Although we are a theatre-going group, we theatreguys often go to the theatre by ourselves or with friends. This is the page where we write about those theatre visits. The latest theatre visits are listed below with earlier years on other pages. ‘Our Rating’ is our opinion; the ‘Group Appeal’ star-rating is our recommendation for our general mixed group. Star ratings are not given in the SelectedPostings section contributed by others. Enjoy, Fredo&Mike
Please use the menu above to find OurReviews in this section; details of current, future and previous bookings in the Bookings section; introductions to upcoming shows in the SettingThe Scene section; news and articles in the News section; our Group’s comments on shows you see in the Selected Postings and Your Comments sections; links to other useful websites in the Links section; and About Us is all about us.
Click here for OurReviews in earlier years –
2025 / 2024 / 2023 / 2022 / 2021 / 2020
READ reviews with pictures for 2026, by the theatreguys (this page) and Group friends (SelectedPostings2026) by clicking on the titles here : Guess How Much I Love You? / High Noon / Woman in Mind / KENREX / Into the Woods / Orphans / When We Are Married / Indian Ink / Top Hat /End
07/02/26 Fredo writes –
Guess How Much I Love You?
By Luke Norris, at the Royal Court Theatre
As we approached the Royal Court, I asked Mike, “Isn’t Guess How Much I Love You? the title of a children’s book?” Indeed it is. Sam McBratney’s much-loved picture book has sold 30 million copies worldwide since it was published in 1994, and you lose parent (or grandparent) Brownie points if you haven’t read it to your children.
It’s referenced very heavily in the almost unbearably moving fourth scene of Luke Norris’s play, when emotional Robert Aramayo tries to finish reading it to his wife, played by Rosie Sheehy. Almost unbearable…but we’d already weathered – just about – the third scene which had reduced a woman sitting behind me to audible sobbing. She wasn’t alone; someone on the other side of the theatre provided stereophonic support.
I only had a vague idea of the subject of the play, something about having a baby, but knew enough to speculate, as with The Years, if any of the performances would be halted because members of the audience were overcome. It didn’t reach that pitch (for which relief, much thanks), but following one of Rosie Sheehy’s blistering outbursts, I heard seats being tilted up as a couple of people left before it became too overwhelming.
Praise first to the two actors. We’re committed members of the Rosie Sheehy fan club. We’ve been impressed by this young Welsh actress every time we’ve seen her (in Oleanna, and most recently in The Brightening Air at the Old Vic) and our admiration increases still. We missed Robert Aramayo in Game of Thrones, so he was new to us when we saw him as the deranged Orde Wingate in the movie Palestine 36. He’s now BAFTA nominated as Best Actor for the movie I Swear. Together they make convincing young parents who enjoy banter – it can easily tip over into raging irritation when unforgivable words are spoken then swept aside because of their love for each other.
Kudos to Luke Norris – yes, the handsome if rather bland Dr Dwight Enys from Poldark – who is a playwright as well as an actor. Every scene in the play is meticulously constructed, drip-feeding us the information we need to understand the development of the characters. I can only guess at the input director Jeremy Herron had in shaping the play on stage, but it looks as though Norris has the instincts of a major dramatist.
To say more of the intensely moving plot would require spoilers when the best experience is to discover more for yourself. It’s brilliantly written and performed, perfectly judged for its Royal Court audience, and flings itself into an emotional turmoil I have not encountered on stage before.
The theatre advised the audience that they could stay in the auditorium at the end of the performance, if they needed a few moments to recover from the impact of the play – a quiet space would be found if needed. We could only marvel at the fact that the actors had given us smiles during their deserved ovation, as they left the stage to prepare for another gruelling performance in the evening.
Our Rating: ★★★★★ / Group Appeal: ★★★★★
Photos: Johan Persson
04/02/26 Mike writes –
High Noon
By Eric Roth, at the Harold Pinter Theatre
The clock hanging high above the stage says 10.20 as the play begins, 100 mins to a a high noon showdown. There’s no interval so the action on stage must hold our attention and then provide the expected shootout. This, of course, is the play of the Western movie from 1952, quite the classic, that had an aging Gary Cooper (51) as the retiring Marshal Will Kane, wooing Grace Kelly (23) as Amy Fowler, a young Quaker schoolteacher.
Will there be gunslinging and horses? As the play is set in a multi-purpose slatted-wood interior, the answer is Yes to the former…but no animals are exploited on stage and the villain is due to arrive by train at the appointed hour, without horse.
In the lead roles now are Billy Crudup and Denise Gough stepping into illustrious shoes. They are a well matched couple with Amy now an eligible widow, and their wedding opens the play. They plan to leave town and lead a settled life but it becomes known that outlaw Frank Miller, put away by Will, is leaving jail, inexplicably a pardoned man, and returning for vengeance. Amy wants peace and no macho rivalry but Will has a reputation to defend despite being beyond his best years. This somewhat revised version of the film also has another sparring partnership – a weak Deputy Marshall played by Billy Howle (miscast and not at his best), and a gutsy Rosa Salazar as his independent feminist girlfriend, keen to return to New Mexico. The other townsfolk gossip, disagree, line-dance after the wedding, and then when trouble threatens they make excuses in church for non-intervention. Will this be a pacifist Western?
