Royal Court, LondonThe Chilean dramatist's new show about urban violence explores the tensions between two young anarchists and a veteran bomb-makerThe Royal Court's international programme,…
At 92, the visionary director refuses to slow down. He talks about how to silence audiences, the trouble with doing Shakespeare in French, the difference between Olivier and Gielgud, and why…
Olivier, LondonSimon Russell Beale is magnetic and unorthodox in an exceptional production that mixes the epic and the intimateAnother day, another Lear. But, although this is the third prod…
Minerva, ChichesterJonathan Munby's smart, lucid production features plenty of pomp and circumstance, and a superbly detailed performance by McKellenIan McKellen knows his way round Lear. He…
Barbican, LondonThe Swedish auteur's tales of actors are directed by Ivo van Hove at his most lucid and ostentatious, featuring fine performances and a pulsating tempest****/***'Can you be t…
The surefire playwright, director and actor is an inspired choice as the Young Vic's new artistic director " he has proved himself time and againThe appointment of Kwame Kwei-Armah as the ne…
Trafalgar Studios, LondonStephen Clark's puzzling drama about a man planning to either seduce or murder his dinner guest comes across as both morbid and exploitativeSex and death are the the…
Bush theatre, LondonThe Scottish coast is the setting for Sophie Wu's witty play about crustacean-loving Jim, his girlfriend and his kooky exLike many actors who turn to writing, Sophie Wu h…
Royal Shakespeare theatre/The Swan, Stratford-upon-Avon This well-matched pair of tragedies in the RSC's Rome season give us strong images, unforgettable lines, probing psychology " and a lo…
O2 Arena, LondonThe statistics alone for this show are mind-boggling. It requires 620 tonnes of sand, involves a cast and crew of 400 and a total of 46 horses, donkeys and ponies. But specta…
Young Vic, London Performing 360-degree loops, pummelled by voices and piecing together her shattered speech, Stevenson goes bravely to the limit in this high-concept showJuliet Stevenson mu…
Viaduct, Halifax Blake Morrison transposes a corrupt, covetous 18th-century Paris to 1920s Yorkshire in a lively satire directed by and starring Barrie RutterNorthern Broadsides have made a …
Adelphi, LondonThere is much to enjoy in Andrew Lloyd Webber's new musical. The score is one of the composer's most seductive. Bob Crowley's design and Jack O'Brien's direction have a beauti…
Lyttelton, London In JT Rogers' engrossing play on a historic moment in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process in 1993, we are reminded that diplomacy requires duplicityJT Rogers is an Americ…
Hampstead theatre, LondonLindsay is magnetic as the celebrated cinematographer, who looks back over his life from Alzheimer's-affected old age in Terry Johnson's moving playJack Cardiff, the…
Shakespeare's Globe, LondonMcKee brings an imposing stillness to Tristan Bernays's play about the ancient British queen whose uprising is crushed by the RomansGina McKee plays Boudica, the r…
Jermyn Street theatre, London The Swedish dramatist's life is shown to echo his plays in a new production about his obsession with alchemy and his relationships with three women'Death to poe…
In conversations with Hall over 40 years, I encountered a creative powerhouse who exuded confidence yet could be a strangely solitary figurePeter Hall was a man of infinite contradictions. I…
Royal Exchange, ManchesterBlanche McIntyre is one of the flotilla of female directors coming to the forefront of British theatre. But, although she's assembled a cracking cast for this reviv…
Creator of the Royal Shakespeare Company who built up the National and championed regional playhousesSir Peter Hall, who has died aged 86, was the single most influential figure in modern Br…
Orange Tree, Richmond In this revival of Storey's 1989 play, set during the Thatcher era, a poignant celebration subtly turns into a state-of-the-nation drama There could no better tribute t…
More than any other director, Sir Peter Hall shaped British theatre. As he turns 80, he tells Michael Billington about his doubts about the new RSC building and his dismay at fighting arts c…
Charing Cross theatre, LondonThis adaptation of Jack Rosenthal's TV film brings back the desperate drivers and their sadistic examiner " but does the story belong on stage?Any adaptation has…
Royal Exchange, ManchesterFamilies lie at the heart of drama. And Simon Stephens' new play, co-commissioned by the National Theatre and the Royal Exchange, offers a sensitive study of three …
Belgrade theatre, Coventry A dazzling ensemble play dogs and chickens, as well as brutal soldiers and their prisoners, in this account of the horrors of the gulagHelena Kaut-Howson is one of…