Birmingham RepSoaring ballads and spirited movement abound in a charming show about teenage self-discovery A team of bhangra dancers bound onto the stage in traditional sequined dress and fa…
Donmar Warehouse, LondonHawes and Jack Davenport radiate as postwar lovers in Lucy Kirkwood's cinephile postwar romantic drama set against the birth of the NHS As debate on the future of the…
Bush theatre, LondonBenedict Lombe questions ideas around abuse, grief and the Black body in this meet-again-cute starring Tosin Cole and Heather Agyepong Would you want to revisit your firs…
Theatre Royal Stratford East, LondonThis feted battle of the sexes comedy follows defiantly upbeat Caribbean characters making a life in postwar Britain This irrepressible ska musical, trans…
Good plays have the power to shake us out of our complacency. This recurring debate is a pointless skirmish in a culture war CONTENT WARNING: This column may include opinions with which you …
Lyric theatre, LondonAnaïs Mitchell's musical melds two classical myths, folk and jazz with tremendous soul and offbeat spirit This odyssey through the underworld, told with deep-voiced …
Duke of York's theatre, LondonRock'n'roll reimagining of Ibsen's timeless corruption drama brings the audience into direct Question Time-style dialogue with Smith's idealist revolutionary Ma…
Hampstead theatre, LondonJohn Logan's play combines the stories behind two films made in the 1960s but each needs more space to truly hit home Two pairs of directors and actors zigzag on sta…
Almeida Theatre, LondonThe set is a marvel, the performances are electric and the ending " with Lear raging and trembling in a hospital gown on the heath " is profoundly tragic Yaël Farbe…
Theatre Royal Haymarket, LondonAided by elaborate tech, multiple screens and an angelic wig, the Succession star gives a performance that is mischievous, swaggering and operatic Does Sarah S…
Old Vic, LondonJukebox show celebrating sweary Bob Geldof's 1985 mega-fundraiser piles homily on cliche in a production in thrall to white saviour stereotypes The breathless tagline invites …
Rose theatre, Kingston-upon-Thames Onjali Raùf's morality tale for children, adapted by Nick Ahad, fluidly harnesses schoolkid energy, though important details are often reported rather t…
Theatre Royal BathThis eccentric retelling of the bloody story flamboyantly combines songs and pop culture gags but still shocks Emma Rice's retelling of this bloody folktale could be descri…
The first African Caribbean figure to lead a major British theatre has announced his departure but his bold approach must remain Kwame Kwei-Armah's decision to step down from the helm of the…
Harold Pinter theatre, LondonThe Jerusalem playwright's new drama, directed by Sam Mendes, follows four siblings coached as children to become stars and now reunited at their mother's bedsid…
Bush theatre, LondonPersonalities and generations clash in Sophia Chetin-Leuner's claustrophobic play about a mental health unit under strain It is clear from the office, strewn with piles o…
New Diorama theatre, LondonEphemeral Ensemble use music, movement and puppetry to astonishing effect in a devastating show about the right to protest There are few words in this startling ho…
Dorfman theatre, LondonBeth Steel's new drama is dazzlingly performed and full of pain, joy and laughter in a deft production by Bijan Sheibani A wedding day is fertile ground for a family d…
Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, LondonOla Ince's production is set within a hostile modern police force and has DCI Othello's unconscious portrayed by a second actor Shakespeare's military genius i…
Barn theatre, CirencesterThe detective hunts for Jack the Ripper in a funny, tangled comedy on how crime is sensationalised for entertainment This comedy adventure enlists Sherlock Holmes to…
Rimini Protokoll's new show is part of a series of performances inspired by James Joyce's Ulysses and draws a connection between its Aeolus episode and hypercapitalism On the eastern outskir…
Savoy theatre, LondonDespite a thrilling premise " New York's power couple staging unhappy marriages " this dated production coasts on its stars' fame rather than testing their seasoned skil…
Royal & Derngate, NorthamptonThe Aristophanes play is interwoven with the theatre company's personal quest in a ramshackle show that loses its way This Aristophanes comedy is theatre's o…
Southwark Playhouse, LondonGrace Joy Howarth's play about the lives of two slaughterhouse workers addresses many things " the ethics of eating animals, the situation in Ukraine, zero-hours c…
Omnibus theatre, LondonA feminist artist and teacher is at the centre of Mary Swan's overstuffed play exploring abuse, sexism and politics We meet a once famous artist just as she is being p…