The London Theatre Review

The London Theatre Review

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.

Episodes

August 7, 2025 • 44 secs

Yes we're on a summer break but we need to tell you that our live show at the Royal Court on September 20th at 12pm is selling fast and if you want to buy a ticket you'd better do it sharpish!


The gang will be chatting to Ambika Mod (star of One Day and This Is Going To Hurt) and Royal Court artistic director David Byrne, as well as reviewing two of the hottest shows in London.


For one lunchtime only, LTR will be LIVE!


ht...

Mark as Played

In the big, sexy season finale the gang review Burlesque the Musical at the Savoy Theatre. Are the rumours about its troubled previews true? Susie Miller's new play Inter Alia follows her huge hit Prima Facie, so how does this second play set in the judicial world with a difficult to pronounce Latin title fare? And Jeevan Braich who plays Rusty in the huge production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Starlight Express at the Troubadour Wemb...

Mark as Played
Michael Sheen returns to the National Theatre to reprise his role as NHS founder Aneurin Bevan. Nancy, Nick and Nick give their verdict. They also head to the Globe (Nick Clark narrowly avoided a thorough summer soaking) to see Shakespeare's stupidest play The Merry Wives of Windsor. And Beth Steel, whose fantastic play Til the Stars Come Down has just transferred to the West End, talks to Nick Curtis.

Mark as Played

Zachary Hart from hit play Stereophonic - about a 70s rock band recording their second album - tells Nancy what it's like to play a drug-addicted, alcoholic bass player while also performing live music with the onstage band. He also talks about working with Cate Blanchett in The Seagull.


The gang review the adaptation of Malorie Blackman's seminal book Noughts and Crosses at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, and the transfer of B...

Mark as Played
We've been in the crowds on Argyll Street to watch the balcony scene, and now we've been inside the Palladium too and finally the LTR team are ready to give you their bumpe review of Jamie Lloyd's production of Evita, the show that no one can seem to stop talking or thinking about. Expect strong reactions, disagreements, and loads of superlatives. Janie Dee pops by to talk about her show Beautiful World Cabarets which blends stunni...

Mark as Played
For some reason, Nancy decided to abandon theatre for a few days and instead take to a tent in a field in Somerset for some big music festival...but not before she managed to catch Hercules in the West End, Disney's latest screeen-to-stage adaptation. She and the Nicks give their verdicts, with some cross words about Roman gods and goats' feet. Producer Tim joins the gang to review the Almeida's production of Eugene O'Neill's final...

Mark as Played

Star of His Dark Materials, Luther and so much other stuff, the incredible Ruth Wilson, talks to Nick Curtis about starring in a very little-revived Eugene O'Neill play A Moon For the Misbegotten. She also talks faith, creativity and roles for older women.


Nancy is very excited because the show she saw and adored on Broadway, Stereophonic, has just transferred to the West End. For legal reasons it is very much NOT about Fleetwo...

Mark as Played

Profane rockstars, metaphorical elephants and childish innuendoes - don't say we don't bring the variety on LTR. This week, with Mr Clark away, producer Tim steps in to review Just For One Day the Live Aid musical at the Shaftesbury Theatre alongside Nick and Nancy, as well as Miss Myrtle's Garden at the Bush Theatre. Nick also chats to the very multi-talented Anoushka Lucas - blowaway star of 'sexy' Oklahoma! and Jesus Christ Supe...

Mark as Played
June 8, 2025 • 36 mins
This week the gang review Fiddler on the Roof at the Barbican, The Comedy About Spies at the Noel Coward, and Nick Curtis chats to Heartstopper's Corinna Brown about starring the new production of Malorie Blackman's Noughts and Crosses at the Open Air Theatre.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mark as Played
Imelda Staunton and Bessie Carter (from Bridgerton) take to the stage together in George Bernard Shaw's play Mrs Warren's Profession? How do mother and daughter fare playing mother and daughter? Nick Curtis, Nancy Durrant and Tim Bano review the production at the Garrick Theatre. Plus they head to the Royal Court to see After the Act, a musical about Section 28 which banned the 'promotion of homosexuality' in schools and local auth...

