Above all a farce – often I find shows like this rather tediously unfunny, but the humour here was very well-executed, from some slapstick to lewder jokes and pantomime-esque dramatic irony. Roger Allam might as well be playing the same character as he does in Conversations with a Long Marriage (a bumbling yet good-natured upper-middle-class husband to his long-suffering wife) but he does it well.
The Producers
July · ★★☆☆☆
I didn’t think the Nazi satire was funny or clever, just gratuitous, and that made this an uncomfortable watch (in a bad way). The show was in many respects similar to Operation Mincemeat, but at least that had good reason to include Nazis in the first place! I can imagine it would’ve been more boundary-pushing when it was written (the film is from 1967 and the musical adaptation opened in 2001), but for a modern revival I think it’s quite lacking.
Operation Mincemeat
April · ★★★★☆
Entertaining, though very pantomime-like with wholly predictable humour (e.g., the inevitable self-referential lines like “I hope they don’t make a movie of this – or, worse, a musical!”). Lots of patter songs, and quite reminiscent of Gilbert + Sullivan. The characters were extraordinarily shallow (they’d literally sing “their song” telling you their goal & worldview, and that’d be all there was to it), but actors handled impressively many different personas. A very British show I think, and also distinctly patriotic-yet-critical (though the criticism was a bit crudely done; mostly about the public schoolboy to civil servant pipeline).
Our House (Oxford student production)★★★★Waitress ★★★★The Lion King ★★★Company (Oxford student production)★★★★★Hamilton (second time)
BleachersReading Festival (Charli XCX, sombr, RAYE, Fontaines D.C., Dave, Bar Italia, Maisie Peters)Wolf Alice (with The Last Dinner Party)Maisie PetersFlorence + the Machine
2025
Maybe Happy Ending
Broadway · August · ★★★★☆
Made me cry and miss people from back home, but in a way that felt manipulative / using cheat codes for emotions. The plot was very predictable but I guess that’s not really what you go to musicals for; the set was sleek + cleverly done, songs fun/catchy, a bit of dancing too. It does annoy me when they have fake musical instrument playing though (piano here).
Stranger Things: The First Shadow
April · ★★★☆☆
Special effects and soundscape very cool, but plot and script meh – it really is about the spectacle. Was annoying that the actors somewhat frequently slipped out of their US accents back into Estuary English…
The Years ★★★★★Hadestown (second time)Oxford Imps
LordeSam Fender (with Olivia Dean)
2024
Spirited Away
August · ★★★★★
Puppetry + choreography great, and such beautiful fabrics for costumes! Visually (and musically) similar to Totoro even though made by a different production company – they did the soot sprites in the same puppet-y way, plus lots of other soaring animals, and an opening scene with family driving to new home staged identically using a projected rolling landscape behind.
Hadestown
April · ★★★★★
I think in some ways listening to the songs lots beforehand / being attached to them makes the live show less likely to please? I preferred the accents from the original Broadway cast recording, for example. But the volume of the band (and singers) is one great thing about being at theatre.
Standing at the Sky’s Edge
April · ★★★★☆
A pretty good show, but some of the characterisations felt lazy (especially the Londoner-moved-North with posh parents).
The Real Thing ★★Axiom of Choice
2023
Dr Semmelweis
September · ★★★☆☆
Not the best script or acting but some funny sections, and enjoyed the string quartet accompanying.
Groundhog Day
July · ★★★★★
The best thing I’ve seen in a year at least. Full of colour + fun sets + catchy music + clever wordplay (with some very Tim Minchin sections). And gloriously silly dancing.
A Strange Loop
June · ★★☆☆☆
I thought the « ooh, let’s be meta about being a meta-musical about a musical writer» was tiresome and not very cleverly executed (Tick Tick Boom does it much better).
Les Misérables
June · ★★★★☆
I think my familiarity with the music made the show seem less impressive, although the songs were then more tied up with memories, which made it more emotional.
Guys and Dolls
April · ★★★★☆
Great music / costumes / set / choreography; plot was silly in some places (I couldn’t imagine real people making the same decisions as the characters did). But perhaps some suspension of disbelief is needed.
To Kill A Mockingbird
April · ★★★★☆
Very good, though too much shouting at each other in the courthouse, I think.
Hamilton
March · ★★★★★
Enjoyed it a lot, though perhaps less than expected – I’d probably extracted nearly all the pleasure I could get out of the music from listening to the soundtrack, and I roughly knew the visuals from watching on Disney+.
The Pillowman ★The Lehman Trilogy ★★★★My Neighbour Totoro ★★★★★The CrucibleOklahoma!Carmen
Maisie Petersgirl in red
2022
Wuthering Heights
March · ★★★★★
The music and (unexpected) songs were brilliant; I’d happily listen to them again but, alas, no soundtrack recording. The sound reminded me of Hadestown – quite folk-y. Very colourful costumes and beautiful ballet / ballroom / breakdancing fusion! And often very funny.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
February
Great lighting, wonderful puppets, and excellent actors (though rather a lot older than the pre-adolescent characters they were playing). Lots of magic sprinkled throughout – flashes of flame & sparks of lightning, Ursula disappearing into one door and reappearing from another. It really felt like it was capturing the wonder that surrounds you as a young child.
Heathers ★★★★★The Doctor ★★★★Legally Blonde ★★★★SIX ★★★★OrlandoEureka DayPrima Facie (NT Live, at the cinema)Chasing HaresLife of PiThe Handmaid’s TaleLa Bohème