National Theatre, LondonImelda Staunton is unforgettable in Dominic Cooke's ingenious revival of a musical that perfectly fuses splendour and poetic sadnessAlthough it has legions of admirer…
Olivier, LondonHelen McCrory excels in this modern-dress take on Euripides that is alive with complexity and psychological astutenessAfter her success with Ibsen's A Doll's House, Carrie Cra…
Birmingham RepStuffed with gags and overflowing with an easygoing, laid-back liberalism, this comedy about a vinyl-shop owner fighting developers has the feel of a stonking hitIf there is a …
Donmar Warehouse, LondonHollywood star shines in limited run production directed by Kenneth Branagh and designed to raise funds for RadaFew shows are seemingly more exclusive than this. Tom …
Finborough, LondonGeoffrey Beevers' production of little-known play about the moral fissures within an upper middle-class family is a razor-sharp take on a quietly subversive workAs a reform…
Park theatre, LondonFrom the necrophilia to the suggestion Christ was framed, the playwright's most dangerous work " performed without the censor's cuts for the first time " shows Orton wasn…
Donmar Warehouse, LondonDavid Harrower's 1995 play, with its deceptively simple premise of a woman finding articulacy, offers insight into the power of language to shape our humanity If one …
Minerva, ChichesterInjustice, inequality, power and passion drive the plot of this remarkable play which still rings horribly true a century after it was writtenGitha Sowerby's remarkable 19…
Whishaw is quietly charismatic in this play with lofty philosophical ambitions but which ignores the social and political history behind today's violenceBen Whishaw is a highly sympathetic a…
Shakespeare's Globe, London On a stripped-back stage, Nancy Meckler's production locates Lear in a world of deprivation, broken family relationships and bubbling anger'No disco-dancing yet,"…
Dorfman, London Rob Drummond presents us with questions such as whether violence is a legitimate weapon of political protest but there's not enough room for real debateVoting is becoming the…
King's theatre, EdinburghAlan Ayckbourn's Handmaid's Tale-esque projection of a plague-ravaged future contains many nice ironies and performances, but strains patience over its six hours Ala…
Ustinov Studio, BathHenry Goodman is utterly convincing in Alan Franks' one-man play about Lucian Freud, with stories of his models, from the Krays to the QueenA solo play about a painter so…
Traverse, EdinburghDomestic friction and a guilty history set the scene for powerful performances in Douglas Maxwell's new playSubtlety is not the prime asset of Douglas Maxwell's new play. …
Albert Finney sobbed like an animal, Harold Pinter ramped up the terror and John Hurt even resembled Beckett himself. Now, at the Edinburgh festival, Barry McGovern takes on the role that ne…
The Scottish playwright's take on an Ionesco classic comes with added festival gags, while her drama Meet Me at Dawn looks at the difficulty of letting goThree works by the Scottish dramatis…
Church Hill theatre, Edinburgh Two boys endure stormy seas and slave labour as they journey from Kabul to London this highly imaginative productionHow do you begin to recreate the refugee ex…
Trafalgar Studios, LondonThe West Wing and Grease star takes the lead in this revival of Alexi Kaye Campbell's play, but is let down by unresolved contradictionsStockard Channing, star of Th…
Garrick, LondonNeal Foster has created a gentle, genial show based on the bestselling book about a boy and his gran joining forces for a heist at the Tower of LondonDavid Walliams bounced on…
A theatrical adaptation of the Hitchcock classic finds clever ways to rework film techniques " and is the latest example of how the screen is influencing the stageHollywood in its infancy ra…
Royal Court, LondonLemn Sissay stars in a revival of Jim Cartwright's 1986 account of a community scarred by unemployment that couldn't be more relevant or rousingJim Cartwright's play was f…
Finborough theatre, LondonCicely Hamilton's feminist play from 1911, exposing the plight of women forced to use marriage to gain their independence, is full of attackCicely Hamilton (1872-19…
Menier Chocolate Factory, LondonWith the help of a vibrant ensemble, Luke Sheppard tells the earnest diarist's much-loved story with wit, craft and crackling Cuban dance numbersSurprisingly,…
Old Vic, LondonA superb cast use Bob's back catalogue to glorious effect in Conor McPherson's astonishing cross-section of hope and stoic suffering in Depression-era MinnesotaThis is the sec…
Dorfman, LondonOlivias Williams and Colman give a spellbinding account of sibling strife in this wonderfully ambitious play set during the Higgs boson breakthroughLucy Kirkwood has proved, w…