Performing at the Edinburgh festival is hugely stressful, but the things I learned there have been useful offstage too If the beginning of September still makes me think I need a new noteboo…
Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus, Greece (streaming online)Staged outside, this live production of Aeschylus' tragedy reminds us how even mighty powers can be brought low by too much confidence …
Barbican, LondonSimon Stone's smart and harrowing retelling of Euripides is performed by a flawless ensemble Euripides' Medea was first performed in Athens, in 431BC" and it came last in a …
Garrick, LondonThe National Youth Theatre's urgent, gender-fluid production bubbles with intimacy, brutality and fearSpace is in such short supply in the West End that the National Youth The…
SPID theatre, LondonHelena Thompson's passionate and pacy drama is a celebration and defence of social housing'I'd love to call time on this, the world's worst play," says Em, a council esta…
Sandi Toksvig is right: TV comedy can be brutal for women. Luckily, there's a simple solutionWhen Sandi Toksvig says women are cut out of panel shows, she really isn't exaggerating. I once w…
Chichester Festival theatre Jokes aplenty, catchy songs and a cleverly staged production " there's much to enjoy as Matt Lucas's stand-in, Ryan Pidgen, and Caroline Quentin shine Daniel Evan…
Theatr Clwyd, MoldKatherine Parkinson is superb in Laura Wade's play about a woman who lives like a 1950s housewife in the 21st centuryJudy and Johnny live in a 1950s dream home. She is dres…
Ustinov, BathElizabeth Freestone's highly kinetic production matches an often vulnerable Henry with a wonderfully punky KatharineHenry V is a king in name only at the beginning of Elizabeth …
★★★★☆/★★☆☆☆The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon Can Dündar's jail memoir inspires an audacious drama while the presumed murder of…
Harold Pinter theatre, LondonRoger Michell directs the West End transfer of Nina Raine's smart play about a group of lawyers and their private livesConsent opens in an unapologetically upper…
New Vic theatre, Newcastle-under-LymeThere are shades of Shaw in this rare revival of Elizabeth Robins' warm and sincere playElizabeth Robins should be better known than she is. An American …
Shakespeare plucked an obscure Roman general from Plutarch and made him a principled but uncompromising hero. As the RSC brings the play back, its brutal statement on class divide and convic…
The message of Lansbury's Olivier award at the age of 89 " for her Madame Arcati, in Blithe Spirit " is that old does not have to mean frail Continue reading...
A production of Antigone starring Juliette Binoche, from a translation by Anne Carson, opens this week. Natalie Haynes on a protagonist who is either brave or disobedientIt is a vintage time…