Review Roundup: PRIDE at the National Theatre
Reviews have come in for Pride at the National Theatre, a new musical based on the true story of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM), a group of activists who raised money to help the families affected by the miners' strike - a remarkable moment and often overlooked piece of British history. It's created by director Matthew Warchus and writer Stephen Beresford, who worked on the 2014 film based on the same events. The vast majority of reviews have been overwhelmingly positive, full of praises for this powerful and inspiring musical.
The cast of Pride. Photo by Manuel Harlan
What are theatre critics saying about Pride?
London Box Office
“A solid blend of stirring heart-tuggers, earnest torch songs and flamboyantly jovial disco bops”
★★★★★
Reviewer: Stuart King
"For all that the music and orchestration contributions are co-written by the team of Christopher Nightingale, Josh Cohen, DJ Walde and Tom Kelly, there is often a remarkable similarity in the song stylings rendering the overall sound, thematic. Mixing pop and disco traditions with Welsh choral anthems (like The Dragon on Our Flag - sung in Welsh) the overall effect is one of cohesion yet variety resulting in a solid blend of stirring heart-tuggers, earnest torch songs and flamboyantly jovial disco bops. In the vocal stakes, there were stand-out moments from Sarah Pugh as young Welsh mother Siân who longs for a more productive and energised life in her solo My Little Infidelity and Lewis Cornay as the young man dubbed Bromley who inadvertently joins the rag tag band of fundraisers at his very first Pride march - unbeknownst to his parents but by the end of the show has quite firmly realised I'm into Guys which brings the house down. Among the other notable turns in an altogether terrific cast is diminutive scene stealer Gwen played by Gillian Elisa who can make answering a telephone funny and Samuel Barnett who manages a fourth wall-breaking, spotlight moment as un-dimmable Jonathan."
The Guardian
“A stage celebration of togetherness in the face of adversity”
★★★★★
Reviewer: Arifa Akbar
"The songs are fabulous, even if there are an awful lot of them. Welsh choral music (and a lovely number in Y Ddraig Ar Ein Baner, or The Dragon on Our Flag) rub alongside moving ballads and snazzy disco, and they come with as much wit as heart. They shift gears emotionally too, some tear-jerkers, others naughty (“Two, four, six, eight, is that copper really straight?” is a chant at one protest) and even with edgy black humour around Aids. What gives this show an added layer of meaning is its example of how coming together can take on prejudice. It feels especially important to revisit at a time when queer rights are being rolled back, when difference is seen as a threat and intolerance is the prevailing currency of conversation on social media."
TimeOut
“A stunning musical adaptation”
★★★★★
Reviewer: Tom Wicker
"Beresford sketches the colourful cast of characters with precision and wit, perfectly catching their personalities in the briefest lines of dialogue. Lumsden confidently walks Mark’s tightrope of charisma, drive and self-righteousness. Lewis Cornay is sweet as ‘newbie’ gay, Bromley. Jordan Shaw gets big laughs as humility-untroubled Reggie, while generating some friction by questioning the benefit to gay rights of the flamboyance of former actor, Jonathan, who is played by a scene-stealing Samuel Barnett – conveying vulnerability and a lifetime of defiance with just the arch of an eyebrow."
The cast of Pride. Photo by Manuel Harlan
Financial Times
“Gay activists and miners combine to make musical-theatre heaven”
★★★★★
Reviewer: Sarah Hemming
"But that’s easy to forgive because its spirit is so generous and because it uses the strengths of musical theatre with such uplifting purpose. The sequence when Jonathan — the fabulous, swivel-hipped Samuel Barnett — rocks the miners’ club with disco is sensational. Equally irresistible is the moment when the women strike up the stirring anthem “Bread and Roses”. Of course, dancing and close-harmony singing can’t change history, but what they can do is express, in physical form, the joy and power of community. And while the production is studded with excellent individual performances, it’s that sense of ensemble that really makes it and that carries its message."
WhatsOnStage
“Its evocation of community is both heart-raising and tear-jerking”
★★★★
Reviewer: Sarah Crompton
"It is extraordinarily difficult not to be entranced by the sheer hopefulness of the story and the flair of the telling in the capable hands of this ensemble. True, the facts – in this co-production between the National Theatre and P&P Productions – have been softened and the rough edges of prejudice and resistance smoothed from the narrative even more than in the film. Here, it is not Martin’s knowledge of harassment laws that wins the miners over, but his friend Jonathan’s exuberant disco dancing turn at the welfare club disco. But Samuel Barnett’s performance in that scene emphasises the musical’s merits. There is something beyond words about his immersion in disco, a grasping of the moment that accounts for Pride’s appeal. This is even truer of the opening of the second half, where Jonathan, who was one of the first people in Britain diagnosed with AIDS, sings of his intentions (“You Might As Well Live”) in a number that goes from melancholy to all-out razzle-dazzle, with fans, sequins and a glitterball. Barnett is quite extraordinary, catching each nuance of feeling and thought."
Check out our list of other theatre shows to watch for Pride Month. For more inspiration, see also the 11 best new shows opening in London in July.
Latest News
Review Roundup: PRIDE at the National Theatre
29 June 2026 at 08:08
James Norton to Star in Hamlet in the West End, Autumn 2027
29 June 2026 at 00:01
Review: ARCHDUKE at Royal Court Theatre
27 June 2026 at 12:34
First look at production photos for JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR
26 June 2026 at 16:40