Broken Wings, Charing Cross Theatre review - new musical fails to fly

Plodding book detailing a poet's sentimental education falls flat on stage

Somewhere in the world right now, one can hear Mister Mister's AOR hit, "Broken Wings" on an MOR radio station, capturing mid-Eighties synth pop perfectly. Few listeners will know that its inspiration is a 1912 autobiographical novel by Lebanese-American poet, Kahlil Gibran. A source that worked for a four-minute pop song has now been extended by two hours and made into a West End musical. Stranger ideas have worked – unfortunately, this one doesn't.

The Forest, Hampstead Theatre review - puzzling world premiere from Florian Zeller

★★★ THE FOREST, HAMPSTEAD THEATRE Puzzling world premiere from Florian Zeller

The author of 'The Father' plays unsatisfying games with the audience

If Florian Zeller isn’t a Wordle fan, I’d be very surprised. As with the hit online game, the French playwright likes to offer up a puzzle for the audience to solve, clue by clue, before the curtain falls.

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.

Force Majeure, Donmar Warehouse review - fissures in a marriage

★★★ FORCE MAJEURE, DONMAR WAREHOUSE Too many easy laughs in ski-resort trauma

Ski-resort trauma is played too much for easy laughs

It sounds like the title of a play by Rattigan. No such luck: “Force Majeure” – a legal term with which all too few will be familiar, in which circumstances beyond anyone’s control cancel a contract – is how Ruben Östlund’s 2014 film Turist is known beyond Sweden (an American remake with Will Ferrell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, not good by all accounts, has much the best title, Downhill).

A Hero review - a morality tale with no firm conclusions

★★★ A HERO A morality tale with no firm conclusions

Asghar Farhadi's new film explores a weak man's selfless act, but there's not enough at stake

A Hero, set in the ancient city of Shiraz in southwest Iran, revolves around Rahim (Amir Jadidi), a weak man with gleaming white teeth and a permanent smile.
 
He’s on leave from prison for the weekend, an odd concept in itself, as there are no restrictions to his movements and the whole set-up seems surprisingly lax and polite for what we might expect from an Iranian jail.

Habeas Corpus, Menier Chocolate Factory review - grappling with Alan Bennett's anti-farce

★★★ HABEAS CORPUS, MENIER CHOCOLATE FACTORY Grappling with Alan Bennett's anti-farce

Has director Patrick Marber boobed this time?

In his 1973 play Habeas Corpus, now revived at the Menier Chocolate Factory under the direction of Patrick Marber, Alan Bennett had his way with the venerable Whitehall farce.

Hope review - brilliance and honesty from Norwegian director Maria Sødahl

★★★★★ HOPE Brilliance and honesty from Norwegian director Maria Sødahl

Dealing with a cancer diagnosis: no sentimentality and superb performances

The story of a woman with lung cancer that has metastasised to the brain is based on Norwegian director Maria Sødahl's own experience, which is a hopeful sign in itself. But you take nothing for granted in this honest, beautiful movie, which never strays into sentimental terminal-romance territory and is shot by Lars von Trier's regular DP Manuel Alberto Claro,

Straight White Men, Southwark Playhouse review - an exciting Korean-American playwright arrives in the UK

★★★★ STRAIGHT WHITE MEN, SOUTHWARK PLAYHOUSE Hilarious and probing satire

Hilarious and probing satire from Young Jean Lee

The Korean-American writer Young Jean Lee’s Straight White Men, currently enjoying its UK debut at Southwark Playhouse, is presented within a frame that cleverly and radically alters what’s inside it.