Frida: The Making of an Icon is as much about the creation of a legend as it is about the work of one of Mexico's most recognisable artists. Divided into eight thematic sections, the exhibition not only traces Frida Kahlo's artistic evolution but also interrogates the almost cult-like status she has acquired in the decades since her death. The opening galleries, "Construction/Self-Construction," establish the exhibition's central premise: Kahlo was engaged in a lifelong process of self-invention. Best known for her extraordinary self-portraits, she repeatedly recast her own image, blurring the boundaries between autobiography, performance and myth. It is precisely because of this process of self-fashioning that the exhibition's film footage of Kahlo becomes one of its highlights, offering a rare glimpse of the woman behind her carefully constructed personae. Having established Kahlo's lifelong project of self-invention, the exhibition next considers how o...

For Harold and his wife Maureen, life has ossified into a bleak, sterile routine until a letter arrives from an old colleague of his who is now terminally ill. On an impulse that surprises even himself, Harold resolves to walk the length of England to see her. What begins as a quixotic gesture becomes a profound pilgrimage of atonement and searching self-reckoning. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry is an uplifting modern fable that urges its audience to embrace life's unpredictability and insists, with quiet conviction, that redemption and second chances remain within reach. Mark Addy as Harold and Jenna Russell as Maureen create characters who feel instantly recognisable. Their performances are rich in nuance and emotional truth, investing the story with deep poignancy while never straying into the maudlin. Guiding Harold on his journey as the Balladeer and the spirit of the couple’s son, Noah Mullins brings a nimble vitality and lyrical warmth to the role. The eclectic array...

If you approach this latest instalment of the celebrated satire hoping for the familiar skewering of vacuous politicians and the serpentine cunning of civil servants, prepare for disappointment. The targets have shifted, and not always to satisfying effect. Jim Hacker, once the affable and occasionally perceptive dupe of earlier days, is now a retired prime minister in his twilight years, ensconced in the Oxford college he founded. His comfortable existence is abruptly threatened after a series of politically incorrect remarks place him at risk of eviction. In crisis, he summons his former adversary, Sir Humphrey Appleby, for assistance. Yet his true sparring partner is not Appleby but Hacker’s young care worker, a graduate of his college armed with an unmarketable degree in English and impeccable politically correct credentials. She endures the self absorption of both men with indulgent patience, as the comedy trains its fire largely on their antiquated attitudes. This incarnation of ...

Terence Rattigan worked on his play Man and Boy from 1954 until its first production in 1963. It was intended as a statement of his continued relevance in a British theatre transformed by the arrival of figures such as John Osborne in the late 1950s. Set in the 1930s in the aftermath of the Wall Street crash, the play is a pointed critique of capitalism at its most ruthless. At its centre is Gregor Antonescu, a figure of unrelenting ambition and amoral callousness. Even Patrick Bateman from American Psycho appears to be a rather low-level hustler by comparison. In this current version of Rattigan’s drama, Antonescu is even willing to pimp out his own son. His venal materialism is painted in broad strokes, and Ben Daniels plays the character with an over-the-top energy and swagger, cajoling and conning anyone who stands between him and his goals. His humiliation of the accountant who believes he has uncovered Antonescu's fraud is wonderfully arch, and Leo Wan as David Beeston reca...

Strindberg’s grim meditation on the human condition is wrenching, thought-provoking theatre. Any laughter elicited during its excruciating laying bare of the toxic relationship between the soldier Edgar and his wife, Alice, is more likely a sign of discomfort or the uneasy recognition of home truths than a response born of amusement. The cruel repartee and vicious games which the couple play, and through which they drag the audience’s stand-in, the innocent bystander Kurt, are mesmerising. Equally hypnotic are the deeply layered performances of Will Keen and Lisa Dillon as the combative couple. They hold us in their thrall from the outset and generate an atmosphere electric with tension. The intimate space of the Orange Tree Theatre allows us to register every nuance of the characters’ emotions, and once they have us in their grip, Keen and Dillon never loosen that tension. Both performers are utterly present, and no matter how much the audience may try to resist the emotional torment ...

