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Theatre Bee Reviews
Reflections on the latest plays and musicals at the West End, Off West End and fringe.
Theatre Bee
9 hours ago6 min read
Review of The Little Foxes at Young Vic: The Endearing and Evergreen Allure of Venomous Family Ties
Rated 🍯🍯🍯🍯 Cast of The Little Foxes at curtain call at the Young Vic What is a family if not a web of lies and deceit? Lillian...
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Theatre Bee
Jan 153 min read
Four Steve Coogans walk into a War Room...
No, it’s not the start of a bad joke—it’s Dr. Strangelove (rated 🍯🍯🍯 by yours truly), where nuclear apocalypse has never been so...
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Theatre Bee
Jan 143 min read
Review of The Tempest at Theatre Royal Drury Lane: Flat, Strange, and Somehow Still Enchanting
Rated 🍯🍯🍯 Sigourney Weaver plays Prospero in The Tempest at London’s Theatre Royal Drury Lane. For much of the play, Sigourney...
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Theatre Bee
Nov 23, 20248 min read
Review of Juno and the Paycock at the Gielgud Theatre: A Playful Buffoon, a Fraught Family, and the Quiet Collapse of Dreams
Rated 🍯🍯🍯🍯 Overview: A Snapshot of a Dying Dublin Sean O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock immerses us in the cramped, grimy tenement...
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Theatre Bee
Nov 12, 202410 min read
Review of Wolves on Road at the Bush Theatre, and An Expasperated Bee's Manifesto Against Digital Snake Oil
Rated 🍯🍯🍯🍯 Wolves on Road at the Bush Theatre is a production that practically vibrates with intensity. The bee was glued to its...
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Theatre Bee
Nov 9, 20244 min read
Stampin’ in the Graveyard at The Cockpit
Rated 🍯🍯🍯 Stampin’ in the Graveyard at The Cockpit is, at its heart, a fragmented exploration of memory, love, and loss. Billed as an...
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Theatre Bee
Nov 2, 20245 min read
The Month in Theatre: October's Winners and November Watchlist
October: A Month of Power, Manipulation, and Ghostly Affairs October unfurled like a dark, twisted fable, with standout productions that...
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Theatre Bee
Nov 1, 20243 min read
Finding Wonder in Waiting for Godot at Theatre Royal Haymarket
Rated 🍯🍯🍯🍯🍯 If there ever was a play the bee would rather leave its readers to discover alone, it’s Waiting for Godot . How fitting...
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Theatre Bee
Oct 31, 20243 min read
Review of The Other Place at the National Theatre: Hauntingly Ambiguous or Frustratingly Elusive?
Rated 🍯🍯 Alexander Zeldin’s The Other Place at the National Theatre is a rivetingly complex piece, a play so steeped in ambiguity that...
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Theatre Bee
Oct 30, 20246 min read
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: A Review of Coriolanus at the National Theatre
Rated 🍯🍯🍯🍯 Theatre Bee is abuzz with intrigue and irony after Lyndsey Turner’s starkly monumental Coriolanus at the National Theatre,...
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Theatre Bee
Oct 19, 20245 min read
A Face in the Crowd at the Young Vic: A reckoning with the monster we made, Part 2 of 3
This is part 2 of a series of reflections triggered by the musical, A Face in the Crowd, playing at the Young Vic Theatre. Less review...
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Theatre Bee
Oct 19, 20243 min read
The Allure of the Entertainer: Introducing A Face in the Crowd at the Young Vic, Part 1 of 3
This is part 1 of a series of reflections triggered by the musical, A Face in the Crowd, playing at the Young Vic Theatre. Less review...
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Theatre Bee
Oct 18, 20244 min read
Review of The Duchess of Malfi at Trafalgar Theatre: Madness and Majesty in Twisted Turmoil
Rated 🍯🍯🍯🍯 Zinnie Harris’ adaptation of The Duchess of Malfi at the Trafalgar Theatre is a thrilling, fast-paced spectacle that...
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Theatre Bee
Oct 13, 20245 min read
Review of The Forsyte Saga Part 1 at Park Theatre: Beauty in a Cage, Obsession on Repeat
Currently running at the Park Theatre, The Forsyte Saga unfolds in two parts, offering audiences a sweeping exploration of love, power,...
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Theatre Bee
Oct 11, 20246 min read
Review of One of the Boys at Playground Theatre: A Poignant Piece on the Limitations of Performative Feminism
Rated 🍯🍯🍯🍯 One of the Boys by Tim Edge, currently running at The Playground Theatre, is a sharp and compact exploration of the...
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Theatre Bee
Oct 8, 20243 min read
The Month in Theatre: Theatre Bee’s October Watchlist
October has somehow turned into the month of historical plays for the bee. Juicy period pieces on power, societal manipulation,...
