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Nick, Nick and Nancy are on hand with the latest news, honest reviews and big name interviews from the world of London theatre.
Nancy Durrant is the former Culture Editor of the Evening Standard and before that an arts editor at The Times for many years. She is the creator of The London Culture Edit on Substack and writes across culture for The Times, Sunday Times, Observer, W Magazine, Opera Now and more, and appears regularly on Times Radio and BBC Radio 4 Front Row.
Nick Clark was Head of Culture at The London Standard, covering the cultural landscape in the capital, and was previously features editor of The Stage and the arts correspondent of The Independent.
Nick Curtis is Chief Theatre Critic of The London Standard and has written about theatre since 1989. Also a feature writer, editor and an award-winning interviewer, his work has appeared in most major British newspapers, as well as Radio Times, GQ, Harpers & Queen and Tatler, among others.
Produced by Tim Bano
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
57 Episodes
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With Nancy in Mexico on the trail of Frida Kahlo, producer Tim steps in to join the Nicks as they discuss The Holy Rosenbergs at the Menier Chocolate Factory and Marie and Rosetta @sohoplace. Matt Willis from Busted chats to Nancy about taking on the role of the Emcee in Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, and the Orange Tree Theatre's artistic director Tom Littler answers one listener's question about which plays are chosen for revivals and why. Follow us on Insta and watch us on YouTube @thelondontheatrereview. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Michael Sheen's first production for his new company Welsh National Theatre is Our Town, the classic American play by Thornton Wilder transposed to Wales. Nick, Nick and Nancy give their verdicts. They also visit the Young Vic for Broken Glass, one of Arthur Miller's late plays in which a woman becomes paralysed after reading about the horrors of Kristallnacht. Nick Curtis talks to director Monique Touko about having three plays on simultaneous: Marie and Rosetta, The Boy at the Back of the Class and Jaja's African Hair Braiding. And Bridgerton's Hazel, aka Gracie McGonigal, answers five questions as she stars in Into the Woods as a very bolshy Red Riding Hood. Find us on Instagram and YouTube @thelondontheatrereview. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week the gang review Bird Grove, the George Eliot origin story that nobody was quite sure they needed. How did Mary Ann Evans become one of the most famous novelists of all time? Did she fall in a vat of radioactive acid? Or get bitten by a radioactive spider? No, the answer is much more church-focused. They also visit the Donmar Warehouse for Anna Ziegler's new play Evening All Afternoon about a mother/daughter relationship and functionally extinct rhinos. Mad Men and Billions star Maggie Siff talks to Nick Curtis about playing CS Lewis's lover, the poet Joy Davidman, in Shadowlands at the Aldwych Theatre, and award-winning actress Nancy Carroll answers five questions.Follow us on Instagram and watch us on YouTube @thelondontheatrereview. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The biggest show of the year so far has finally opened, with puns about sucking and biting in full flow. Yes it's Cynthia Erivo's one-woman Dracula, adapted and directed by Kip Williams, in which the Wicked star plays all 23(ish) parts. So as Nick, Nick and Nancy sink their teeth into their review, does it get their blood pumping? Or will they B negative?Downton Abbey and Paddington treasure Hugh Bonneville plays CS Lewis in the West End transfer of Shadowlands. The inimitable Jenna Russell, who brings emotional charge and huge class to every show she stars in, talks to Nick Curtis about The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. And Laurie Kynaston, currently in Terence Rattigan's Man and Boy at the National Theatre, answers five questions. Follow us on Instagram or watch us on Youtube @thelondontheatrereview. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week the gang is talking about walking as they make a pilgrimage to Theatre Royal Haymarket for new musical The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, based on the beloved book by Rachel Joyce with music by Passenger. They also had a dose of daddy issues with Terence Rattigan's little-revived play Man and Boy at the National. Director, writer and theatremaker Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu talked to Nick Curtis about directing the late Chadwick Boseman's play Deep Azure at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse and Andor star Elizabeth Dulau answered five questions. Follow us @thelondontheatrereview on Insta and Youtube. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