This splendid revival of Tom Stoppard’s masterpiece is definitely one of this year’s must-see productions. Intellectually demanding yet fizzing with wit, the play is brought vividly to life by a uniformly outstanding ensemble. Seamus Dillane is superb as the rakish tutor Septimus Hodge, delivering a performance of effortless charm and sly intelligence, while Matthew Steer is irresistibly funny as the mock poet/scientist and hapless cuckold Ezra Chater. Isis Hainsworth is luminous as the prodigy Thomasina, blending youthful grace with startling intellectual authority, and Fiona Button is deliciously bold as her mother, the gloriously predatory Lady Croom. Set in both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Arcadia explores how we confront death and search for meaning in our lives. Its title suggests Poussin's pastoral painting with the tombstone in its foreground, et in Arcadia ego . Faced with this existential problem, the play suggests two possible routes to understanding: scienc...

This latest offering from Frantic Assembly once again showcases the company’s distinctive fusion of meticulously choreographed movement and narrative storytelling. Andrzej Goulding’s ingenious set, a towering bank of drawers, allows the two characters, Jess and Robbie, to access the memories of their relationship. The drawers also function as a kind of climbing wall, powerfully symbolising the emotional labour involved in forging a connection, along with the trust and reliance required to create and sustain their bond. In moments of discord, the act of climbing subtly reflects shifting power dynamics and the fragile nature of their interdependence. Anna Jordan’s script offers a broadly familiar exploration of the trials and tribulations of intimacy, but it is significantly elevated by the production’s inventive staging and kinetic movement. Jess, engagingly portrayed by Hannah Sinclair Robinson, is an outgoing extrovert who thrives on socialising with friends, while Rob, sensitively in...

The Rat Trap , written in 1918, when Noël Coward was just eighteen, marks the debut of a remarkably precocious playwright. While flashes of Coward’s characteristic wit are evident, the play lacks the polish, elegance, and structural assurance of his later work. With its social critique, the four-act play also suggests the influence of Ibsen, particularly A Doll’s House , but it comes across as somewhat laboured. Sheila and Keld are both writers, bound together by affection but also by a keen streak of rivalry. When they decide to marry, Sheila’s flatmate Olive, probably a stand-in for Coward, warns the bride-to-be against sacrificing her creative ambitions to the demands of marriage. Olive’s warning proves prophetic. As Keld’s career flourishes and his philandering becomes more apparent, tensions escalate. The couple quarrel over work, fidelity, and their marital roles, until Sheila finally leaves. Coward’s critique of the restrictive and unrealistic expectations brought to marriage is...

The novel and film American Psycho were a satire on the superficiality and materialism of young financial professionals in New York City in the 1980s. The musical adaptation premiered at the Almeida Theatre in 2013 under its then new artistic director, Rupert Goold, and it now returns as his final production before leaving the post. With a second Trump term underway, this story of over-polished surfaces concealing a psychotic killer utterly devoid of values takes on a renewed and deeply ironic resonance. It is easy to read the central character, Patrick Bateman, as representative of America itself. References to Trump and other cultural icons within the 1980s setting enrich the parody and prompt the audience's knowing laughter which is sharpened by hindsight. The values of the Reagan era can be seen as inevitably leading to the current state of American politics. The production is beautifully choreographed by Lynne Page and superbly acted throughout. Arty Froushan is suitably slim...

Sarah and her partner Alix have just moved into a new home and are on the verge of beginning their life together when Sarah is confronted with a box left to her by her guardian, Aunt Betty. Estranged from her aunt, she initially has no desire to open this window on her past. However, encouraged by Alix, she eventually opens it. The taped reminiscences she discovers transform both her understanding of the past and her plans for the future. Aunt Betty’s reflections on the music of America’s Appalachian Valley intertwine with the histories of the women in their family. Ballads from 17th-century Scotland travel to 18th-century Northern Ireland and evolve as they arrive in the New World. Yet the truths they carry endure, along with the complex emotions and responsibilities surrounding motherhood across three generations of women. Ballad Lines brilliantly captures the emotional depth and evolving dilemmas these women face. Frances McNamee delivers a luminous performance as Sarah, and Rebecc...

