Sweeney Todd wins Best Musical Production at UK Theatre Awards 2026 The Birmingham Repertory Theatre (The Rep) reports that its recent production of Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street directed by The Rep’s Artistic Director, Joe Murphy, has won the award for Best Musical Production at the UK Theatre Awards. Sondheim’s darkly, comic musical ran at The Rep in July/August 2026. To read or revisit the review by critic, Debra Hall (published early in the run) click here

Centrefront Actors Greg Haiste (Touchstone) and Gareth Snook (Audrey) in The RSC production of As You Like It at The Royal Shakespeare Theatre Oct 2026. Photography Marc Brenner REVIEW ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ As You Like It by William Shakespeare Directed by Daniel Evans Overview When the Dukedom of two brothers results in exile for one, rules and lines become blurred for their close-bonded daughter

Festival News Carmen Composer Georges Bizet Director Robin Norton -Hale The independent Carmen warns that any man who falls for her should be mindful of her free spirit. She captures the attention of the soldier, Don José. His desire for her quickly gives way to jealousy. This is a tale of passion, of power and fate with Bizet's classic score at its heart. 'Carmen is opera at its most visceral and compelling' Clive Drew ANRPR The Nevill Holt Festival in partnership with Opera

Pictured left to right actors Kathryn Perkins, Ryan Starling, Sophie Bloor and James Keningale in The 39 Steps at Derby Theatre October 2026 Photograph by Graeme Braidwood Stage Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The 39 Steps The Thirty-Nine Steps a novel by John Buchan Adapted from the screen version The 39 Steps directed by Alfred Hitchcock (1935) Adaptor for stage Patrick Barlo

Rehearsals underway for Tomb With a View a CADS Theatre Club Production Performances this October in West Bromwich Preview Tomb With a View written by Norman Robbins Directed by Saskia Simone Overview The Tomb family gather together in the family home following the death of Septimus. Written by the late playwright Norman Robbins this comedy is wickedly humorous. Tomb With a View is a mocking of the traditional

Pictured Jessica Mabel in Point Scoring Title: Point-Scoring Written and performed by Jessica Mabel This one act play is an empathic comedy highlighting the preposterous process that potential claimants have to go through when making a Personal Independence Payment (PIP) application. The PIP assessment operates on point scoring results gathered by an assessor(s)/interviewer(s) on the basis of personal information provided from a completed Q/A form in the first instance, foll

cast of Wilko: Love and Death and Rock 'n' Roll Wilko: Love and Death and Rock 'n' Roll ⭐⭐⭐ Writer: Jonathan Maitland Director: Dugald Bruce-Lockhart Writer, Jonathan Maitland uses the three aspects of the play's title, being a take on the famous Ian Drury and the Blockheads number: sex n' drugs [...]; to arrive at a fair and honest portrayal of the late music artist, Wilko Johnson. Love: Wilko Johnson's first love was poetic verse, English Language and Literature, only to be

Textile Art in the form of a tapestry river map part of River Tours: The Avon a touring theatre production by Stan's Cafe West Midlands PREVIEW River Tours: The Avon Writer and Associate Director Craig Stephens This is the latest touring theatre production from Birmingham based theatre company Stan's Cafe with great rivers of the world as a theme. What has been devised is documentary style, storytelling experience, where a 3m long textile map of Warwickshire's River Avon (als

Ramin Karimloo (Sweeney Todd) and David Bedella (Judge Turpin) in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at Birmingham Rep - Photography by Manuel Harlan Stage Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street A Musical based on play Sweeney Todd by Christopher Bond Music and Lyrics Stephen Sondheim book by Hugh Wheeler Directed by Joe Murphy Musical Supervisor Dr John Rigby It is Victorian London and Benjamin Barker returns to England after being wrongfully

Pictured Tess Edmonds (Juliet) and Sean Day (Romeo) in Romeo & Juliet A Chatsworth Players touring production July 2026 Illustration by Debra Hall Stage Review Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare Directed by Lindsay Jackson ⭐⭐⭐ it is what it is explains away the experience of attending an amateur theatre performing Shakespeare outdoors. Throw caution to the wind and delight in both the positives

