The production's levity eviscerates the underpinning emotional realities Often the greatest works of dramatic absurdism spring from the worst extremes of human experience, whether it's Iones…
A soaringly irreverent postmodern caper through shifting attitudes to homosexuality A loo with fuschia-pink carpet to catch splashback; an Archbishop of Canterbury who's in it for the skirts…
A spikily poignant reminder of humanity in politically dark times In an age where political, social, and gender norms seem to be in perpetual meltdown, it should be pretty much impossible fo…
Adjoa Andoh is a magnetic Richard with her hawk-like glare and vigorous swagger Richard II has become the drama of our times, as it walks us through the impotent convulsions of a weak and va…
Anna Washburn's play for the Almeida achieves lift-off in the West End As China and the US arm-wrestle for world-domination in everything from trade to military power, we find ourselves in t…
This dark comedy raises disturbing questions about sound and intimacyTwo men called "Massimo" face the audience, one very tall, one very, well, minimo. The tall Massimo (Tom Espiner, picture…
Sex and technology run like faultlines through this workThere is no doubt that this Cherry Orchard, whirled into town by Roman Abramovich from Moscow, is going to be divisive. If you, lik…
Revolution is about youth, music, anger, and - frankly - sexIs there a connection between revolution and theatre? The answer has to be yes " a visceral one. The supremacy of symbols, the col…
Revelations that should feel toxic seem tepidTheatrical alchemy is eternally slippery.
Shakespeare's study of flawed leadership becomes a paralable for our ageJoe Hill-Gibbins' uncompromising production of The Tragedy of Richard II for the Almeida hurtles through Shakespe…
Justin Audibert's production excels at portraying the book's alchemical qualitiesIf you're looking for a Christmas with more pagan edge than saccharine cheer, where the wolves are …
A deceptive lightness of tone brings new resonance to the textWhat do you gain by casting Dr Faustus and Mephistopheles as women? In the programme for this often illuminating production, dir…
Our heroine is torn between the charms of a washing-machine inventor and a CountThe convention-challenging sexually adventurous life of Glaswegian writer Aimée Stuart is worth a play all on…
West End transfer from the Almeida retains pressure-cooker intensityThis production of Tennessee Williams' neglected classic, Summer and Smoke, arrives from the Almeida into the West End wit…
A daring counterintuitive reading proves richly rewardingMacbeth has rarely seemed quite as metrosexual as in this gorgeous shadow-painted production that marks artistic director at the Glob…
This scalpel-sharp drama anatomises marital breakdown with cold-eyed clarityAdultery seldom looks less adult than in the form of the mild-life crisis " that much-satirised condition in which…
Ken Urban's play is a psychological thriller crossed with a love storyThis blisteringly intense evening at Trafalgar Studios begins with two strangers in an Amsterdam hotel bedroom and …
A disappointing portrait of middle-class hypocrisyThe playwright Bathsheba Doran has blazed a stellar trail ever since graduating from Cambridge at the same time as David Mitchell and Robert…
James Graham's Dickens project is structurally ambitious but doesn't add upIt sounds like a marriage made in heaven. Charles Dickens and James Graham " both great chroniclers of…
Authentic performances hit the mark"I'm not a number, I'm not a grade, and I'm not a failure." The 17-year-old girl stands in front of the small class, who gaze at her goggle-eyed. "A robot …
The spirit of Magritte pervades this brand of existentialismAs the Syrian conflict enters its final convulsions, renewing memories of how the Sykes-Picot agreement " between an Englishman an…
Humour used too often as a substitute for perceptionLycra, jealousy and pubescent ambition are put under the spotlight in Clare Barron's provocative probe into the American competitive danci…
Celebrates multicultural diversity with a zingA break-dancing mini Michael Jackson, a transvestite Neptune, and a hero who wears his hubris as proudly as his gold-tipped trainers, are unconv…
As the manic, self-obsessed king, Rhys Ifans cuts an extraordinary presenceThe image of a raging, narcissistic tyrant, convinced that he can crush even death into oblivion, has all too many …
A fearlessly experimental, physically ingenious exploration of the textA raw pagan vitality animates this extraordinary story about a teenage boy wrestling with tumultuous emotions in the fa…