1,230 stories by "Arifa Akbar"
Donmar Warehouse, LondonWhile Diana Nneka Atuona's deft script could do with a final polish, its heart, humour and spirit sing in the hands of a luminous cast
The Donmar's last production, W…
Royal and Derngate theatre, NorthamptonMichael Rosen's update of Oliver Twist gets the musical treatment in this high-energy show about a schoolgirl ensnared by a street gang
Charles Dickens…
@sohoplace, LondonMedea is as much victim as villain in Dominic Cooke's psychologically subtle and subversive production, and Ben Daniels is superb playing all the puffed up men in her life…
Royal Court theatre, LondonAva Wong Davies's monologue takes us through the small, slow steps that lead her central character into peril
This slow but searing monologue begins as a girl-meet…
Old Vic, LondonHistorical characters bust contemporary dance moves while the troubled relationship between Sylvia Pankhurst and her mother Emmeline is laid bare
So many shows seem to want to…
National Theatre, LondonThis new musical traces the intersecting lives of three families on the Park Hill estate in this spine-tingling and sentimental love song to the steel city
This music…
Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle upon Tyne and onlineImmersive, interactive and online, this story of Allison Davies' schooldays, early romances and autism diagnosis, is heartfelt
Elsa has an …
Romeo, an out-of-work single dad, falls for Julie, a top student who dreams of being an astrophysicist. We go behind the scenes at a Shakespeare update that swaps fair Verona for Splott in C…
Lyttelton theatre, LondonJanet McTeer plays a politician who falls for her dead lover's son, but even her strong performance cannot save a tonally unsure play
The ancient Greek tragedy of a…
Gillian Lynne theatre, LondonHadley Fraser, Nigel Lindsay and Michael Balogun are astonishing as the 18th-century bankers who helped to define the American dream
The Lehman Trilogy premiered…
Finborough theatre, LondonThis two-hander, translated from the French, has a hypnotic narrative power as it considers the refugees' dangerous journey
Two men stand at opposite ends of the st…
Theatre Royal Stratford East, LondonKosovan refugee Dritan Kastrati looks back at the struggles of his arduous journey and his troubling experiences in London
'In my country" is an often rep…
Lyric theatre, LondonThe singer is convincing in the role (first played by Lily Allen) of a mother who hears spooky noises at night in Danny Robins' well-oiled, blackly comic chiller
Since i…
Harold Pinter theatre, LondonJosie Rourke's West End revival of Sam Steiner's fringe hit really lifts when the show's starry duo drop their romcom routine
Does a revival of Sam Steiner's 201…
Soho theatre, LondonThis intergalactic show about sexuality and religious homophobia boasts a charismatic star in Willy Hudson but tips into chaos
Willy Hudson's "queer sci-fi epic" has an i…
Barbican, LondonThese four vignettes offer flashes of brilliance and smart stagecraft but feel too disconnected to truly hit home
Is it too soon to see the funny side of the pandemic? A hosp…
Royal Court, LondonA plot to kill RuPaul for dragging drag into the mainstream, followed by song and dance numbers, fires up an exhilarating show with breathtaking costumes, radical politics…
Theatre503, LondonWhen two boys kiss at primary school, there's a furore on the parents' WhatsApp group and an intervention from fabulous supernatural forces
Two couples thrash out their dif…
Park theatre, LondonGwithian Evans and Jon Osbaldeston star in a power struggle that keeps you guessing " but it's not enough to get under your skin
Nicolas Billon's 2004 play sets itself up…
Riverside Studios, LondonJemma Kahn's show begins with a striptease, then ponders existential questions before ending with an orgiastic dinner party
This peculiar and alluring act begins as …
Jermyn Street theatre, LondonMisha Levkov's dystopian debut examines migration, climate and community action but the drama is lost amid bland philosophical arguments
It is 2025 and the world…
Ustinov Studio, BathThe humour is a little too clownish in Lindsay Posner's revival of Edward Albee's classic but the toxic power games are potent
So much of Edward Albee's 1962 play about a…
Charing Cross theatre, LondonThe Star Trek actor appears in an epic story of Japanese Americans interned after Pearl Harbor but there is never enough emotional force
This musical, inspired b…
Seven Dials Playhouse, LondonKeith Merrill's monologue about an agent who feels she should have found fame as an actor relies too heavily on backstory and hackneyed lines to realise the pote…
Almeida, LondonOne of the year's most hyped shows delivers with powerful performances from the Normal People star, Patsy Ferran and Anjana Vasan
Two weeks into 2023 and we have already arriv…