The art of mime has deep theatrical roots in France, evolving from commedia dell’arte and 19th-century pantomime into a modern form centred on gesture, silence, and physical storytelling. In the 20th century, Marcel Marceau elevated mime to international prominence through his character Bip and his poetic, wordless exploration of human emotion. At the same time, filmmaker Jacques Tati brought mimetic comedy to cinema, using precise physicality and keen observation to satirise modern life through his iconic Monsieur Hulot. This tradition is closely linked to silent film comedy, where meaning is carried through movement rather than speech. Like Marceau and Tati, silent-era figures such as Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton relied on gesture, timing, and physical invention to convey character and emotion, revealing a shared visual language of humour and poetry beyond words. The Compagnie Le Fils du Grand Réseau continues this lineage by translating French mime and visual comedy into a con...

In 1936, Oswald Mosley and his British Union of Fascists planned to march through a working-class, multicultural area of East London that was home to many Jewish and immigrant families. When they entered the area they were met with unexpected resistance. The musical Cable Street recounts this historic event from the perspectives of three families: the Scheinbergs, the Kennys and the Williams. Aspiring Jewish boxer Sammy Scheinberg and Irish communist Mairead Kenny lead the opposition to the BUF march, while the unemployed and disaffected Ron Williams becomes involved on the other side of the conflict. The story is framed by a present-day tourist tour of Cable Street, led by Sammy’s nephew and followed by Mairead’s daughter. The characters in Cable Street are fairly one-dimensional, reflecting the polemical nature of the piece, and the cast assumes multiple roles with minimal costume changes and some gender-blind casting, which can occasionally cause confusion. Despite these limitati...

Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women is the heartwarming story of four sisters growing up during the American Civil War. The siblings are the responsible Meg, gentle Beth, ambitious Amy and the irrepressible Jo. While taking liberties with the original narrative, this musical adaptation remains focused on Jo’s journey as she reluctantly leaves the safety of childhood and her fairy-tale imagination to embrace adulthood and write about real life. The use of Jo’s melodramatic tale of Rodrigo and his romantic exploits works effectively as a framing device and establishes the central theme, but other elements of the adaptation are less successful. Although the retelling contains several moving songs and memorable moments, it would benefit from firmer editing and clearer structure. The production feels overlong and the storyline lacks focus. The addition of characters such as Fred Vaughn and the reduction of the part of March girls’ father are puzzling choices. In the latter case, it is a shame...

The story of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald is a love affair and a tragedy seemingly made for the stage. He was a brilliant writer who descended into alcoholism and was largely forgotten by the time of his death. She was his muse, and possibly his collaborator, who died in a fire at the asylum where she had finally found some measure of peace. Together, they came to symbolise the Jazz Age, that feverish period of reckless hedonism between the world wars, driven by aimlessness and quiet despair. In Beautiful Little Fool , their story is narrated by their only daughter, Scottie, as she wanders through an archive filled with the remnants of her parents’ lives. One of the challenges of dramatising real people is shaping a narrative that serves a clear purpose while leaving out biographical details that, though intriguing, do not fit thematically. The musical never fully overcomes this challenge. Unnecessary anecdotes, such as the story of Gertrude Stein coining the term “Lost Generation,” appe...

Broken into twelve sections, this comprehensive exhibition traces the parallel careers of two of England’s most important landscape artists with insight and illumination. Emerging from very different backgrounds and approaching their subjects in markedly different ways, J. M. W. Turner and John Constable each occupy a singular place in the British imagination. The exhibition follows the development of their careers, presents outstanding examples of their work, and considers their lasting influence on contemporary artists. While Constable was born into relative privilege and remained deeply rooted in the Stour Valley, Turner was the son of a barber and wig-maker whose restless curiosity led him to travel widely. Both artists were recognised early by the Royal Academy and enjoyed considerable success during their lifetimes. Constable’s devotion to working outdoors is emphasised and set against Turner’s famously chaotic studio practice. Visitors can sense Constable’s pleasure in local fie...

