All stories by Arifa Akbar on BroadwayStars

Wednesday, July 30, 2025

Extraordinary Women review – madcap musical of bohemian Bloomsbury bed-hopping by Arifa Akbar

Jermyn Street Theatre, LondonThe fictional island of Sirene is home to a tangled web of lovers in this fun and frolicking adaptation of Compton Mackenzie’s novel featuring a fantastic cast…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:24AM
Tuesday, July 29, 2025

Maiden Voyage review – women’s round-the-world sailing musical runs aground by Arifa Akbar

Southwark Playhouse Elephant, LondonHollering songs, cartoonish characters and dire dialogue mar this well-intentioned true story of the first all-female crew to attempt the Whitbread ocean …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:32AM
Sunday, July 27, 2025

Brixton Calling review – tender portrait of an iconic venue and the unsung hero who built it by Arifa Akbar

Southwark Playhouse Borough, LondonAlex Urwin’s warm drama tells the story of Simon Parkes who at just 23 bought the Brixton Academy for a pound and turned it into a mainstay of the UK mus…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:12PM
Friday, July 25, 2025

Top Hat review – ravishing musical taps immaculately off the silver screen by Arifa Akbar

Chichester Festival theatreTwinkly eyed Phillip Attmore and silky-singing Lucy St Louis have natural chemistry in this stylish, witty adaptation of the mistaken identity drama It looks like …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:48AM
Wednesday, July 23, 2025

‘What if everyone didn’t die?’ The queer, Pulitzer-winning, happy-ending Hamlet by Arifa Akbar

James Ijames was told Shakespeare wasn’t for the likes of him. Yet his Hamlet revamp electrified Broadway and scooped up Tony nominations. As Fat Ham hits the UK, he talks violence, vengea…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:48PM

The Winter’s Tale review – Bertie Carvel is chilling as the RSC ramps up the thrills by Arifa Akbar

Royal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonYaël Farber’s production manages the problem play’s shift from dark to light well, but is often opaque in meaning Male sexual jealousy driv…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:36AM
Tuesday, July 22, 2025

Burlesque: The Musical review – Christina Aguilera movie gets a gloriously ‘dirrty’ makeover by Arifa Akbar

Savoy theatre, LondonThis adrenalised adaptation of the 2010 film is stuffed with superb voices and sensational moves What a tremendous breath of fresh air. Amid the indefatigable rise of mo…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:42PM

Out, damned shot! Macbeth becomes a cutthroat netball musical at Edinburgh fringe by Arifa Akbar

Lady Macbeth Played Wing Defence combines comedy, songs and athleticism as a young netball player reckons with her own ambitions against an electro-pop score A spate of Macbeths will hit the…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:36AM
Sunday, July 20, 2025

Sing Street review – uplifting songs and strong voices lift 80s Dublin-set musical by Arifa Akbar

Lyric Hammersmith, LondonThe stage version of John Carney’s film stays bright-eyed despite the darker turns in this tale of teenage pop, poverty and fractious families This stage adaptatio…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:48AM
Friday, July 18, 2025

The Estate review – Adeel Akhtar is unmissable as ferociously ambitious MP by Arifa Akbar

Dorfman theatre, LondonShaan Sahota’s play sets a British-Sikh politician’s schemes against his family betrayal – a tremendous debut from a writer of huge promise Adeel Akhtar has beco…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:18AM
Thursday, July 17, 2025

Poor Clare review – sassy spin on a medieval saint asks pithy questions by Arifa Akbar

Orange Tree theatre, LondonCasting two Netflix stars in this funny and astute modernisation of the life of Saint Clare of Assisi shows that the gulf between rich and poor never changes Chiar…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:06AM

The Railway Children review – a real steam train is the spectacular star by Arifa Akbar

Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, West Yorkshire Stupendous set design brings E Nesbit’s children’s classic to new life as a wealthy Anglo-Indian family is forced to adjust to reduced…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:54AM
Tuesday, July 1, 2025

Evita review – Rachel Zegler is phenomenal but Jamie Lloyd’s rock show drowns out the story by Arifa Akbar

London PalladiumZegler excels as Eva Perón and the crowds outside are used to capture the hypnotic appeal of populism but the narrative takes a backseat in his staging of Andrew Lloyd Webbe…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:12PM
Sunday, June 29, 2025

A Woman Alone review – a stylised portrait of contemporary financial precarity by Arifa Akbar

Malta festival, PolandThis updating of Agnieszka Holland’s 1981 film about a struggling single mother suggests life under capitalist consumerism is no easier than it was under communism Ag…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:32AM
Friday, June 27, 2025

The Tempest review – drama in the heavens adds real magic to tumultuous tale by Arifa Akbar

Stara Rzeźnia, PoznańThis outdoor offering, part homage and part reimagining of Shakespeare’s text, has visual spectacle, a magnificent score and a cast undeterred by an actual storm Out…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:02AM
Thursday, June 26, 2025

A Moon for the Misbegotten review – even Ruth Wilson can’t redeem this long night by Arifa Akbar