A few months on from his death, Tom Stoppard's dazzling play Arcadia comes to the Old Vic and puts the brains of Nancy, Nick and Nick to the test - that's if Mr Clark is able to get across Albert Bridge and make it to the recording on time...Then it's back to the eighties for shell suits, ripped bodies and all kinds of excess - and that's just from the LTR gang - as they review American Psycho The Musical at the Almeida. Plus producer Tim talks to musical theatre icon Keala Settle, whose rendition of This Is Me from The Greatest Showman has been watched and streamed by hundreds of millions of people, about taking a break from musical theatre for the moment to star in her first straight play, Mrs President. She plays Mary Todd Lincoln at the Charing Cross Theatre. And writer Miriam Battye answers five questions. Follow us on Instagram or watch us on YouTube @thelondontheatrereview Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Boo!! This week Nancy and the Nicks are cowering behind their large, slightly warm glasses of chardonnay as they experience the stage adaptation of supernatural horror Paranormal Activity. Two out of three critics were terrified - listen to find out who has nerves of steel. The trio also take in Luke Norris's harrowing play Guess How Much I Love You at the Royal Court, and Nick Curtis talks to Fiona Button, currently starring in one of Tom Stoppard's masterpieces Arcadia at the Old Vic. Plus, Arty Froushan takes a break from murdering people in a well-tailored suit as he plays Patrick Bateman in American Psycho: The Musical and answers our five questions. Follow us on Instagram and watch us on Youtube @thelondontheatrereview. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
With pistols drawn and chaps on, Nancy and the Nicks review the stage version of classic Western film High Noon. It's been adapted by the legendary Hollywood screenwriter Eric Roth (Dune, Benjamin Button, Forrest Gump) and stars Billy Crudup and Denise Gough. Then it's back further into the American past with Oh, Mary!, Cole Escola's ridiculously silly Broadway smash play which very much does not tell the story of Mary Todd Lincoln. She may still be the wife of Abraham in Cole's telling, but she's also an alcoholic and frustrated cabaret star. But no fear, because Nick Clark talks to academic Catherine Clinton who has written a definitive biography of Mary Lincoln to get some of the facts straight. And Nick Curtis catches the brilliant actress Rosie Sheehy in a break from rehearsals for new play Guess How Much I Love You by Luke Norris. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What better way to start the new season than with an absolutely jam-packed episode full of the most exciting things in theatre right now? Nancy, Nick and Nick are back and they are reviewing the mega production of Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods at the Bridge Theatre as well as Alan Ayckbourn's 1986 play Woman in Mind starring Sheridan Smith and Romesh Ranganathan at the Duke of York's. The brilliant Mason Alexander Park has taken on the deranged role of Mary Todd Lincoln in the West End transfer of Cole Escola's Broadway smash hit Oh, Mary! They took time out of drinking paint thinner to talk to Nick Curtis. The extraordinary Denise Gough - Olivier Award winner for her roles in People, Places and Things and Angels In America, currently appearing in High Noon - answers our five questions. And because this is the first episode of the season, and we thought you deserve a treat, we have an extra five questions interviewee, the great Forbes Masson, who is performing in Orphans at the Jermyn Street Theatre. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The latest season of the podcast may be over, but 'tis the season for things like presents and surprises - so here is both! Just in time for Christmas, enjoy this bonus episode in which producer Tim talks to Paddington writer Jessica Swale and Julian Clary slips away from playing King Julian in his panto at the Palladium to answer our five questions. Happy Christmas and thanks for listening this year. The London Theatre Review will return... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Another season of the London Theatre Review comes to an end with a HUGE episode in which we unveil the inaugural London Theatre Review Awards: our pick of the very best shows of the year, the result of long and passionate arguments, to champion the productions, writers and performers that have stayed with us throughout the last twelve months. Find out who the deserving winners are...As if that weren't BIG enough for the season finale, we also review Paddington the Musical, the most hotly anticipated show of the year, which has a lot to live up to given those brilliant film adaptations. AND we take a look at the very first stage adaptation of a John Le Carré novel, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, running at @sohoplace. Plus Nick Curtis managed to sneak in an interview with the very exciting director Jordan Fein who is taking on the Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine musical Into the Woods.And George Blagden answers our five questions with a great story about unfastened trousers.Then that's it for this year. There may be a sneaky surprise Christmas drop but apart from that, you will see The London Theatre Review again in January after we have all stuffed ourselves with mince pies and sherry. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More than a decade after his stupendous production of A View From The Bridge, director Ivo Van Hove returns to Arthur Miller with All My Sons starring Bryan Cranston and Marianne Jean Baptiste. David Eldridge's trilogy of plays about relationships comes to an end with End at the National Theatre. And Nick Clark speaks to Éanna Hardwicke who is about to star in Playboy of the Western World by JM Synge, also at the National - although Nick seems a little more interested in the fact Éanna has just played Roy Keane in a new film, Saipan. Ruby Ashbourne Serkis answers five questions ahead of appearing in Tom Stoppard's play Indian Ink, and Tim pays tribute to Stoppard, whose death was announced this week. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
