Theatr Clywd, MoldA group of Swansea natives yearn for escape but can see no see further than SomersetSouth Wales writer Sam Burns studied in Swansea and now lives partly in Rajasthan, wher…
With their two-minute 'topicals', Mitchell and Kenyon gave us an unparalleled picture of Edwardian life then split in mysterious circumstances. A new play sets out to tell their story The L…
Its characters may carry a whiff of panto, but this fierce comedy about a failing Liverpool primary school offers a serious insight into the constraints placed on teachersFormer teacher Mark…
Mark Babych's first production as Hull Truck's artistic director embraces the enormous heart of Shelagh Delaney's debut play without flinching from its vulgarity Shameless's Rebecca Ryan tak…
As she stars in her second revival of A Taste of Honey, Rebecca Ryan talks about the enduring appeal of Delaney's contradictory Jo and how growing up on Manchester's Chatsworth estate as De…
Royal Exchange, ManchesterSpirits are high in this make-do-and-mend era revamp of Shakespeare's comedy, with a tartly played antipathy between Beatrice and BenedickThe Swedish director Maria…
Theatre Royal, YorkAlastair Whatley introduces awkward notes of absurdity and farce into this version of the Faulks novel " though there are some fine performancesThe first world war was a l…
Adelaide festival's programme features a clutch of epic theatrical, musical and filmic experiences: from Tectonics to Roman Tragedies, John Zorn to River of Fundament. So what's the best adv…
Despite the tweeting, screening of Sochi and the fact that the audience can get up onstage, the real innovation of this six-hour Shakespeare marathon was dramaturgical, writes Alfred Hicklin…
Lowry, SalfordChris Honer's production " his last as artistic director of the Library theatre " is entirely faithful to the spirit of ChekhovAnya Reiss's adaptation of The Seagull, firs…
Playwright Mike Kenny's take on Homer's Odyssey at Derby theatre is taught and functional, while Caroline Horton's companion piece covers similar ground with more originality3/5 and 4/5If ev…
Can a provocative adaptation of Brecht and Weill's satire, produced by four regional theatres, continue the change promised by the Paralympics?An empty television studio in Nottingham, curre…
Crucible, SheffieldAn exemplary revival of what may be Brian Friel's greatest play makes a fine centrepiece to this season of his workBrian Friel's 1980 drama was born from twin impulses: th…
Crucible, SheffieldBrian Friel's audacious, Chekhovian epilogue is short, masterful and hilariousA middle-aged man and woman have a chance encounter in a slightly down-at-heel Moscow tea-roo…
Theatre Royal, YorkPaul Allen's adaptation of the film about a colliery brass band has been revived for the 30th anniversary of the miners' strikeWhere there's muck there's brass: and there'…
Grand, LeedsA mixed menu of opera and cabaret is a strangely imbalanced way to pay homage to the bohemianism of the French capitalAs Bogart said to Bergman: "We'll always have Paris." The qu…
Clwyd Theatr Cymru, MoldDylan Thomas's play for voices is given a pitch-perfect revival by director Terry Hands' ensemble of actorsThis is a marquee year for Dylan Thomas as it is both the c…
Can you do a ronnie? Ever tried a rant? Alfred Hickling gets a lesson in clog-dancing from a troupe using it to bring the horrors of the first world war back to lifeConrad Nelson is in the m…
Nottingham PlayhouseA nuanced performance brings the best from Amanda Whittington's monologue about a nurse's slide into pornIt all began as a bit of a laugh: Julie's boyfriend had a camera …
Her plays about women are widely performed yet she's often missing from critics' lists. Could her ambitious latest, My Judy Garland Life, change all that?Who would you nominate as the most-p…
West Yorkshire Playhouse, LeedsThis jukebox monologue has Denise van Outen as an Essex-girl-lingerie-designer randomly bursting into the hits of the 80sCharlie Parsons's programme profile st…
Nottingham PlayhouseThis adaptation of Susie Boyt's memoir veers too far over the rainbow but it's warm-hearted funThe novelist and journalist Susie Boyt once confided to a friend that her g…
The trio's cabaret is the stuff of nightmares " so it was only a matter of time before they brought their squeezebox and falsetto to Wedekind's femme fatale, in their new show for Opera Nort…
Octagon, Bolton This classic comedy about an intemperate northern cobbler is delivered with care, attention and turn-of-the-century styleHarold Brighouse was, by his own admission, "half a h…
Continuing our series on favourite shows, Alfred Hickling explains why he's a big fan of the little girl who bounces back from hard knocksThere aren't many classic musicals about which I can…