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Stuart King

Stuart King

Stuart King, Head reviewer

Since retiring as a musical theatre performer, Stuart has maintained a busy professional career in commercial sectors ranging from media and sport, to risk management. As a member of the Critics’ Circle, he regularly attends and reviews press nights for drama productions, musicals, opera and dance.

Romola Garai, Gina McKee, Deborah Findlay, Harmony Rose-Bremner and Anjli Mohindra in The Years at Harold Pinter Theatre
10 Feb
Reviews
Stuart King

Review: THE YEARS at Harold Pinter

The Almeida’s stunning, all-female success from last year, has been given a West End transfer and deservedly so. The production’s original cast of Deborah Findlay, Romola Garai, Gina McKee, Anjli Mohindra and Harmony-Rose Bremner have reassembled at the Harold Pinter where they perform THE YEARS until 19th April.

Romola Garai, Gina McKee, Deborah Findlay, Harmony Rose-Bremner and Anjli Mohindra in The Years at Harold Pinter TheatreRomola Garai, Gina McKee, Deborah Findlay, Harmony Rose-Bremner and Anjli Mohindra in The Years at Harold Pinter Theatre. Credit Helen Murray.

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Miriam Grace Edwards and Sam Jenkins-Shaw in Mrs President (credit Pamela Raith)
05 Feb
Reviews
Stuart King

Review: MRS PRESIDENT at Charing Cross Theatre

There are occasions in a reviewer’s life, when we are exposed to a nugget of political history which encapsulates sufficient intrigue that we yearn for it to receive the attentions of an accomplished playwright. Such writers can often weave the factual nuggets into an interesting and compelling yarn. The best are brim full of wit, wisdom and relatable characters with stories and opinions which inspire, unnerve, interest and elicit (from those of us with our bums on seats) oodles of empathy, envy, compassion and admiration. Unfortunately John Ransom Phillips’ homage to the feisty and oft maligned Mary Lincoln (wife of President Abraham Lincoln) achieves few of these.

Miriam Grace Edwards and Sam Jenkins-Shaw in Mrs President (credit Pamela Raith)Miriam Grace Edwards and Sam Jenkins-Shaw in Mrs President (credit Pamela Raith)

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Asa Butterfield in Second Best. Photo Hugo Glendinning
04 Feb
Reviews
Stuart King

Review: SECOND BEST at Riverside Studios

Asa Butterfield has carved quite a niche for himself playing naively innocent and quirky misfits (notably in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, and more recently as Otis in Sex Education). His one-man performance has largely sold-out the Riverside Studios where SECOND BEST opened this evening marking the young actor’s stage debut.

Asa Butterfield in Second Best. Photo Hugo GlendinningAsa Butterfield in Second Best. Photo Hugo Glendinning

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Play On!, Ensemble - Copyright Ciara Hillyer
02 Feb
Reviews
Stuart King

Review: PLAY ON! at Lyric Hammersmith

A thinly woven amalgamation of love stories centred around Harlem’s Cotton Club, form the basis for an evening of rumbustious hoofing and competitive lung blasting as PLAY ON! opens at the Lyric Hammersmith.

Play On!, Ensemble - Copyright Ciara Hillyer Play On!, Ensemble - Copyright Ciara Hillyer.

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Caroline Gruber in As Long As We Are Breathing at the Arcola Theatre. Copyright Lidia Crisafulli
31 Jan
Reviews
Stuart King

Review: AS LONG AS WE ARE BREATHING at the Arcola

A cloying pungency of lavender oil permeates the Arcola’s subterranean stairway (and your nostrils), long before you reach the playing area. As you enter, a man (Matthew James Hinchliffe) plays a calmly resonant percussion instrument, as though we are about to enjoy a collective massage. Our meditation on the Jewish condition begins with the reflections of an elderly woman Miriam (Caroline Gruber) who we learn survived her harrowing adolescence in Bratislava.

Caroline Gruber in As Long As We Are Breathing at the Arcola Theatre. Copyright Lidia CrisafulliCaroline Gruber in As Long As We Are Breathing at the Arcola Theatre. Copyright Lidia Crisafulli

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