Mark as Played
May 25, 2025 • 31 mins
A cornucopia of corn puns awaits as the gang review hit Broadway musical Shucked! at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, and Slow Horses star Jack Lowden reprises his role in David Ireland's Alcoholics Anonymous play The Fifth Step alongside Martin Freeman. Plus, Kevin McHale, best known for his role as Artie in hit musical TV series Glee, talks to Nick Curtis about playing the assistant to a Greek god in Stephen Sondheim's weird and w...

Mark as Played

For the last time ever, it's a brand new musical from Stephen Sondheim. Here We Are has just opened at the National Theatre, the show Sondheim was working on for almost a decade, and which he finished with writer David Ives and director Joe Mantello just before he died in 2021. Nick, Nick and Nancy give their verdict on the absurdist plight of rich Americans trying to get brunch. Plus, Nick Clark has a chat with Sondheim's biograph...

Mark as Played
May 11, 2025 • 42 mins

After a lovely break, thanks for asking, the gang have taken their seats in the stalls once again to bring you the best (and sometimes the less than best) that London theatre has to offer.


To kick off the new season, it's a Roald Dahl special as Nick, Nick and Nancy review Giant in the West End, an award-winning play starring John Lithgow as Dahl which looks at the fallout of an antisemitic book review written by the children's...

Mark as Played

We've reached the end of the second season, and to celebrate we're dropping a day early with a bumper Olivers special edition so that you can listen to this episode before the Olivier Awards ceremony on Sunday 6th April. As well as insight, analysis and predictions from Nancy and the Nicks, we've also got a chat with special guest THE Billy Porter talking about what we can expect as he co-hosts the awards on Sunday night (there wil...

Mark as Played

The warm, wise and completely wonderful Julie Hesmondhalgh talks to Nancy about playing Joan Scourfield, the woman whose son was killed with a single punch in 2011, in James Graham's incredibly moving play Punch.


And the smell of whiskey and cigar smoke hang in the air as the gang give their views on the West End transfer of Ryan Calais Cameron's play Retrograde, a snappy period thriller in which the actor Sidney Poitier meets a...

Mark as Played

Another iconic 90s movie gets the musical treatment as KT Tunstall and Amy Heckerling turn Clueless into a stage show. Nancy and the Nicks review. And there have been more than 200 adaptations of Bram Stoker's Dracula - but there's always room for one more. The gang visit high-camp comedy Dracula: A Comedy Of Terrors at the Menier Chocolate Factory. Plus, Nancy talks to Tom Burke, currently playing Trigorin in The Seagull at the Ba...

Mark as Played

As Thomas Ostermeier's very starry Seagull hits the Barbican - Cate Blanchett, Tom Burke, Emma Corrin and more! - Nancy and Producer Tim give their opinions. Nick Clark and Nick Curtis join Nancy to review James Graham's devastating play Punch at the Young Vic. And Nancy talks to Ivanno Jeremiah as he prepares to reprise his role as Sidney Poitier in the West End transfer of Ryan Calais Cameron's play Retrograde.


Thanks to Art ...

Mark as Played
March 9, 2025 • 32 mins

The great Brian Cox transforms himself into Johann Sebastian Bach for Oliver Cotton's play The Score at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. Music to our ears, or a bum note? Nick, Nancy and Producer Tim give their views. We've also got a review of the National Theatre production of Michael Abbensetts's seminal play Alterations, set in a tailoring shop in 1970s London, plus Nick Curtis pulls himself away from his poolside holiday to speak ...

Mark as Played

From dashing prince to hopeless king, Jonathan Bailey leaves the world of Wicked behind - for a few months at least - as he takes on one of Shakespeare's trickier tyrants in Richard II at the Bridge Theatre. Nancy, Nick and Nick give their verdicts. Two national treasures hit the Donmar stage this month: Celia Imrie and Tamsin Greig play a mother and daughter dealing with the consequences of a stroke in Anna Mackmin's new play Back...

Mark as Played

Not even Sigourney Weaver could save Jamie Lloyd's The Tempest from its gloom spiral - but Lloyd is back for the second part of his Shakespeare at Drury Lane season with a Marvel special, turning Loki and Agent Carter (well, Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell) into Benedick and Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing. There's confetti. There are balloons. There are 90s club bangers. So is Lloyd's reputation restored? Nick, Nick and Nancy ...

Mark as Played

Popular Podcasts

    I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!

    Dateline NBC

    Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.

    24/7 News: The Latest

    The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.

    The Breakfast Club

    The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!

    The Joe Rogan Experience

    The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.

Advertise With Us
Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.