Buxton Fringe 2026 - what are we going to do when this is all over? A Split Infinitive Theatre Touring Production PREVIEW what are we going to do when this is all over? Written and Directed by Alexander and Helen Millington This is a touring production by theatre company Split Infinitive - 'an award-winning theatre company dedicated to creating intimate and engaging pieces of original theatre'. what are we going to do when this is all over? is a play that explores a wife's c

The cast of Little Shop of Horrors at Derby Theatre, June 2026. Photograph by Pamela Raith ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Little Shop of Horrors Book Writer and lyrics Howard Ashman Music scores and songs Alan Menken Director Sarah Brigham Orchestrator and Musical Supervisor Matthew Malone Amena El-Kindy (Audrey) and Kristian Cunningham (Seymour) in Little Shop of Horrors at Derby Theatre Photograph Pamela Raith Overview It looks like the future is bleak for Mr Mushnik and his flagging little flowe

In Rehearsal: reading Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen Photograph by Richard Hall Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen version by Patrick Marber Directed by Tim Connolly Hedda has just returned from her honeymoon to a life that already feels too fixed and mundane. As complex relationships from her past resurface and unravel, Hedda is confronted with her life choices

Stage Review Poor writer - Katriona O'Sullivan Adaptor - Sonya Kelly Director - Roisin McBrinn Overview A true story from the memoir of Katriona O'Sullivan. A bright little girl, born into a hard up family with parents that had addictions. Her Irish father had moved to Coventry, in or around the late 60s early 70s, met the mother and so stayed. He was dealing drugs from the house sometimes. He was a chain smoker, a cheat and a compulsive liar and was in and out of prison for

Actor Mark Knightley (Sherlock Holmes) in Sherlock Holmes:The Hunt for Moriarty at Derby Theatre, May 2026 Photograph by Asun Olivan Sherlock Holmes: The Hunt for Moriarty Adapted and Directed by Nick Lane from the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Writer Nick Lane has combined a good few of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories and arrived at one mystery of Sherlock and his arch-nemesis Professor Moriarty, for stage, Sherlock Holmes: The Hunt for Moriarty. The opening reveals the

A new play MAKE IT COUNT at Louth Riverhead Theatre this June PREVIEW MAKE IT COUNT Writer: James Sweeney Director: John Hewer This June, at Louth Riverhead Theatre, Lincolnshire is writer, James Sweeney's debut play Make it Count; a three-hander, comedy-drama, about love, control and second chances. Brayden Kerr, Derek Hodges and Laura Thompson in Make it Count at Louth Riverhead Theatre this June 2026 Overview When Jonas dies unexpectedly, an afterlife error gives him the

Actor Alfred Enoch in Henry V a RSC Production 2026 Photography Johan Persson Henry V ⭐⭐⭐⭐ by William Shakespeare Directed by Tamara Harvey Background Shakespeare's history play, Henry V theatrically drip feeds a tale from the middle ages; one which tells of strong bonds existing between England's nobility and the common people. Based on factual events and on real people including members of the English and French royal families for example, and those attached to court lif

Mark Arends (Bernard) Daniel Ward (Gilbert) Anna Crichlow (Hortense) - Small Island at the Rep, Birmingham Photograph Pamela Raith Small Island ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Written by Andrea Levy Adapted for stage by Helen Edmundson Directed by Matthew Xia Overview Small Island plots around distinctive characters whose stories overlap. In rural Jamaica, the young Hortense is a teaching assistant

PREVIEW A Grain of Sand Writer and Director Elias Matar Coming soon to the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry is A Grain of Sand ; a monodrama about war through a child's eyes. Sarah Agha plays the role of eleven year old, Renad, from Gaza. This play blends the real-life testimonies of children with the mythical story of Anqaa: a symbolic, phoenix-like creature from Arab folklore. Told by Renad as she goes in search of family (and of Anqaa); equipped only with the echoes of her gran

Scene from Meet Fred a Hijinx theatre production in association with Blind Summit Theatre at Derby Theatre March 2026 Photograph by Jorge Lizalde Meet Fred ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Director Ben Pettitt-Wade (puppet consultant for Blind Summit) Puppetry Dramaturgs (of Blind Summit) : Tom Espiners & Guila Innocenti A Hijinx theatre production in association wit