This is London channel feed

Sleeping Beauty gets tedious

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 10:38:55 GMT

Amid all the confusion one can spot the kernel of a fine idea in Rosy Fordham's Sleeping Beauty and this is frustrating.

Manon is late show of virtuosity

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 10:38:54 GMT

There were huge cheers as the curtain came down, and rarely have they felt so poignant as in English National Ballet's Manon.

All's not well that ends well for Kron

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 10:02:22 GMT

Nicholas de Jongh is astonished that Lisa Kron's Well received two Tony Award nominations and praise from the New York Times.

Richard E Grant brings Carnage to Richmond

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 12:56:31 GMT

Richard E Grant, Juliet Stevenson and Antony Sher are among the stars of the new season at Richmond Theatre.

Dickens for today in this Christmas Carol

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 13:11:58 GMT

Adrian Berry has moved Dickenss indestructible 1843 story to the present day but those partial to a good bit of Victoriana can rest assured that the beating heart of the piece is still intact.

Cinderella is reborn

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:08:59 GMT

Ben Power and Melly Still have come up with a haunting, rich, romantic retelling of Cinderella.

Little Prince is star from another world

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:08:59 GMT

Anthony Clark's charming, positive-hearted production of The Little Prince provides a soothing alternative to the screeching rigours of pantomime.

Fresh spice in Hansel and Gretel

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:08:59 GMT

Stratford East's Hansel and Gretel is not a dazzling house of sweets but a pleasant enough stroll in the woods.

Edward Scissorhands doesn't make the cut

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:08:59 GMT

Matthew Bourne's dance version of Tim Burton's fantasy classic Edward Scissorhands is an amiable show, with great sets and larky moves.

Sweet and sour Hänsel und Gretel

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:08:59 GMT

Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier strike what seems an ideal balance between the saccharine and social elements of Hänsel und Gretel.

Festive rewrite of 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:08:58 GMT

The festive focus on 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover at Christmas makes the show substantially slicker, wittier and deeper than before.

Remarkable Hamlet performance at hours' notice

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:08:58 GMT

You would never have guessed from the self-confidence and composure of his performance that Edward Bennett was a stand-in Hamlet.

Jacobi is exquisitely funny in Twelfth Night

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:08:58 GMT

Michael Grandage's triumphant advance upon the West End continues with a treasurable Twelfth Night that discovers a renewed sense of comedy.

Cinders is only one not having a ball

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:08:58 GMT

It hasn't got Sir Ian McKellen starring in it, or Stephen Fry writing it, but New Wimbledon Theatre's Cinderella is as posh as panto is going to get.

Dame Clive hatches golden egg in Mother Goose

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:08:58 GMT

The magnificent Clive Rowe towers above in Mother Goose; singing, dancing, ad-libbing and making the oldest jokes in the panto book gleam afresh.

Scarecrow with a heart

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:08:58 GMT

Simon Reade mounts his own adaptation of The Scarecrow and His Servant with five actors, recycled props and a whole field-full of charm.

Nutcracker has real depth

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:08:57 GMT

The Royal Ballet's Nutcracker benefits from the assured touch of Peter Wright, a director and producer who knows how to keep things traditional and real.

Farcical antidote to seasonal goodwill in Loot

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:08:56 GMT

Loot takes serious aim at an England eager to wear the trappings of respectability while succumbing to immorality.

A glowing, stripped down Sunset Boulevard

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:08:56 GMT

Small is better and sometimes beautiful when it comes to the scaled-down, intimate version of Sunset Boulevard.

Wrong notes in The Cordelia Dream

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:08:56 GMT

Marina Carr's two-hander, The Cordelia Dream, hitches a ride on the back of King Lear but is unceremoniously shrugged off.

Sultans swing in Thief of Baghdad

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:08:56 GMT

The Thief of Baghdad has wonderful music and clever sets and, although the plot is too detailed, the story is sweetly told.

Amusing chatter in The Cocktail Party

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:08:54 GMT

TS Eliot's The Cocktail Party shifts with mesmerising stealth into terrain of suffering and death.

Dastardly deeds in Boys of the Empire

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:08:54 GMT

Nicholas de Jongh liked the ingenuity, underlying seriousness and political bias of Glenn Chandler's Boys of the Empire.

Don John needs charisma

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:08:53 GMT

Don John, the new take on the downfall of the legendary lover Don Giovanni, is limp in all the wrong places, says Fiona Mountford.

Impropriety can go a long way in Mary Goes First

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 13:27:34 GMT

The Orange Tree does what few other venues have the time or inclination to undertake, namely a trawl through the archives to unearth neglected gems of early 20th-century theatre like Mary Goes First.