How do you re-enact a homicide for a theatre performance " and should you? Director Milo Rau invited people who knew the victim to take part On 22 April, 2012, Ihsane Jarfi left a gay bar i…
Crucible, SheffieldTransformative puppetry, design and direction, and a great human lead, make this adaptation of Yann Martel's book unmissable A tip for playwrights: when you want to field …
Various venues, ManchesterIrish company Anu's site-specific modern stories of struggle bring the radical spirit of 19th-century protesters to life This production is billed as a response to …
Curve, LeicesterAlice Walker's novel is transformed into an exuberant celebration of community and female empowerment Incest. Child abuse. Rape. Domestic violence … the foundations of Ali…
New Vic, Newcastle-under-LymeThis dizzylingly funny drama boasts a tremendous cast, witty costumes and surprising set 'This is not a ballad," says Prudencia Hart early on in David Greig's di…
As his bold new Oedipus heads to Edinburgh, the director discusses revamping Sophocles and the 'poisonous nostalgia' behind Brexit The teenagers in the audience are all squirms and giggles. …
Albert Halls, BoltonDespite the cast's best efforts, Oscar Wilde's comedy gets almost no laughs in a production that tries too hard to be funny With a good Oscar Wilde aphorism, you can't te…
Royal Exchange, ManchesterRelocating Harold Brighouse's classic to Manchester's Hindu community, Tanika Gupta finds some sharp political parallels and a very funny new cultural context It is…
★★★★☆/★★☆☆☆ Theatre by the Lake, KeswickCharlotte Keatley's 1987 work about mothers and daughters is a wonderful gesture of empath…
Various venues, Edinburgh Inventive stagings keep young minds enthralled as detectives test their bravery, dancers evolve and superheroes fall out There's an extraordinary moment in the midd…
Prestonpans Town HallCutting between austerity-hit East Lothian today and the battlefields of the 1930s anti-fascist volunteers, this gutsy play reveals the complexity of righteous crusading…
Royal Lyceum, EdinburghZinnie Harris reframes the tragedy to take in the consequences of male violence, as Kirsty Stuart's duchess provides a defiant centre They're a pathetic lot, the men w…
Tron, GlasgowJemima Levick revives this tale about three sisters coming of age with wit and charm The clue is in the socks. We're faced by three girls, identical in their yellow coats, red b…
SSE Hydro, GlasgowThe renaissance man's song-and-dance spectacular skips merrily through his acting career with celebrity pizzazz and unashamed sentimentality Is there a market Hugh Jackman …
Perth theatreMorna Young's personal tale of trawlermen risking their lives for pay evokes the romance and brutal realism of the sea Margaret Thatcher's greed-is-good ethos left its mark on e…
New Vic, Newcastle-under-LymeIn this revival of Lizzie Nunnery's debut about a family in the 19th-century Liverpool slums, misery is piled upon misery " for the audience and the characters L…
Royal Exchange, ManchesterSarah Frankcom and Aletta Collins ditch Jerome Robbins' choreography and keeps the stakes high in a superb production For more than 60 years, productions of West Si…
Theatre By the Lake, KeswickHoward Brenton's no-nonsense translation of Strindberg's astute drama charts the marriage of a failed artist and his more successful wife Adolf is in the midst o…
SWG3, GlasgowOriginally planned to coincide with the UK's withdrawal from the EU, the National Theatre of Scotland's night of cabaret and comedy was performed under a sombre cloud Imagine or…
In a defiant riposte to president Bolsonaro and intolerance, performers at São Paulo's international theatre festival are reclaiming the rights to be seen and to be different If ever ther…
Tramway, Glasgow Stef Smith's excellent adaptation has Noras experience economic and emotional pressures through history There are three door frames and three cavernous pathways to an uncert…
Yang Sing restaurant, ManchesterThis rich, dreamlike play feeds body and soul as it chronicles the complex lives of migrants from China Cheung Wing is looking back over his life. He's been t…
Dukes, LancasterThree young fighters grapple with a world of blue-eyed heroes and foreign-looking villains in Nick Ahad's witty play Real life has a way of sneaking into the theatre. Only da…
Traverse, EdinburghKwaku Mills is a revelation as a boy growing up amid poverty in this touring revival of Arinzé Kene's crackling, compelling monologueImagine an inner-city version of Unde…
New Vic theatre, Newcastle-under-LymeBeatrice and Benedick engage in heartwarming hostilities in Northern Broadsides' rich and rewarding productionRobin Simpson's Benedick has just been dupe…