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Theatre Bee
Sep 22, 20246 min read
Review of The Real Thing at The Old Vic: Unraveling an Impossible Equation
Rated 🍯🍯🍯 This is the final piece in a three-part series of reflections (here are Part 1 and Part 2 ) on Tom Stoppard’s The Real...
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Theatre Bee
Sep 21, 20245 min read
Thoughts on The Real Thing at The Old Vic: What is Henry's 'real' real thing? Part 2 of 3
This is the second in a series of reflections on Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing, which the bee recently had the pleasure of watching at...
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Theatre Bee
Sep 19, 20246 min read
Thoughts on The Real Thing at The Old Vic: What is Annie's 'real' real thing? Part 1 of 3
This is the first in a series of reflections on Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing, which the bee recently had the pleasure of watching at the...
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Theatre Bee
Aug 27, 20246 min read
Hadestown at the Lyric Theatre, Part 3 of 3: Missed Opportunities and Unanswered Questions
This is the third essay in a three-part series of highly subjective, opinionated and personal reflections of your faithful bee on the...
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Theatre Bee
Aug 26, 20244 min read
Hadestown at the Lyric Theatre, Part 2 of 3: A Missed Opportunity for Contrast
This is the second in a three-part series of highly subjective, opinionated and personal reflections of your faithful bee on the...
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Theatre Bee
Aug 25, 20244 min read
Hadestown at the Lyric Theatre, Part 1 of 3: When a Blank Slate Reveals the Cracks
This is the first in a three-part series of highly subjective, opinionated and personal reflections of your faithful bee on the...
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Theatre Bee
Aug 23, 20245 min read
Slave Play at Noël Coward Theatre: The Bee’s Reflections on a Bizarre and Unsettling Experience
Slave Play , written by Jeremy O. Harris, is a provocative exploration of race, power, and intimacy. It revolves around three interracial...
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Theatre Bee
Aug 18, 20243 min read
Review of I Love to Fly at the Little Angel Theatre: A Soaring Satire on the Human Condition
Rated 🍯🍯🍯🍯🍯 I Love to Fly is a play in pursuit of laughter - and something more Set in the unassuming and transitional space of an...
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Theatre Bee
Jun 2, 20243 min read
Five Shows Eliciting Standing Ovations in London this Summer
That thrilling, spontaneous, collective burst of appreciation that signals an extraordinary performance! Recently, the bee experienced...
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Theatre Bee
Jun 1, 20243 min read
People, Places, and Things at Trafalgar Theatre: Asks Uncomfortable Questions with Aplomb
Rated 🍯🍯🍯🍯 The bee recently attended a performance of People, Places, and Things at Trafalgar Theatre and found it to be an...
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Theatre Bee
May 26, 20247 min read
A Riveting Revival: "A View from the Bridge" at Theatre Royal Haymarket
Rated 🍯🍯🍯🍯🍯 This one is the bee’s best play of the year (so far). Arthur Miller’s "A View from the Bridge" is a timeless exploration...
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Theatre Bee
May 20, 20243 min read
Review of Cold Water at Park Theatre: Mentorship and melancholy make for an emotional tsunami
Rated 🍯🍯🍯🍯🍯 A Play within a Play within a Play The bee ventured to the Park Theatre last week to catch an intriguing production of...
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Theatre Bee
Apr 25, 20243 min read
Review of Machinal at the Old Vic: A Suffocating Symphony of Existential Despair
Rated 🍯🍯🍯🍯 From the moment the curtain rises on "Machinal" at the Old Vic, the audience is thrust into an intensely claustrophobic...
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Theatre Bee
Apr 23, 20245 min read
Review of The Hills of California at Harold Pinter Theatre: Butterworth delivers another masterpiece
Rated 🍯🍯🍯🍯🍯 A layered family drama set in the scorching summer of 1976 in Blackpool,” The Hills of California," plunges into the...
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Theatre Bee
Mar 22, 20242 min read
A Triptych of Trials: Navigating the Opera, A Rock Saga, and Teenage Scheming
In the grand tapestry of London's theatre scene, it's not every day that one finds shows that leave you with mixed feelings—a little like...
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Theatre Bee
Mar 21, 20244 min read
Review: Navigating the Murky Waters of 'Blue' at the Seven Dials Playhouse
Rated 🍯🍯🍯 At its core, "Blue" stages an intense confrontation between Los Angeles Police Detective LaRhonda Parker and an officer...
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Theatre Bee
Mar 8, 20243 min read
A Beginner's Guide to the English National Opera's The Barber of Seville at London Coliseum
Rated 🍯🍯🍯🍯 Navigating the opulent corridors of the opera for the first time can feel like stepping onto an alien planet where the...