In his 1934 book, the philosopher John Dewey argued that art is experience refined in the fire of imagination. This autobiographical musical traces the journey of young Matthew, who later becomes Levi, and tells the life story of its writer, composer, and leading actor, Levi Kreis. Raised in a rigid, fundamentalist Christian home that refuses to accept his homosexuality, and subjected to years of conversion therapy, Kreis is deeply traumatised by an upbringing marked by an absent father and an overbearing stage mother. The gifted musical prodigy will eventually win a Tony Award, but his unresolved emotional wounds lead him down a destructive path into drugs and adult film making. In this retelling of his story, Kreis confronts his younger self, sensitively portrayed by Killian Thomas Lefevre, and attempts to reconcile with his wounded inner child. He is assisted in this intense psychodrama by his sponsor Ben, portrayed with grounded warmth and quiet authority by Iffy Mizrahi. Like many...

This small yet thoughtful exhibition explores the long-standing connections between two island nations. The relationship between Britain and Hawaiʻi dates back to Captain James Cook’s third voyage in 1778. He became the first European to document contact with the Pacific archipelago and that connection still resonates today, most visibly in the Hawaiian state flag (Ka Hae Hawaiʻi), which continues to display the Union Jack in its top-left corner. This display at the British Museum draws primarily on the museum’s own extensive collections, complemented by judicious loans from other institutions, including the Bishop Museum in Hawaiʻi. It is organised into three main sections: Laying a foundation, Allying kingdoms , and Reshaping relationships . The first section introduces visitors to Hawaiʻi's distinctive art, history, and cultural traditions. The second focuses on the 1824 visit of King Kamehameha II (also known as Liholiho) and Queen Kamāmalu to London, and on their tragic deaths...

Gerry & Sewell presents itself as a theatrical pot o’ scouse. The traditional Tyneside dish, made from whatever meat, bones, or leftovers can be found in the cupboards, is a hearty working-class meal that reflects both Geordie ingenuity and endurance. The play clearly intends to offer a similar tribute to its roots. However, in the production, the disparate elements fail to cohere. The main storyline of the two eponymous protagonists and their shared dream of securing season tickets to their beloved football club is obscured rather than enriched by histories of Gerry’s two sisters, his abusive father, and his suicidal mother. While this material provides background about inheritance, damage, and class survival, it feels simultaneously excessive and underdeveloped. Tonally, the show is also jarring. It shifts rapidly between social realism and broad comedy, with these alternations feeling less like deliberate contrasts and more like unresolved collisions. Dance routines, rapping, a...

Who doesn’t love a good ghost story? In this case, out-of-work voiceover actor George is hired to narrate a chilling tale, only to gradually realise that he may also be living one. Soon, the audience understands that they too are being drawn into the haunting. Jamie Armitage’s clever new work is a smart addition to one of theatre’s oldest genres, and it works quite brilliantly. As George is pulled from the comfort of central London into the desolate sound studio, the audience wearing binaural headphones is similarly drawn into his growing unease. The supernatural story being narrated and the one unfolding around him gradually merge, becoming our own lived experience. It is a neat trick, expertly handled by writer and director Armitage. George’s fear is contagious, and his trauma becomes collective. George Blagden, playing his tormented namesake, holds the audience in thrall with remarkable control. Using only his voice, he conjures both the character’s emotional unravelling and the eer...

When it was first written, the 1952 film High Noon drew much of its force from the then political context and from Gary Cooper’s Oscar-winning performance. Created during the era of McCarthyism by Carl Foreman while he was under scrutiny from the House Un-American Activities Committee, the film’s moral urgency, combined with Cooper’s quiet integrity, helped secure its status as a classic. The tale of a small-town marshal who confronts an anarchic threat to the rule of law struck a deep chord with audiences. In this allegory, Will Kane stands isolated as he faces an approaching tyranny that leaves his fellow citizens paralysed by fear. Set against their timidity and willingness to submit to intimidation or to flee, his resolve appears all the more heroic. Kane’s ordeal is further complicated by the two opposing forces that inform his personal life and underscore his symbolic role as the law. His Quaker wife embodies noble but impractical ideals, grounded in a faith that rejects violenc...