Watermill theatre, NewburyA stupendous cast, outstanding stagecraft and delightful songs prove how thrilling an old story can become in the right hands This musical incarnation of the classi…
New Diorama theatre, LondonSam Ward's 90-minute romp through French history could be a five-star show, but in its current state it is too convoluted and incoherent to grasp How do revolution…
Swan theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon Nikki Cheung impresses as the girl who loves dancing so much she's carried away by her shoes, but Nancy Harris's script frustrates Hans Christian Andersen's…
Arcola theatre, LondonFour interwoven stories set in 2043 explore love, connection and AI. Their ideas are beautifully written but dramatically truncated The year is 2043 and the world's dat…
Park theatre, London The real-life story of Frankie Lucas, a fighter spurned by Britain's boxing establishment, is wrenchingly sad but loses power in this telling Frankie Lucas might not be …
Theatre's boom season offers puppy puppetry, hungry houseplants and fresh spins on Dickens, Dumas and Disney Royal and Derngate theatre, Northampton, 7-31 December Continue reading...
Theatre Royal BathTwo one-act plays explore mid-century loneliness, exclusion and sexuality in a fine production starring Nathaniel Parker and a scene-stealing Siân Phillips This handso…
Gate theatre, LondonSanaz Toossi's intimate play follows a group of friends during the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and beyond as they get married, have children and experience loss Two dramas…
Noël Coward theatre, London Adding a fourth role to Peter Sellers' three turns in the classic film, the comic excels in a fun yet unadventurous adaptation Stanley Kubrick's 1964 satire, a…
Hampstead theatre, LondonTwo sides of the same event are explored in Richard Bean's drama " one haunting, one comedic " but they don't really fit together There is a tension from the off bet…
Southwark Playhouse Elephant, London A 15-year-old's bereavement is tackled with 'can-do' American energy, a tremendous score and wickedly barbed lyrics that keep the schmaltz in check This …
The Belgrade theatre, CoventrySet in a family-run Jamaican eaterie, Daniel J Carver's potent drama explores across three generations what it is to be a Black British man Outside, race riots …
Trafalgar theatre, London Zinnie Harris's version of the Jacobean play makes potent points about power but is hamstrung by an overbearing production John Webster's revenge tragedy contains a…
Wyndham's theatre, LondonOpening in a campaign room on election night, Robert Icke's modern retelling is riveting from beginning to end, the formidable leads supported by a stellar ensemble …
Birmingham RepA boy is bullied when he's cast as Nancy in the school play " but bland songs and generic characters keep the story stuck in single gear This musical, about a boy's coming out,…
Donmar Warehouse Oscar winner makes London debut in Lindsey Ferrentino's busy play that sometimes lacks intensity As true crime stories go, Nick Yarris's tale is stranger than fiction and a …
Royal Court, LondonOli Forsyth's play about a honeymooning couple caught up in a disaster is let down by unconvincing dilemmas and characterisations In its setup, this is an edge-of-the-seat…
Lyttelton theatre, LondonEvery performance is compelling in this rivetingly naturalistic modern-day reworking of Antigone, written by Alexander Zeldin This modern family psychodrama bills it…
Gielgud theatre, LondonRylance is entertainingly Chaplinesque as a dissolute husband in Seán O'Casey's 1924 tragicomedy, but Succession's J Smith-Cameron is its heart and soul as the long…
Battersea Arts Centre, LondonMixing the personal and political into one consciousness-raising 'anti-biography', Khalid Abdalla's solo show takes in western colonialism, 9/11, British identit…
Almeida theatre, LondonWatching John Osborne's fulminating Jimmy Porter feels curiously cold, while the same cast bring subtleties to Arnold Wesker's classic The "angry young man" has not ag…
Chichester Festival theatreThis drama about Mick Jagger and Keith Jones's 1967 drugs bust curiously foregrounds their lawyer's family issues The public outcry that followed the prison senten…
Actors Meera Syal and Shobna Gulati, with playwright Tanika Gupta, explain how their National Theatre production springs from the anguish of losing their mothers Meera Syal and Tanika Gupta'…
Menier Chocolate Factory, LondonThis frothy farce about an 1890 cabinet minister 'accepting favours' never stoops to nudge-winking to make its point " and is all the better for it If the ide…
Royal Court Theatre, LondonSophisticated play melds fact with fiction in its dramatisation of a scandalous moment in the life of the author As debut plays go, Giant has some very old and exp…