Steve, Seven Dials Playhouse review - everything’s charming, except the script

Award-winning hymn to Stephen Sondheim leans too heavily on in-jokes

Steven (David Ames) is having a birthday party. He’s invited his closest friends – two of whom have recently started dating their personal trainer, Steve – and his partner, of course: Stephen (Joe Aaron Reid). Their eight-year-old son, Stevie, is being babysat by his grandma. Even the handsome Argentine waiter (Nico Conde) is called Esteban.

Salley Vickers: The Gardener review - nature has other ideas

★★★★ SALLEY VICKERS: THE GARDENER The awful, untameable wildness of other people is at this book's earthy heart

The awful, untameable wildness of other people is at this book's earthy heart

A garden is a space defined by its limits. Whatever its contents in terms of style and species, and however manicured or apparently wild its appearance, what distinguishes a garden from its equivalent quantity of uncultivated land is its enclosure within an uninterrupted border, which might be a wall, a hedge, a fence, or else natural dividers such as streams or woodland.

Cyrano review - a heady cinematic Valentine

★★★★ CYRANO A heady cinematic Valentine

Joe Wright’s impassioned retelling and Peter Dinklage’s ground-breaking star turn distinguish a classic heartbreaker

Edmond Rostand’s familiar story of ventriloquised love becomes a sensual, sacrificial tragedy, in Joe Wright’s heady cinematic Valentine, adapted by screenwriter Erica Schmidt from her own stage musical, with music by members of The National.

Two Billion Beats, Orange Tree Theatre review - bursting with heart

★★★★ TWO BILLION BEATS, ORANGE TREE THEATRE Bursting with heart

Sonali Bhattacharyya's new play explores sisterly love and Islamophobia with warmth and wit

“You could read at home,” says Bettina (Anoushka Chadha), Year 10, her school uniform perfectly pressed, hair neatly styled. “You could be an annoying little shit at home,” retorts her sister Asha (Safiyya Ingar), Year 13, all fire and fury in Doc Martens and rainbow headphones.

Wuthering Heights, National Theatre review - too much heat, not enough light

★★★ WUTHERING HEIGHTS, NATIONAL THEATRE Too much heat, not enough light

Emma Rice's punk-rock reworking of the classic is brilliant - when it's good

“If you want romance,” the cast of Emma Rice’s new version of Wuthering Heights say in unison just after the interval, “go to Cornwall.” They’re using the modern definition of romance, of course – Emily Brontë’s novel is full of the original meaning of "romantic", much wilder and more dangerous than anything Ross Poldark gets up to.

Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Piccadilly Theatre review - spectacular escapism

★★★★ MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL, PICCADILLY THEATRE Spectacular escapism

Baz Luhrmann's jukebox fantasy is the perfect antidote to Covid gloom

One of the many theatrical casualties of Omicron in December was the official UK opening of Moulin Rouge!, the stage version of Baz Luhrmann’s indelible 2001 film that has already racked up 10 Tony Awards for its 2019 Broadway production (albeit in a depleted season).

The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Duke of York's Theatre review - pure theatrical magic

★★★★ THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE, DUKE OF YORK'S THEATRE Spellbinding adaptation of Neil Gaiman's novel

Spellbinding adaptation of Neil Gaiman's novel reminds us of the terror and beauty of childhood

This show has been a long time coming. Neil Gaiman had the first inklings of The Ocean at the End of the Lane when he was seven years old and living near a farm recorded in the Domesday Book. Several decades later, he wrote a short story for his wife, Amanda Palmer, “to tell her where I lived and who I was as a boy”, as he puts it in his programme notes.

Pride & Prejudice* (*sort of), Criterion Theatre review - bursting with wit, verve, and love

★★★★★ PRIDE & PREJUDICE* (*SORT OF), CRITERION THEATRE Bursting with wit, verve & love

Bombastic karaoke adaption of Jane Austen classic gives the spotlight to the servants

“We haven’t started yet!” Hannah-Jarrett Scott, dressed in Doc Martens under a 19th-century shift, reassures us as she attempts to dislodge a yellow rubber glove from a chandelier in the middle of the set of Pride & Prejudice* (*sort of).

Old Bridge, Bush Theatre review - powerful, poetic and profound

New play about love during the Bosnian war is beautifully written and compelling

Is the Bosnian conflict of 1992–95 the war that Europe forgot? Maybe, although most fans of new writing for the British stage will remember its massacres as the inciting incident for Sarah Kane’s 1995 modern classic, Blasted. Certainly, this genocidal struggle in the heart of Europe not only etched its horror on everyone who heard about it, but also continues to inspire drama. The latest story, from British-Bosnian writer Igor Memic, is Old Bridge, which is also his debut.