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Theatre Bee
Feb 13, 20243 min read
Review of Metamorphosis at Lyric Theatre - A Haunting Exploration of the Human Condition
Rated 🍯🍯🍯🍯🍯 As the bee ventured into a spine-chilling adaptation of Franz Kafka’s novel, Metamorphosis, at Lyric Hammersmith, it...
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Theatre Bee
Feb 5, 20244 min read
Review of The King and I at Dominion Theatre - Contrasts and conundrums captivate the stage
Rated 🍯🍯🍯 After a splendid evening at London's Dominion Theatre, the bee is buzzing with myriad thoughts and reflections on The King...
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Theatre Bee
Feb 2, 20244 min read
High Stakes at the Dominion: The Bee's Lavish Leap into 'The King and I
In an unprecedented move that's sure to send shockwaves through the corridors of the London theatre scene, the bee has splurged on a...
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Theatre Bee
Feb 1, 20243 min read
Review of LIFE at St Martin-in-the-Fields: Where Light Shapes Thought
Rated 🍯🍯🍯🍯 In the heart of London, St. Martin-in-the-Fields church hosts an immersive experience titled 'Life'. This installation,...
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Theatre Bee
Oct 23, 20232 min read
Review of The Boy at Soho Theatre - Just beautiful
Rated 🍯🍯🍯🍯 A Man, a Boy, and a Woman grapple with the abyss of loss. Themes of migration, identity, and the quest to belong come...
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Theatre Bee
Jun 22, 20232 min read
Review of The Return of Benjamin Lay at Finborough Theatre - Povinelli triumphs as Lay
Rated 🍯🍯🍯 Staged at the distinguished Finborough Theatre in London, The Return of Benjamin Lay made its debut last week. Despite the...
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Theatre Bee
Jun 21, 20232 min read
Review - these words that’ll linger like ghosts till the day i drop down dead - Pleasance Theatre
Rated 🍯🍯🍯🍯 From the very first moments, these words that’ll linger like ghosts till the day I drop down dead presents itself as a...
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Theatre Bee
Jun 21, 20232 min read
Review of Blueprints at Pleasance - Evocative, poignant and so pertinent for the AI age
Rated 🍯🍯🍯 A heartrending exploration of the age-old question, "what if we could predict our children's future?", the play Blueprints...
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Theatre Bee
Jun 15, 20234 min read
Review of Stinkpioneer at Drayton Arms - A riveting tale of the cognitive trenches of World War I
Rated 🍯🍯🍯🍯 Stinkpioneer is about the chemical warfare from the trenches in World War I...and more Stinkpioneer, currently playing at...
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Theatre Bee
Jun 12, 20232 min read
Review of Snakehead at The Hope Theatre - Predictable yet powerfully poignant
Rated 🍯🍯🍯 Aptly titled, "Snakehead" weaves a cautionary tale of naivety and exploitation set against an original musical backdrop. The...
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Theatre Bee
Jun 10, 20232 min read
Review of Idiots Assemble: Spitting Image The Musical - So funny. Just so funny.
Rated 🍯 🍯🍯🍯🍯 Spitting Image: The Musical, currently playing at the Phoenix Theatre in London, is a hilarious satirical take on...
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Theatre Bee
Jun 9, 20233 min read
Review of Patriots at the Noël Coward Theatre - Stellar cast and excellent execution
Rated 🍯🍯🍯🍯 Patriots, a play set in the tumultuous period of Russian politics in the 1990s, takes the audience on a journey through...
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Theatre Bee
Jun 5, 20232 min read
Review of Dixon and Daughters at the National Theatre - A rare blend of tragedy and comedy
Rated 🍯🍯🍯🍯 Dixon and Daughters, the latest production at the National Theatre, is a captivating and emotionally charged play that...
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Theatre Bee
May 23, 20234 min read
Review of Dismissed at Soho Theatre - A bold, gripping moral quandary for modern times
Rated 🍯🍯🍯🍯 Highly gripping and thought-provoking, Dismissed is a play without a single dull moment An idealistic teacher, Ashley is...
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Theatre Bee
May 17, 20233 min read
Review of Happy Birthday Sunita (on tour) - Funny and chaotic play about a funny and chaotic family
Rated 🍯 🍯 🍯 It's Sunita's birthday and it doesn't look like a happy one The Johals (mom, son, daughter-in-law, and mysterious surprise...
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Theatre Bee
May 3, 20232 min read
Review of I Love You, Now What? at Pleasance Theatre - Absolutely riveting
Rated 🍯 🍯 🍯 🍯 I Love You, Now What? at Pleasance Theatre is a powerful and poignant play that explores the theme of grief with...
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Theatre Bee
Apr 25, 20233 min read
Oklahoma at Wyndham's Theatre - Powerful voices and subtle sensuality uplift an otherwise bland show
Rated 🍯🍯🍯 Oklahoma! the musical playing at Wyndham's theatre is a bold and innovative take on the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein...
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