'I have long held the view that David Hare writes mouthpieces rather than fully-formed characters and this play only serves to confirm that hypothesis'. A blistering performance from Self Esteem cannot rescue Teeth 'n' Smiles:

Believe the five-star rave: Midwinter Break is an exquisite portrait of shifting emotional nuance, sublimely portrayed by Lesley Manville and Ciaran Hinds. 90 beautiful minutes of cinema: www.theguardian.com/film/2026/ma...

What a thrill it is to see a theatre director - and Polly Findlay has long been one of those I admire the most - make such a successful transition to film. It's five stars from the Guardian for Midwinter Break:

'Buckle up, culture fans, we're on the final lap now'. I look forward to the Oscars on Sunday:

In advance of Jessie Buckley's forthcoming Best Actress Oscar for Hamnet, I would also heartily like to suggest she is awarded an honorary Oscar for most wonderfully heartfelt and emotionally honest guest on Desert Island Discs.

'What is the difference between National Theatre Wales and Welsh National Theatre? The answer is simple: Michael Sheen'.

'Everyone was waiting for the expected anointing of Jessie B and Timmy C as the Queen and King of Filmland - and then Robert Aramayo's name was called out twice in quick succession'. I watched the BAFTAS:

'Just as in Olivia Colman's case, Jessie Buckley's 'overnight success' has been years in the making'. In which I mull upon Jessie's career trajectory and a poster that is very dear to my heart:

'There is most definitely a decent play in here somewhere, but unfortunately it is hidden under layers of egregious overwriting and directorial tricksiness'. My review of Deep Azure by the late Chadwick Boseman:

'If someone were to write a song about Cynthia Erivo's experience here, Defying Technology might be an apposite title'. I was increasingly bewildered by Dracula:

Pancakes for breakfast: I know how to party...

My mother died this week. I’m not posting this for sympathy, although thank you. But I realised I was so extremely grateful for people who showed small kindnesses this week. People who let me out while I was driving to her deathbed. People who smiled when I got stuck at the self service supermarket.

Undaunted by the near freezing temperature, I have just hung some washing on the line.

Yesterday, I saw both Wuthering Heights and Shadowlands. One of them is a quietly magnificent depiction of true love:

All I'll say is that Margot Robbie's teeth are way too perfect and white to Wuther convincingly.

Am currently gearing up for Wuthering.

'It is the cinema that has borne the brunt of some marked shifts in audience behaviour'. In which I get annoyed:

'Se estamos tristes e viajamos para fugir à tristeza, cedo descobrimos que a tristeza veio connosco. Mas com a alegria é a mesma coisa' . Palavras muito sábias no jornal Público de hoje.

'Too often, this revival of Tom Stoppard's masterpiece becomes a seemingly never-ending lecture and we the poor students trapped inside the lecture hall'. I'm afraid that I couldn't wait for Arcadia to end:

A reminder.

'Thus the curtain falls on the happy marriage between the best artistic director and the finest theatre in the country'. The golden Gooldian reign @AlmeidaTheatre ends as it started, with American Psycho:

I have been to the cinema seven times so far this month - and am aiming for number eight tonight. Not too shabby for a theatre critic...

'Huge blockbusters, art-house treasures: it seems that there is nothing the Irish actor cannot do'. But have we reached peak Paul Mescal?

'100 minutes of devastating universal resonance, the epitome of the power of live theatre'. Oh, and Rosie Sheehy... It's my first five stars of the year for Guess How Much I Love You? @royalcourt:

Forget Adolescence - Waiting for the Out is the best show about masculinity, offering a 'far deeper and richer examination of 21st century men in the UK'. An absolute triumph for the beleaguered BBC:

I wrote something about Blanche Marvin, an almost folkloric figure who sort of ordered me into her orbit about 15 years ago. RIP Blanche andrzejlukowski.substack.com/p/rememberin...

We are very sorry to hear of the death of Blanche Marvin, theatre critic and founder of the Empty Space Peter Brook Awards. Her boundless enthusiasm for theatre will be greatly missed, and we send our condolences to her family and friends at this time. https://bit.ly/4jN5o7k

'Respectable stand-up for responsible people'. I greatly enjoyed the first night of Sue Perkins's new tour:

'Hamnet should have been a dream come true for a cinephile theatre critic like me'. Reader, it was not:

Roll up, roll up! Shakespeare on the big screen:

I'm loath to be a lone naysayer, but I found Hamnet unbearably overwrought and portentous. And as for that final scene in the theatre, well...

'Whereas Gary Cooper was strong and silent, Billy Crudup is a talker - and a fast one at that. Too often, he sounds like nothing so much as a desperate door-to-door salesman'. I did not get on well with the new stage adaptation of High Noon:

'Alice Underground' by Gail Brodholt gailbrodholt.com

'The ever-reliable - not to mention ever bankable - Sheridan Smith is very good without being great' in this Alan Ayckbourn revival, in which Romesh Ranganathan makes his West End debut and fiddles with his glasses. A lot':

Roll up, roll up! Plenty to see here...

You don't know what day it is. You're eating countless meals a day with lots of snacks in between. You're napping throughout they day. Either it's the time between Christmas and New Year or you're a cat.

'As we all know, when the nuns are away, the juniors will play'. Not to mention the medical mansplaining... I reviewed the Call the Midwife Christmas special:

'And man, at war with man, hears not The love song which they bring: O hush the noise, ye men of strife, And hear the angels sing'.

I went to the theatre a little bit this year... and here are my top ten shows of 2025:

'I can almost hear the long, cold radiator behind me emit an evil, panto villain-style cackle'. In which I don't put on the central heating, but put on my woolly Christmas pudding hat instead:

Taken back for a second by the Year in Review on my fitness app

'What a rare tonic it is to sit in a 'serious' theatre and hear gales of laughter echoing all around'. When We Are Married is a glorious festive treat from @DonmarWarehouse:

'There's a great gap between a gallant story and a dirty deed'. How uncannily this mellifluous Irish classic speaks to our social media age. I loved this revival, starring Nicola Coughlan, @NationalTheatre:

On the 11th day of Christmas my true love gave to me: 11 pipers piping, 10 lords-a-leaping, 9 ladies dancing, 8 maids-a-milking, 7 swans-a-swimming, 6 geese-a-laying, 5 GOLD RINGS, 4 calling birds, 3 French hens, 2 turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree. 38 people watched me devour 23 birds.

'Never forget that this is Sondheim not Disney'. A gloriously flamboyant Kate Fleetwood heads this classy revival of Into the Woods:

There's a 'puppetry predicament' at the heart of The RSC's new production of The BFG. My review:

On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me: six geese-a-laying, FIVE GOLD RINGS, four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree. Goose, calling bird, hen, dove, partridge and pear omelette. Yum.

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me: three French hens, two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree. Ate them. Ooh la la.

Great culture can save lives. Literally. Amazing letter in today’s @thetimes.com about Tom Stoppard

'Doff the red hats and bring out the finest marmalade sandwiches Buckingham Palace can muster'. This glorious new musical 'bursts with warmth and gentle kindness'. Paddington will surely be in the West End forever: