Kinky Boots – Coliseum, London – Saturday 18th April 2026

(Rated 7/5) I’ve been sitting for some time now with laptop on my lap wondering how to write my West End 2026 ‘Kinky Boots’ review, because so much of the Tour 2025 ‘Kinky Boots’ review is completely relevant and to be honest, I’ve come to the conclusion it makes most sense to refer my dear RR readers to that to see what’s gone before, and I’ll just skip to my impressions and experience of the show at the Coliseum.

Booking this – back in July 2025 – felt huge. I – and I know other Johannes Radebe devotees – had a code for priority booking – and I sat poised again on this laptop at the appropriate time waiting for my code to come through, aware that I was not just booking for me this time, but for two very dear friends, who instead of chasing Jojo round the UK on tour, took a chance and waited for him – and this KB production – to get to the West End. The hour had come, but my code had not, so I went onto the website anyway, and found that simply putting in my name was enough to get me accessing tickets 😊 I know it’s technology working, but had me feeling special that was all I needed! I nabbed my middle front row stalls seats, told friends of my achievement, and then nabbed some more for another date too – yes, I know! And that was that – we were in!!! I posted my success on Jojo’s social media and got love reactions from him and his agent 😉

But who knows what will happen in months before the show-date finally comes round, and earlier this year, I had a health diagnosis, which put getting to the show in peril. I really don’t mean to sound overdramatic writing this, but I felt the weight of being the common connection – my two Jojo-bag Central Line friends had also booked the same date so we could all meet up – and also the huge disappointment I’d feel not to be able to experience the show with two of my absolute besties. I’d felt ever so excited about it happening. One of them, knowing what had happened, said it would feel a “hollow” experience without me, and my other bestie was reluctant too. However, it gave me a goal and a dream, which in itself gave me positive energy and hope to be able to get myself there. Both besties were also saying they’d do all they could to help me make it. Lots of active visualising of Jojo on stage right in front of me – me smiling up, him smiling down, and my besties beaming either side – manifesting as much as I could!

As fortune would have it – and this mentioned in my ‘Dracula’ review too – my op was brought forward and I was well enough to go! Still major anxiousness about what else might get in the way. And it sort of did with a bestie getting a throat infection! Hmph! But we got round that with him wearing a mask so as not to give to me and inhibit my recovery/treatments. Goodness! So kind and caring of him to tell me and to wear a mask, even though it would mean Jojo couldn’t see his face – then again that’d add to the mystery wouldn’t it 😉 “Who is that handsome man in the front row behind the mask?!”

Managed to meet up with Jojo-bag Central Line friends before too so all good. We’d made it!!!!! Slight heart missing a beat when we noticed that Liam Doyle would be playing Charlie Price, instead of Matt Cardle, but to be fair so long as Jojo was Lola all good for most of us!!! The Coliseum production is bigger and brighter than the tour in so many ways. They have more space on stage so more scope to move around and be more vibrant. The costumes for all characters are zhuzhed up too, and Lola has a great deal more wigs! (Also, Jojo seemed to be completely comfortable in all of them, unlike the one or two which seemed to bother him on tour.)

I thought Liam Doyle was a very good Charlie. (He normally plays Harry.) I have heard Matt Cardle’s voice is brilliant, so I am hoping I’ll see him next time, but it does seem he hasn’t been doing many of the shows?! Courtney Bowman reprises her role as Lauren and what a voice and presence she has. A wow of a woman! I also recognised a fair few others from the tour as well as new faces.

Though Lola first appears in big coat and almost hidden at the back of the stage – her key entrance at the Coliseum is to be rising up on a platform from below stage, as the Angels sing ‘Lola’ around her. The whoops and cheering as Jojo appeared could’ve raised the roof off the Coliseum!!! Glorious and shining like the brightest sun ever!!! And I know I said it in my tour review, but he has improved even more in his singing and acting. His singing voice now has more character to it and, I agree with Matt Cardle on this, a stunning hummingbird-esque vibrato added in too. Jojo singing ‘I Am Not My Father’s Son’ is beautiful beyond words. I would give anything to have a recording of that… please!!! He has settled so well into the acting it comes across as completely natural. Yes, others might be better at both those talents, but as one of my besties noted, his charisma is so off the charts that doesn’t matter. Again, as Matt says, though maybe not in these words he is super-fit and “ripped”, and his moving across the stage – especially in dance moves obviously – just sensational!!!

Only little funny thing that got in the way of my viewing experience. I was directly behind musical director Grant Walsh, and though he was cute (as masked bestie said), his head was in the way especially as Jojo started singing ‘I Am Not My Father’s Son’. Then, when his head wasn’t in the way, Lauren’s sewing-machine was! Oh well – a small Price to Pay – see what I did there?! 😉

My besties adored it!!! One of them already a Jojo-fan, the other now I think fast falling in love 😉 No need to say Jojo-bag Central Line friends still very much on board. I had the great pleasure of being accompanied by them back on the Central Line home too 😊 And all four of my fabulous friends looked after me exceptionally well too. Surrounded by them and with Jojo right in front of me on stage, I was certainly “Raised Up” and felt I could “Just Be Beautifully Me”!!!!!

KinkyBoots – Review by TheRestrictedReviewer © 2026

Dracula – Noel Coward Theatre – Saturday 11th April 2026

(Production Rated 4/5) (Cynthia Rated 7/5) How do I start with this one? Well, I guess it starts with my love of a green witch, Elphaba, who by being channelled by her, introduced me to the multi-talented Cynthia Erivo. Having seen her in the ‘Wicked’ films, read her book ‘Simply More’ – so well-written and inspiring in her warm, open and honest language on life-lessons from her own experiences – I felt curious to see her on stage. I’m not a huge ‘Dracula’ fan as such, though have inevitably seen a few versions one way or another. But I’m certainly fascinated by how a sole performer might convincingly play 23 characters and so tell a story in an exciting way. Some reviews didn’t seem to think this production – adapted from Bram Stoker’s book and directed by Kip Williams – had achieved that finding it dull and stilted. In fact, too close to the novel was a comment I spotted along the way. I haven’t read the book, but many would not find that a good critique as they’d love something faithful to the original! Mum!!😉 I confess I did enjoy, and found myself a little obsessed by the 1992 film ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, with Gary Oldman in the title role. However, given personal circumstances which may well have meant I wouldn’t be able to get to see it anyway, and given what seemed to be about 50% poor reviews, I allowed my expectations to drop significantly, and let it go…

As fortune would have it, though, my operation was brought forward enabling me to go after all, in spite of the fact I had to be drained of 650ml of my own blood-tinged fluid the day before. Is that ironic, Alanis?! 😉 The Saturday morning, I felt nervous – my first trip properly out in weeks – and also so thrilled to be walking along St. Martin’s Lane! It simply felt amazing just to be doing normal things I enjoy – meeting up with a close friend and going to the theatre – any theatre, any show; good or bad. Just being in that moment of glorious living. That said, I was aware of slight anxiety that Cynthia would be indisposed and so not appear. (Looking at the programme and searching online afterwards, there didn’t seem to be an understudy or alternate – interesting in itself – I wonder what happens if she cannot perform). I really wanted to see and experience Cynthia up close and as personal as someone in multiple characters can be 😊 And right up as close as can be we were in front row stalls.

The production is very clever imho. Cynthia comes on stage and lies down on her back. On screen we then see her shake and tremble; twisting to and fro, as she splits into multiple selves who each head off stage to later return to play their parts. Some characters, and parts of others, are filmed in advance by Cynthia and the team. They then get displayed on screen alongside Cynthia in whatever part she is embodying live at that stage of the play. I guess the only difficulty with that technique, together with the way the book is written (journals, letters and reports in part), is that you can get a little lost with who is who, even though in the main Cynthia is dressed in specific costumes and wigs etc to distinguish them and plays each character distinctively in voice, manner, accent etc. There is a lot to learn – 1hr 50 mins, in fact, of pretty rapid dialogue as well as a multitude of business to do along the way. In interviews Cynthia has said she couldn’t pre-learn it all. In fact, the only way she found she could do so is by running it through with all her assistants on cameras or providing changes in costume and props. She is never really alone on stage, but even then, it’s quite amazing how many people join her at curtain call! She said they were immensely important in helping her know where she is in the play, and she was interacting with them, even though they said nothing. Cynthia wore her trademark long elegant nails – for this white – and apparently a variety of scents each for her representing the different characters. She has said she felt the most empathy for Mina -wife to Jonathan Harker, who opens the story with his visit to Dracula’s castle.

The whole production gripped me so entirely that I couldn’t have appreciated it more. I do think in part that was the head-space and state of emotion in which I was at the time. But, for me, Cynthia was so mesmerising and I was monumentally moved by her and the whole experience of life, death, undeath, love, passion, trauma in such a variety of characters encompassed by one person – oodles of symbolism in that I think and maybe the multiple personalities possible within us all to varying degrees faced with life’s dramas to encourage them emerge from us. Each of her performances was individual and sensational. She is so tiny and yet so powerful.

Another critique I read was that she only sings a very little. Well, this is not a musical, and her exquisite singing is used for a very specific purpose in this production. SPOILER ALERT: Do not read past this point if you don’t want to know… As we come to the end of the play, Cynthia is in the part of Dracula himself. Thus far we have only seen how Dracula’s already ‘turned’ vampires seduce their victims, not the Count himself. In character, though she does not tinge her voice with his accent, Cynthia sings “Come to me” – and it is so gorgeous and enticing, that, yes, she’d have me hook, line and sinker. I was shaking myself in floods of tears and clinging on to my friend in reaction to Cynthia Erivo – little powerhouse of humanity and talent with such an inspiring life force!

Dracula – Review by TheRestrictedReviewer © 2026

The Unbelievers – Royal Court Theatre – Saturday 8th November 2025

(Rated 4/5) I was invited by friends to see ‘The Unbelievers’ as Nicola Walker was in it and they knew I like her. As I’ve said before anything with NW is an immediate “Yes” from me <3. Back when that lovely invitation came through to me, I then didn’t even bother to look up the play or what it was about. I confess I didn’t even notice it was written by Nick Payne, and nor did I recall when much nearer the time of going, what I had seen that NP had written! Just that his name sounded very familiar. And, it is only just before writing my experience of this production, that I realised Nick was the writer of ‘Constellations’, which I gave a 7/5 after seeing it back in 2012!!! It and the performances in it blew me away. If anyone wishes, they can look up my review, but suffice to say it seems to have made me friends with Physics and re-awakened a love of performance, which for some reason I’d lost a little. Nope, I don’t remember why!

So, not the least surprise that ‘The Unbelievers’ has at its heart a very clever idea around time (and space 😉) and is jam-packed with an exploration of the wide-range of human emotion (in this case in response to the missing of a loved-one) and a wide variety of human relationships. Nicola plays the mother of the missing person, and the play explores that fracturing feeling of time, and the sometimes-polar responses she has in her own psychological fracturing following her son’s disappearance with no explanation as to how or why. That desperate constant trauma of the not-knowing. Will she and the family ever get an answer as to what has happened?

‘The Unbelievers’ jumps around in time throughout the seven years it covers from the first moment of missing to – well seven years later! The scene is the same throughout, but with the family of characters related in some way to missing Oscar – or those attempting to help in the search for him – coming into or out of that scene in the family home. Those ‘off-stage’ sit or stand – as though waiting, worrying, contemplating – at the back of the stage behind glass screens so they can all be seen, and are always present. I found that a clever idea too. And in that presence also exaggerates the absence of that one key missing person, around whom absolutely everything revolves.

Nicola is phenomenal – no surprise either that she was or that I would say that I guess haha – and really does take us through the waves of reactions you’d expect in the circumstances – sometimes full-on breaking down, anger, hysterical laughter, crying in agony, disbelief or even scorn towards how her family are responding. It is a very much a blended family about whom you discover more and more in terms of individual characters and the dynamics between them as the play progresses. The ensemble – and it really is an ensemble piece – are terrific. The ‘action’ moves from the sublime to ridiculous and all in between. I have to admit though I personally enjoyed one of the most ridiculous scenes in which one character teaches everyone else about Puffins!

This play is not an ‘easy’ watch. As it jumps around in time, at first, I found myself trying to work out when we were in relation to the initial disappearance, and then coming to a kind of acceptance that it doesn’t actually matter. The agonies around loss like this – and I would imagine even more so when there may be no finding or answer/closure – are going to come and go not necessarily in any linear fashion. Of course, it is also exploring the heights and depths of emotion, with a constant tension as a thread throughout. So much so that at one point, as it happened during a séance-scene, I felt myself in the midst of a panic attack, and had to take some deep breaths and sips of tea to calm myself down! None of we three would say we enjoyed it as such, and one of my companions was very emotional at the end. It is likely to trigger anyone who allows themselves to engage empathically with it and the characters. Incidentally, they all – current partner, ex-partner, siblings, half-siblings, police, medic, parapsychology investigator etc etc – are written and performed exceptionally well with their own idiosyncrasies. Nobody is boring to the audience, even if they might be so, or even annoying or whatever else, to each other.

We had a funny experience when a town known well by us – due to a family connection – got mentioned as quite an obscure place (if I remember right) – and I couldn’t help laughing at that. Kind of a shame as I got distracted and didn’t take in quite why it was being mentioned or what happened there! One of my companions, meanwhile, was focused on trying to see if she could recognise the shops mentioned in the town and not doing so! Quite a funny incident personal to us. Sadly, a very unfunny incident also happened, mid-scene in which mouth swabs were being taken, a woman in black wearing a head-set came on stage and stopped the performers. We were all told we had to leave the auditorium. Someone in the audience had been taken ill. So, we had an unplanned interval of around twenty minutes! I just hope the person was ok. That certainly added anxiety to proceedings, but as the actors came back on stage, Nicola – as herself – gave a little smile – before heading back into character. I found that immensely comforting.

