Theatre reviews for you, by you. If you would like to review for us,
please contact us including a short review of what you have seen recently.

Music and book: Ivor Novello Lyrics: Alan Melville Book adaptation: Richard Stirling Director/Choreographer: Stewart Nicholls Reviewer: Lucy Thackray The Public Reviews Rating: Gay’s the Word was Ivor Novello’s last musical, following a stellar acting and writing career boasting hit show Perchance to Dream and, of course, his catalogue of nationally treasured songs such as Keep the Home Fires [...]

Director Louise Hill trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School before achieving success at the Finborough Theatre with sell-out revivals of two neglected J.M. Barrie plays, What Every Woman Knows and Quality Street, for which she was nominated for an Off West End Award. She tells Catherine Love about her career and why she is [...]

Director: Martin M. Bartelt Writer: Rebecca Peyton Reviewer: Antoinette Stott The Public Reviews Rating: On stage with only a chair, table and water, stands Rebecca Peyton, she smiles at us takes a breath and then delivers a hugely personal journey. On the 9th February 2005 Kate Peyton, BBC Producer and big sister to Rebecca Peyton, died while on [...]

In the second installment of this new series, Lucy Thackray meets Neil McPherson, artistic director of the Finborough Theatre. Neil McPherson is all about balance. He is refreshingly upfront about his limitations  – “I’ve tried directing and I have no interest in it whatsoever; I have an actor’s mind, so I sit there thinking ‘I [...]

Writer: Iain Finlay Macleod Director: Jacqui Honess-Martin Reviewer: Lucy Thackray The Public Reviews Rating: The Finborough is somewhat of a cave of wonders for fringe theatre; you venture through the seductive wine bar, up the windy stairs and into a studio which always looks and feels different to your previous visit (though this could be down to the [...]

Director: Gareth Machin Writer: Sally Woodcock Reviewer: Sarah Nutland The Public Reviews Rating: Fanta Orange gives you a snippet of life today in Africa as we follow English girl Ronnie on her research trip to Kenya, as she investigates dirt eating communities. She meets Roger, who we aren’t sure is she loves or not, but she saves him [...]

Writer: St John Ervine Director: Sam Yates Reviewer: Catherine Love The Public Reviews Rating: Religious divides and love against the odds are the timeless themes married up in St John Ervine’s searing 1911 drama, another of the neglected works dusted off and polished up at the Finborough Theatre. Ervine’s star-crossed lovers are Protestant Hugh Rainey (a compelling Christopher [...]

In this new series from The Public Reviews, we profile the creative brains and rising stars behind great British theatre. By Lucy Thackray   I meet director Thom Southerland, fresh from his triumph with Parade at the Southwark Playhouse, at the Cockpit Theatre in Marylebone, just two days after the show closes. He is there [...]