Lyttelton, LondonTerence Rattigan's powerful portrait of emotional turmoil in postwar Britain is beautifully played " if only the sound effects weren't so disruptiveTerence Rattigan's best p…
Productions of new plays by Tracy Letts and Rebecca Gilman confirm the Windy City is a hotbed of exciting new dramaNew York gets all the attention but in my experience Chicago is just as vib…
Barbican, LondonCumberbatch has a gift for suggesting Hamlet's essential decency, but visual conceits take the place of textual investigation in this frustrating stagingAfter all the hype an…
The West End's preview practice dates back nearly 50 years. As it stands, the outdated system works against the public interestWhen does Harry Potter and the Cursed Child actually open? The …
Charing Cross theatre, LondonThom Southerland opens his Charing Cross tenure with his brilliantly staged revival set aboard the doomed linerThe disaster-musical seems an unlikely genre, but …
Apollo, LondonThis evocative chamber piece, based on LP Hartley's 1953 coming-of-age novel, is done with taste and style but never quite soars Is LP Hartley's 1953 novel a good subject for a…
Tug of War, a gripping take on the history plays with protest songs from Leonard Cohen and Nina Simone, is rocking Chicago. The woman behind it says torture and invasion never felt more rele…
Chichester Festival TheatrePeter Shaffer's spectacle of Mozart's mediocre rival distorts historical reality but remains compelling and stylishly presentedFew living dramatists write big star…
The American playwright's masterpiece, an explosive story of sexual repression, has suffered at the hands of directors and censorsGiven that it is Tennessee Williams's best play, it is surpr…
Minerva theatre, Chichester Strindberg's Miss Julie is well directed, but it's Shaffer's dark comedy that illuminates in this contrasting double billAugust Strindberg's tragedy Miss Julie an…
Swan, Stratford-upon-AvonA refreshingly authentic Jacobean setting by the RSC allows Ben Jonson's comedy of greed to play to its vicious strengths Polly Findlay has taken a bold and, by toda…
Battersea Arts Centre, LondonHow the Labour government drove itself to invade Iraq in 2003 is laid bare in this sharp distillation of Chilcot inquiry evidence " given added fire by damning t…
Dorfman, LondonAn English couple are manipulated by a domineering CIA man and his alcoholic wife in a fine play that explores the effects of American inverventionismAlexi Kaye Campbell's fas…
Trafalgar Studios, LondonEisenberg's bullying, sexist and racist rich kid has the comic rhythm of Woody Allen and is compelling to watch, even if we don't care about him Related: Jesse Eisen…
Soho theatre, LondonA couple must murder their way to a perfect property in this morality play about a materialistic world where enough is never enoughThere is no doubt as to the hot theatri…
Olivier, LondonRory Kinnear brings a rasping clarity to Macheath in a production by Rufus Norris that does full justice to Kurt Weill's plangent, sawn-off melodiesWhat does this famous piece…
Garrick theatre, LondonLily James's Juliet has a boozy balcony scene, Richard Madden's Romeo seems genuinely inflamed by love and Derek Jacobi is a lounge-lizard MercutioThere are many ways …
Royal Court, LondonStef Smith's powerfully alarmist play imagines the impact of a city's animal infestation on its citizensDystopia is a popular territory for young dramatists. Its latest in…
Arts theatre, LondonGeorge Osborne becomes a sex slave in a lethal piece by David Hare alongside short political plays by Caryl Churchill, Mark Ravenhill, Alistair Beaton and Stella FeehilyA…
Finborough theatre, LondonThis rarely revived piece about a Victorian blasphemy trial reveals the playwright's complex feelings about ChristianityWritten for a 1960 television production sta…
Royal Exchange, ManchesterAspects of Caryl Churchill's 1994 collaborative fantasy remain obscure, but magnetic Peake and a 12-strong ensemble offer an intensely theatrical experiencePlays ch…
BBC2 The show perked up when it got round to the plays but tried to cram too much into one eveningIt is always worrying when an entertainment promises "something for everybody". That usually…
A doctor and a private-hire driver are just a couple of the amateur actors starring along RSC members in a touring production of the Dream. The experiment is a success but it shouldn't set a…
Cumberbatch's turn as Shakespeare's scheming king is remarkable in a finale that also features fine performances from Judi Dench and Keeley HawesRichard III brings the BBC's Hollow Crown cyc…
Royal Court, LondonI spy a danger for the theatre in a new form of chic exclusivity. Because everyone wants to see Jez Butterworth's first new play since Jerusalem and because space is limit…