The Latest Breaking News from Ellie Kurttz

The Rivals theatre review: Classic comedy revival is gorgeous but awkwardly updated

3/5 This 250th anniversary revival of Sheridan’s play transports it to the Jazz Age but doesn’t always make it swing

Evening Standard · Jan 3

Entertaining Mr Sloane review: 'Simply too nice, even at its nastiest'

2/5 Joe Orton’s twisted comedy about sex and class should be ripe for a modern revival but here it is more Carry On than carnal

Evening Standard · Sep 29, 2025

Sophie Melville and Laura Whitmore star in Apex Predator's entertaining take on London vampires

3/5 Bloodsuckers, societal breakdown and psychological horror all feature in this comic-gothic drama

Evening Standard · Apr 2, 2025

Great Expectations review – Bengal in 1905 is tailor-made for Dickens

Tanika Gupta brings authority and nuance to her adaptation, exploring class, colonialism, partition and invasion – and finding unexpected resonance

The Guardian - UK · Sep 14, 2023

As You Like It review – gender-fluid version plays too freely with the text

Ellen McDougall’s inclusive production is wonderfully warm and flirty – especially in the scenes between Rosalind and Celia – but uneven and confusing as a whole

The Guardian - UK · Aug 31, 2023

The Empress review – resonant survival tales of Victorian Britain

Tanika Gupta’s historical drama has only got more relevant since 2013, but there’s an awful lot of migration stories to get through in three hours

The Guardian - UK · Jul 19, 2023

As You Like It review – age-blind anti-production pulls the rug on Arden

A bewitching cast cleverly turns Shakespeare into improv comedy in a backstage ‘rehearsal’ of the play, in which age and memory are played for laughs

The Guardian - UK · Jun 28, 2023

Review: Faye Brookes and Kevin Clifton sparkle in Strictly Ballroom - but it's not a perfect 10

The star turns did sparkle, but a stoppage on stage and multiple cast changes hampered the flow on opening night for our reviewer

Manchester Evening News · Jun 27, 2023

Roman Holiday review – movie magic gets lost in translation

Despite charismatic performances and real chemistry, the classic Audrey Hepburn romcom falters in its transition into a Cole Porter jukebox musical

The Guardian - UK · Jun 21, 2023

The Circle review – love, tears and tender truths when Jane Asher comes to call

Strong emotions rule in a candid and well-judged Somerset Maugham comedy twisting romantic fates across generations of squabbling society

The Guardian - UK · May 7, 2023