I’m sure most of the audience will have a vague knowledge of the film and the title suggests a climax worth waiting for. And it is, for its human drama and theatrical effect. No spoiler warning is needed to say the play begins with a celebration and ends with that showdown, but many of the short scenes between have a dull predictability and little variation in pace – bars of wistful singing add little, but an impressively choreographed scrap with a fit Crudup all over the floor is a surprising bonus.
The distraction of that real-time clock is a mixed blessing: it tempts the question “How much longer?” and keeps us wishing for the end. However, the noontime climax does bring the satisfying finale we expect. Instead of rolling credits and Dimitri Tiomkin’s “Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin'”, the cast smile and wave and do a little dance to show us they have had a good time, and we respond to show we have too. Would we want to see it round again? Probably not.
Our Rating: ★★★/ Group Appeal: ★★★
(Why do two photos show the clock at times not shown during performances? Taken during dress rehearsals perhaps.)
Photos: Johan Persson
19/01/26 Mike writes –
Orphans
By Lyle Kessler, at the Jermyn Street Theatre
I remembered the play Orphans by Lyle Kessler from way, way back, but without any detail. So I checked. It’s a popular title but this play is from 1983, not to be confused with a 1998 Scottish film nor Dennis Kelly’s similarly titled 2009 play, nor the Orphan film series with another upcoming.
It was originally produced in 1983 in Los Angeles then picked up in 1985 and made famous by Chicago’s Steppenwolf Company, renowned back then for New Writers and milestone drama productions which set new trends. John Mahoney and Kevin Anderson were in the Steppenwolf production. Over here Albert Finney starred in his own production of it in 1986, and in the 1987 film too with Kevin Anderson and Matthew Modine. Maybe it was Finney’s presence that had fixed the play in my mind.
I decided to revisit it again, at the tiny Jermyn Street Theatre to see if it would make an impression today. My first thought is how similar it is to Pinter’s The Caretaker from 1960. Did no-one realise the similarity back then, before admiring its originality?
Two brothers, yes orphans, are ensconced in a decrepit house – the illiterate Phillip (Fred Woodley Evans) is too scared to go outside, while the older and aggressive Treat (Chris Walley) is hostile to society, venturing out just for petty-thieving, to steal wallets and buy tins of tuna and Hellman’s mayonnaise. This minutiae of a daily existence is another Pinter trait. One day he brings home Harold (Forbes Masson), an unknown stranger with a briefcase, to keep hostage. And of course there is a turn-around power struggle with Harold (surely no homage to Pinter!?) surprising both with support, kindness, moralising…and a gun.
In its day I can understand why it was an unusual situation (if you overlook Pinter) given the clash of personalities and reversal of fortunes within its claustrophobic setting. Today it remains very much a theatrical miniature of its time. At Jermyn Street it is well performed and effectively set on a minuscule budget, and fills the 70-seater space because of, I suggest, its curiosity value. But it shrinks under Pinter’s shadow, and similar situations which have been explored since. I applaud the enterprising Jermyn Street theatre which programmed it and am pleased I was able to refresh my memory.
Our Rating: ★★★/ Group Appeal: ★★½
Photos: Charlie Flint
01/01/2026 Fredo writes –
End
By David Eldridge, at the National: Dorfman Theatre
In the End is our beginning…
Mike and I had a busy theatrical year in 2025, and we ended on a high with the unforgettable KENREX. It seems ironic that the first play we attended in 2026 is called End. Looking at our diaries, it’s really the beginning of another busy year ahead.
Playwright David Eldridge has had a busy time as well. His adaptation of John le Carre’s novel The Spy Who Came In From The Cold was enjoyed by our group, and is still playing @sohoplace theatre. Now End has opened at the National, and this completes his loosely formed trilogy that started with Beginning and continued with Middle.
Although the three plays stand alone, Eldrige takes a look at different stages of relationships. There’s a tentative start with the possibility of new life (that’s Beginning) and in Middle, he drops in on a couple who’ve been together for some years and it’s gone a bit stale. In End, he turns his attention to – well, guess what?
Alfie (Clive Owen) tells Julie (Saskia Reeves) that he has decided not to continue with his treatment for cancer. While they wait for their daughter to visit, they go down memory lane, considering the highs and lows of their years together. There are fewer tears than we might expect, and some laughter, and even song and dance as Alfie chooses the music for his funeral.
In an all-too-rare stage appearance, Clive Owen is affecting , and at times you could feel the silence from the audience as they listened closely to him. The always reliable Saskia Reeves (Slow Horses) has the more difficult task, as David Eldridge seems to write against her anticipated responses. This gives an unsteady quality to her character development that even an actress of Ms Reeves’s skill doesn’t overcome.
For me, there were some deficiencies in the writing. Nevertheless, I was impressed by Eldridge’s courage in exploring a difficult subject, and I found the quiet conclusion of the play very moving.
It was good to see Clive Owen and Saskia Reeves reunited. Early in their careers, in 1991, they had an impact in the film Close My Eyes. Both have worked steadily since then, turning in performances of a consistently high standard. As a long-time fan I was pleased to find Ms Reeves looking younger and in better shape that she appears in Slow Horses!
Although I found this play less satisfying than Beginning and Middle, it made a promising beginning to our play-going year; certainly not the end.
Our Rating: ★★★/ Group Appeal: ★★★
Photos: Marc Brenner
theatreguys 