1,278 stories by "Arifa Akbar"
Royal Exchange, ManchesterStef Smith's reworking of the incendiary play casts three Noras in different eras, but can't give them credible life
There is not one disgruntled wife in this high-…
Menier Chocolate Factory, LondonLooking back at the work of Sondheim, Hamlisch and Legrand, with glorious songs and personal stories, this is a mixed bag of a show
Maria Friedman has staged …
Olivier theatre, LondonA superb new cast show this story of love, war and racial prejudice has earned its place in the National Theatre pantheon
There is arguably a calculated safety in stag…
Donmar Warehouse, LondonThe Game of Thrones star impresses in an uneven production balancing boardroom and battlefield
It is impossible to watch Max Webster's modern-dress staging of Henry V…
Riverside Studios, LondonTim Walker's drama reconstructs the battles between Theresa May and Gina Miller after the Brexit vote, and their misogynist context
Kenneth Clarke's description of T…
Southwark Playhouse, LondonA couple bicker through the night in a remote cabin in a well-performed revival of David Mamet's two-hander from 1977
David Mamet's odd if intriguing two-hander fr…
Theatre Royal, Newcastle upon TyneA startlingly handsome production of George Orwell's allegorical farmyard tale, with hints of kabuki and film noir, is given ever more meaning and relevance…
Young Vic, LondonPaul Bettany and Jeremy Pope excel as the art world legends in Anthony McCarten's account of a fractious friendship
Anthony McCarten's new play is an odd bromance between tw…
Studio theatre, SheffieldJohn Rwothomack, performing his own one-man play, depicts a Ugandan boy terrorised into fighting for the Lord's Resistance Army with visceral power
'Will you favour …
His liberal-baiting plays have caused punch-ups in the aisles and he hasn't finished yet. As The Woods " his incendiary take on sexual politics " returns, the writer cuts loose
'I have no id…
The award-winning writer of Shook grew up on an estate and did not see his world represented on stage. When he acknowledged his shame about his background, he found his voice
In 2019, Samuel…
Royal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon Afrofuturism meets comic-book kitsch in a radiant production whose dramatic impact cannot match its majestic design
The first and last word on …
Lyric Hammersmith, LondonSian Carter's debut play tells an inter-generational story of hidden mental illness that is richly played, with real pain but also sparks of joy
You are forced to "s…
Hampstead theatre, LondonA seductive production that jumbles chronology and blends memory with fantasy is undeniably slick and captivating to watch
Florian Zeller's brand of psychological th…
Almeida, London
Kathryn Hunter and Marcello Magni are perfectly grotesque in this timely revival of Eugène Ionesco's absurdist classic
This may be the perfect time to revive a play about th…
Theatre Royal PlymouthNigel Harman and Hannah Rose Caton star as Dan Brown's adventurers in a show that sometimes feels as if it is on fast-forward
Dan Brown's compulsive, contentious story …
Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, LondonAlthough Sean Holmes's production has some nice touches, it fails to plumb the play's existential depths and lacks emotional intensity
George Fouracres, best k…
He came blazing out of Glasgow like a rocket, scoring hits and acclaim. As he returns to the stage in a hard-rapping, homoerotic Cyrano de Bergerac, the star talks about partygate, snout siz…
Old Vic theatre, LondonThe powerhouse duo's effortless chemistry and emotional realism brings Caryl Churchill's cloning tragedy blazing into new life
'They've taken your cells," says a fathe…
Chichester Festival theatreAn unruly nun's quest for the truth about an accused priest leads her into a moral maze in this riveting study of truth and ideology
Many will know John Patrick Sh…
Bristol Old VicRylance turns the life of the 19th-century doctor and campaigner for antiseptic practices into a tragedy of almost Shakespearean proportions
A few months ahead of bringing "Ro…
The Walking Dead and Save Me actor and writer on his return to theatre, why he left to work in the US, and what his mum would think of his career choice
Lennie James has missed being on stag…
The actor and new artistic director of Tamasha theatre company, dedicated to stories from the global majority, talks about her campaign to change the industry
Pooja Ghai struggled to find he…
Donmar Warehouse, LondonThis story about the aftermath of an Alpine disaster was brilliantly compelling on film but becomes a clumsy comedy on stage
Anyone who has watched Ruben Östlund'…
Hampstead theatre, LondonThe songs that unite two grieving sisters are collected and 'tidied up' by Cecil Sharp in this historical drama
This beautifully brooding slice of English pastoral p…