Almeida theatre, LondonRebecca Frecknall’s usually bold directorial hand seems stilled in a glacially paced revival co-starring Michael Shannon and David Threlfall Rebecca Frecknall has gi…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:32AM
Tuesday, June 24, 2025

Hercules review – Disney musical is fun, finely sung but not quite fit for the gods by Arifa Akbar

Theatre Royal Drury Lane, LondonLuke Brady is the hero navigating between godliness and humanness in a show that’s big on booming numbers yet short on emotion Four years ago, Disney brough…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:54PM
Sunday, June 22, 2025

The Ministry of Lesbian Affairs review – exuberant musical drama wriggles its way into your heart by Arifa Akbar

Kiln theatre, LondonIman Qureshi’s play starts as a good, old-fashioned underdog story before exploring sexuality, homophobia and trans identity A group of women convene around a piano in …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:18AM
Friday, June 20, 2025

54.60 Africa review – a freewheeling, weeklong tour around the continent by Arifa Akbar

Arcola theatre, LondonOn a quest to visit all 54 African nations, a band of travellers explore personal, political and social history – but it can be hard to work out what’s happening Th…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:32AM
Thursday, June 19, 2025

4.48 Psychosis review – bared anguish and delicate detail in Sarah Kane’s final play by Arifa Akbar

Royal Court theatre, LondonKane’s emotionally unswerving gifts as a writer are on full display in a 25th-anniversary production reuniting the original cast What must it have felt like to w…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:32AM
Sunday, June 15, 2025

Anna Karenina review – Tolstoy’s tragedy fizzes with theatrical brilliance by Arifa Akbar

Chichester Festival theatreNatalie Dormer is exceptional in the title role with Phillip Breen’s clever production reflecting the full scope of the novel’s ambition The stampede of acto…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:36AM
Thursday, June 12, 2025

Storehouse review – an exasperating wander through the internet’s ‘arkive’ by Arifa Akbar

Deptford Storehouse, LondonWhile Liana Patarkatsishvili’s gargantuan immersive show looks spectacular, too many ideas are thrown about without being tethered to a story The disused warehou…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:12PM
Tuesday, June 10, 2025

Stars: An Afrofuturist Space Odyssey review – mission to Planet Orgasm by Arifa Akbar

Brixton House, LondonMojisola Adebayo’s play deftly navigates light and heavy subject matter as its hero embarks on a quest to feel the earth move Do not underestimate the gravity of the m…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:42AM

From Hadestown to Hercules: ancient myths are the gods’ gift to musicals by Arifa Akbar

Newly arrived in the West End, Disney’s demigod is the latest mythological A-lister to knock out showtunes. Why are deities such as Hermes and the ‘half-blood’ Percy Jackson having a m…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:36AM
Sunday, June 8, 2025

Changes review – secrets, blackmail and lightning fast role-juggling by Arifa Akbar

Teatro Carlo Goldoni, VeniceIn an extraordinary theatrical feat, two agile actors play 23 characters populating the seemingly ordinary working day of a central couple A day in the life of a …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:36AM

No Title (An Experiment) review – Willem Dafoe’s return to avant garde theatre is oddly banal by Arifa Akbar

Tese dei Soppalchi, VeniceBetween smashing glasses and reading conceptual index cards, Dafoe and Simonetta Solder neglect to locate this two-hander’s drama – or its heart Long before Wil…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:36AM

The Potato Eaters review – a descent from visceral dread into full-blown terror by Arifa Akbar

Lazzaretto Vecchio, VeniceOn the site of a hospital for leprosy patients, audience members are invited to wander in near darkness among twitching body bags into a choreographed scene of ritu…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:32AM
Wednesday, June 4, 2025

In Praise of Love review – secrets and lies circle a family on the brink by Arifa Akbar

Orange Tree theatre, LondonAmelia Sears’ production of Terence Rattigan’s knotted drama contains warmth – and love – beneath the disappointments of married life Terence Rattigan dist…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:48AM
Tuesday, June 3, 2025

Letters from Max review – rich reflections on life, death and nothingness from a poet who died at 25 by Arifa Akbar

Hampstead theatre, LondonSarah Ruhl’s stage adaptation of the book she wrote with her former student Max Ritvo, who died of cancer at 25, is smartly written if emotionally distant Sarah Ru…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:54AM
Sunday, June 1, 2025

This Is My Family review – cuddly comedy on a soggy camping holiday by Arifa Akbar

Southwark Playhouse Elephant, LondonTim Firth’s 2013 musical about domestic dysfunction and redemption seems a little twee by today’s standards but the songs and sentimental ending will …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:18PM
Friday, May 30, 2025

Application 39 (for the 2048 Gaza Summer Olympics) / Return to Palestine review – witness more than theatre by Arifa Akbar

★★★★☆ / ★★★★★Theatro Technis, LondonPainful yet joyous and with pitch-black humour, these plays are as good as testimonies to the horrors happening in Gaza, capturing imm…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:06AM