Birmingham RepThis bright calypso musical, a feelgood reboot of Mustapha Matura's play, features a tremendous cast and sweet duets Is it a musical or is it a play with songs? It's a moot poi…
The Lowry, SalfordThere are attractive performances and striking singing as sisters grieve in writer Matthew Bulgo's drama Anna is in her late mother's attic brandishing a book. It is called…
Pitlochry Festival theatreWhat starts as a straight Conan Doyle adaptation takes a surprising twist in this two-hander about the limitations of story At first, you assume Lesley Hart's play …
Royal Lyceum, EdinburghStephen McNicoll and Barnaby Power make a consummate team as the comedy legends, delivering knockabout hilarity with a melancholy undertow Movie director Leo McCarey h…
Pitlochry Festival theatreDespite the actors' efforts and some wide-collared 1970s designs, Ben Occhipinti's adaptation suffers from a lack of clarity The actors in Noises Off have to play t…
Pitlochry Festival theatreMusical built around the Proclaimers' music is tear-jerking and joyful and awash with life We've romped most of the way through Life With You, the title track from …
Live theatre, NewcastleDespite lively performances the story of three 13-year-olds in 1980s Sweden skips by with nothing at stake and nothing to be resolved You can see why Jack McNamara was…
Hull Truck theatreUpdated for the era of remote learning, Godber's 1987 work is still joyously energetic and bitter about systemic inequalities The most topical joke of the night is about pa…
Everyman, LiverpoolChloë Moss's play about a female officer who joins an all-male crew on a cargo ship skims the surface of its issues If you wanted to map the contours of the patriarchy,…
Ã’ran Mór, GlasgowAn actor considers a move from Northern Ireland to London in this witty two-hander by Cyprus Avenue's David Ireland Matthew is nervously running through his lines as …
Storyhouse, ChesterTim Firth pays tribute to his eccentric father with a cheerfully anarchic tale of cross-generational trust The key moment in Tim Firth's nourishing new musical would be ea…
Leeds PlayhouseEithne Browne gives a superb depiction of the bewilderment brought on by Alzheimer's in Francis Poet's sharp-witted play Frances Poet has form when it comes to dramatising ill…
Nottingham PlayhousePlaywright Nathaniel Price's aim is true in a predatory pitch-side tale from the 1970s If there is a victory in Nathaniel Price's new play, it takes place in extra time. …
Belgrade theatre, CoventryDesdemona's twins step forward to speak out against the racist tropes that led to their parents' tragedy in this inclusive, urgent production We are reaching the cl…
Hope Mill theatre, ManchesterRuthie Henshall and Kelly Price shine in a sophisticated and intimate staging of Stephen Sondheim's 1994 musical Stephen Sondheim's 1994 musical is about that mo…
Dundee RepThe staff at a betting shop, and their sole punter, find their hands forced in this quirky escapist comedy Is it a sitcom? A Narnian fantasy? A Tarantino-esque bloodbath? This new …
Leeds PlayhouseEva Scott and Usman Nawaz deliver winning performances in this smart but ponderous tale of ill-fated love The elephant in the room is a trinket. It is an animal ornament that …
Northern Stage, NewcastleClaudia Rankine's tense and timely play about an art collector puts white liberalism under the microscope Charles is a property developer who has built private priso…
Byre theatre, St AndrewsVicki Manderson choreographs a quietly intense show about a disorder that causes a group of girls to dance uncontrollably Last time around it was called The Afflicted…
Stephen Joseph theatre, ScarboroughThis anarchic show casts off the corsets to capture just what made these literary sisters so striking Those of us with a hatred of costume drama are in g…
Octagon theatre, BoltonShamia Chalabi and Sarah Henley's 'East meets Wigan' drama is at its best on the subject of cars and women's independence You would expect the most interesting charact…
Alphabetti theatre, NewcastleThe possibility of trading bad memories for good drives tension in this disconcerting play by Ali Pritchard When they talk about the pre-crisis times in Ali Prit…
Stephen Joseph theatre, ScarboroughChris Bush's gripping new adaptation " the centrepiece of a Brontë festival " adds an interesting psychological twist Not content with staging Chris Bus…
As they prepare to bring the mesmerising How It Is to London, the actors reflect on performing a text with no characters and no punctuation Two men are meeting on Zoom, as they have done twi…
Northern Stage, NewcastleCaroline Bird's play pays tribute to the leftwing firebrand Ellen Wilkinson, who led Jarrow march and as a Labour minister introduced free school milk Director Wils…