I tend to mostly avoid reviews before I go to productions, but having a quick scan through since, I realise it didn’t seem to ‘land’ with many. For me, it is not as good as ‘Constellations’, or at least as far as my memory of that is re-awakened by my Restricted Review of it. And, I guess, something feels missing in ‘The Unbelievers’ for me too, yet I can’t put my finger on what. Maybe, bizarrely, that reflects the nature of the play – something missing or you’re not quite believing.

TheUnbelievers – Review by TheRestrictedReviewer © 2025

Born With Teeth – Wyndham’s Theatre – Saturday 25th October 2025

(Rated 5/5)

‘Born with Teeth’ by Liz Duffy Adams, is a play inspired by the recent discovery concluded by the editors of the New Oxford Shakespeare, using scientific studies of writing techniques, that Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare collaborated on the three Henry VI plays with a likely probability of over 90%! Now that’s pretty high! Though the vast majority – if not all – of Shakespeare’s plays are now published in his name – historians believe that he wrote with several different writers on a fair few of them. As many will know theories also abound that Shakespeare didn’t write any of them at all! It’s certainly exciting to think about how he may have been at the very least influenced by a writing project with the – at the time of 1591 – high flying, exciting, Cambridge-educated, genius poet and Elizabethan-court spy Kit Marlowe, which Adams imagines in this play. Through her grammar-school, country boy, actor narrator – Will Shakespeare - she informs us at points “This didn’t happen”, or variations thereupon. As Kit and Will discuss, they are not reproducing “factual history” – if such a thing even exists – in their play, and neither is Adams. But, how wonderful to explore what may have occurred between these two; dynamic and gentle; opposing yet maybe attracting personalities, with their vastly different life experiences, views, morals and attitudes to life. The two-hander is full of snappy witty dialogue revealing of so much about both of these two impressive playwrights as they discover each other in front of us, explore their stark contrasts, attempt to draw things from the other they may not want to give, and play-fight, real-fight, attract and repel, creatively banter, come up with their lines, perform them together, and debate the dangers of the world they are in and what that could mean for them both in their journeys through life and even personal development. Just prior to ‘curtain up, my theatre companion and I were talking about the importance of chemistry between lead actors – whatever the nature of the relationships they are protraying – and how a play or show can fall flat if it isn’t present. No danger of that here. Will (Edward Bluemel) – and the rest of us – are dazzled by Ncuti Gatwa’s Kit’s edgy charisma and charm, and though he tries to resist, sparks fly between them. And Kit – though initially wanting to seduce Will into his world of espionage, gradually wants to seduce him in quite a different way, even later considering whether that gentle way of life towards which he was so scathing initially, might actually be quite attractive. The whole interaction – though in three acts – is over ever so much faster than the vast majority of Will’s plays – the fiery heart-pounding-inducing brilliance burns towards, well a twist at the end in the “This didn’t happen” mantra… but “No Spoilers” (Thanks River Song 😉)!

As Ncuti’s 15th Doctor knows there is “Always a twist at the end”. I saw Ncuti’s performances arguably in the wrong order 😉 In fact when I saw him announced as The Doctor, I didn’t even know who he was. I saw all his Who before his Eric Effiong in ‘Sex Education’, and that after his turn as Algernon Moncrieff in ‘The Importance of Being Ernest’. For me, he shines so bright and full of colour in all he does, and gives so much of himself to all his characters, using the trademark Ncuti laugh in such a variety of ways. Here he conveys the fierce danger of Marlowe in addition to the out and proud and exciting boundary-breaking beauty of him. Shakespeare was easily the duller of the two, and the implication being he could almost have gone under the radar if it hadn’t been for the inspiring influence of Kit. I didn’t think I knew Edward Bluemel, but then realised he played Maeve’s brother in ’Sex Education’ and Hugo in ‘Killing Eve’ – apologies you went under the radar for me there too, Ed – arguably great casting 😉

The production starts loudly as we are plunged into the peril of complete darkness following a crackling electric light show of images of Kit and Will. Then ‘Bang!’ on come a huge array of very bright and very hot lights almost blinding and burning us. On an amusing note, those of us who had gone in expecting to need layers against over-enthusiastic aircon, actually had to remove some! I was actually going to dock a mark for that, but I think it would have been unfair. I can now see the symbolism of it. So, lighting designer Neil Austen you are forgiven. Joanna Scotcher’s costumes were fabulously evocative of both their time and our time connecting the two – it is a story for all time in many ways. Daniel Evans directed – the programme notes that for films the director is often the key person – here it really does feel as though the writers – all three of them are and were! I love writing! I would love to have written this, but that honour goes to Liz Duffy Adams, and I’m sure Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare would have given her rave reviews! 😊

BornWithTeeth – Review by TheRestrictedReviewer © 2025