’s favourite play makes London comeback amid renewed debate about future of humanities teachingThe History Boys is to return to the West End for the first time in two decades, with a warning from its director of an “almost terminal decline” in humanities teaching in state schools.Nichola...
The History Boys returns to the West End for first time in 20 years
Alan Bennett’s play follows eight schoolboys at an all-boys grammar school in Sheffield.
Ilford Boy review – Barbra Streisand teaches teen to smile about the way we are
Donmar Warehouse, LondonIn Danny Lee Wynter’s drama, a quiet boy struggles amid the swirl of his family until a mercurial friend offers him another futureBroad Essex accents fill the stage in Danny Lee Wynter’s sprawling family drama. The busy script from the Black Superhero playwright is cramme...
Algerian migrant jailed for ripping £65,000 watch from tourist outside Sotheby's
Txomin Huare-Place has been jailed for two years and nine months after tearing the watch from Axel Schwan’s wrist in 2024
Hidden London: The Seven Noses of Soho
This is a secret spot in the city that’s well worth the visit
Gangs steal £1 million of luxury watches in London's West End every month, police reveal
Victims are being punched, kicked and threatened with knives as organised gangs target wealthy diners and visitors
Christine Baranski: Hay Fever would be ‘perfect play’ to end my theatre career
The Mamma Mia actress, 74, will make her West End debut in a revival of the comedy opposite Celebrity Traitors star Richard E Grant.
London fish and chip shop shortlisted for top UK award
A 1950s diner located in the heart of the West End has made it into the top 10
The Cherry Orchard review – Kristin Scott Thomas makes a modern matriarch in trad, earthy Chekhov
Harold Pinter theatre, LondonThis Ranevskaya feels of our time but Conor McPherson’s plain-speaking adaptation, co-starring Stephen Mangan, doesn’t always hit you emotionallyThere have been several starry Madame Ranevskayas in recent times. The prodigal Russian landowner, returning to her belove...
Prima Facie writer hopes Cynthia Erivo-led film highlights ‘nuance of consent’
The film is based on the one-woman play about a barrister named Tessa whose view of the legal system changes after she is sexually assaulted herself.
‘I knew I was being followed’: Keira Knightley on her hacking nightmare – and new Stasi spy play The Lives of Others
As the Oscar-winning Stasi surveillance film hits the stage, Knightley and co-star Luke Thompson talk about the paranoia at its heart, the cost of theatre tickets nowadays – and their fury at ringtones in the stallsUnpacking assorted tubs of carrot sticks and salad, Keira Knightley winces apologet...
HMV to close Oxford Street store three years after reopening historic site
The group said landlords have proposed doubling the rent on the site at 363 Oxford Street and is also facing a bill for renovation works.
HMV to close flagship Oxford Street store blaming soaring rent demand
HMV makes closure announcement three years after reopening historic London site