A bit of a shambles this week as cancellations and illness got in the way of reviews but here, nevertheless, are reviews of the hotly anticipated new musical Coven at the Kiln Theatre about the Pendle Witch Trials and Porn Play at the Royal Court starring Ambika Mod. Paapa Essiedu chats to Nick Curtis about starring in All My Sons alongside Bryan Cranston, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Tom Glynn-Carney and Hayley Squires. And Jackie Clune answers five questions with a great Mamma Mia! mishap. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Nancy Durrant, Nick Clark, and Nick Curtis offer themselves as tributes this week to review The Hunger Games at the new and massive Troubadour Canary Wharf theatre. On the complete other end of the spectrum, and the other side of London, they take in Nancy Farino's debut play Fatherland at Hampstead Theatre's teeny downstairs studio. Nick Clark gets very excited because he talks to the wonderful Saskia Reeves, managing not to talk just about Slow Horses, but also End, David Eldridge's new play which Saskia stars in alongside Clive Owen at the National. And Toby Stephens takes a break from buckling his swash as Captain Hook in Wendy and Peter Pan at the Barbican to answer five questions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Nancy’s back from her holidays to join Nick Curtis and Nick Clark for a packed episode of reviews, interviews, and theatre gossip, including their thoughts on the big reveal of the week: how the Paddington musical is creating the bear live onstage. The team tackle Tom Morris’s starry Othello at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, with David Harewood and Toby Jones, and head to the Park Theatre for Hannah Doran’s debut drama The Meat Kings! (Inc.) of Brooklyn Heights. Plus Nick Curtis chats to Pearl Chanda about playing Hedda Gabler in Tanika Gupta’s bold new adaptation at the Orange Tree, and Hiran Abeysekera answers Five Questions including a brilliant worst moment on stage involving wet underpants (which seems to be becoming something of a theme in this podcast). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
With Nancy away (possibly raving in Ibiza), producer Tim Bano steps into the co-hosting chair alongside Nicks Clark and Curtis for a packed episode. The trio take flight with the RSC’s enchanting Wendy and Peter Pan at the Barbican, and dive into the glossy, satirical world of 1980s privilege in The Line of Beauty at the Almeida. Nick Curtis chats with Andy Nyman about his double West End whammy—starring in The Producers and co-creating Ghost Stories. Plus, Matthew Rhys channels Richard Burton in Five Questions ahead of his one-night-only performance at the Old Vic. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week, the team review Nicola Walker’s searing performance in Nick Payne’s The Unbelievers at the Royal Court, and Kip Williams’ dazzlingly bonkers reimagining of Jean Genet’s The Maids at the Donmar Warehouse. Nick Curtis interviews rising star Jasper Talbot about leading The Line of Beauty at the Almeida, and Tamzin Outhwaite answers five questions from backstage at the Young Vic with a fantastic/terrifying story about the worst thing that's ever happened to her onstage. Plus, a look ahead to the National Theatre’s 2026 season and a quiz about the origins of the Donmar’s name. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week, the team review Samuel D. Hunter’s Clarkston at Trafalgar Theatre, starring Heartstopper’s Joe Locke, and Katherine Moar's gripping Ragdoll at Jermyn Street Theatre based on the trial of Patty Hearst. Nick Clark chats to Kate Phillips about starring in Conor McPherson’s haunting revival of The Weir, and we hear from Munya Chawawa about his inspiring Black Boys Theatre Club. Plus, a double dose of Five Questions from Bridgerton star Yerin Ha, who's currently on stage in The Maids at the Donmar, and director Matthew Xia whose production of The Harder They Come is at Theatre Royal Stratford East. @thelondontheatrereview Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week, the LTR gang dive into Robert Hastie’s fresh and funny Hamlet at the National Theatre, with Hiran Abeysekara as a manic, compelling Prince and Francesca Mills delivering a revelatory Ophelia. Susan Sarandon makes her UK stage debut in Tracy Letts’ Mary Page Marlowe at the Old Vic, but she's matched by Andrea Riseborough and Rosie McEwen in a starry ensemble cast. Nancy chats to David Shields about starring in James Graham’s deeply moving play Punch, now at the Apollo, and the team remember the formidable Patricia Routledge. Plus, five questions with Nathaniel Parker and a Hamlet-themed quiz.Talk to us @thelondontheatrereview on Instagram! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week the gang have been to see The Importance of Being Earnest as it transfers to the West End, with Olly Alexander and Nathan Stewart Jarrett starring alongside Stephen Fry as Lady Bracknell. Plus they catch Rizzle Kicks singer Jordan Stephens in his stage debut in Entertaining Mr Sloane alongside Tamsin Outhwaite at the Young Vic. And Rosy McEwen chats to Nick Curtis about playing alongside Susan Sarandon and Andrea Riseborough in Tracy Letts's play Mary Page Marlowe at the Old Vic. Plus we put five questions to the brilliant Ronkẹ Adékọluẹ́jọ́, who answers them while cooking her tea. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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