Ambassador, Bradford; Trafalgar Studios; Young Vic, LondonThe short but vibrant life of playwright Andrea Dunbar is vividly recreated by an all-female cast, while the joys and trials of 90s …
Royal Theatre Stratford East; Lyttelton; Wyndham's, LondonLenny Henry and Aaron Pierre are supercharged in August Wilson's epic while Roger Allam excels as a stern Edwardian patriarch August…
Dorfman; New Diorama; Regent's Park; Royal Court, LondonA startlingly innovative play turns the audience into East German snoopers and a clever musical tackles a wartime ruse What a whirligi…
Young Vic; Shakespeare's Globe, LondonAn outstanding cast portray a family stuck together while falling apart in the Young Vic's Death of a Salesman. At the Globe, enter Falstaff, Harry Engl…
Duke of York's; Camden People's theatre; Hampstead, LondonHayley Atwell excels in a dazzling new Ibsen adaptation, while Thomas Hardy has a hand in dramas about HS2 and a Syrian cleaner Ther…
Bridge; Donmar Warehouse; Almeida, LondonMaggie Smith makes a triumphant return to the stage as Joseph Goebbels's former personal secretary, while Anne-Marie Duff hits the high notes "Let's …
Royal Exchange, Manchester; Arcola; Lyric Hammersmith, LondonOut go the finger clicks but the knife crime stays in Sarah Frankcom's vital reworking of West Side Story. And Little Miss Sunshi…
Swan, Stratford-upon-Avon; Lyttelton; Barbican, LondonJohn Kani and Antony Sher are reunited in Kani's powerful new drama. Plus, a timely revival of Caryl Churchill's Top Girls and Enda Wals…
Hampstead; Menier Chocolate Factor; Vaudeville, London Debut playwright Ella Road conjures a potent dystopia, Penelope Wilton is perfection in a sharp David Hare revival, and Shakespeare's D…
Crucible, Sheffield; National Theatre; Alexandra Palace theatre, LondonA new musical with songs by Richard Hawley is rooted in Sheffield but richly resonant for all, while Bruce Norris and J…
Harold Pinter; Adelphi, LondonTom Hiddleston leads a fine Pinter revival, while a housewife's flights of fondant fancy fail to rise What a clever idea: to follow the triumph of Pinter at the…
Young Vic; Almeida; Donmar Warehouse, LondonTwo prisoners confront each other and God in a vital revival, Trump gets off lightly, and a clever tale of a sound engineer packs some real reverb…
Noël Coward; Old Vic; Royal Court, LondonGillian Anderson is the steely centre of Ivo van Hove's glitzy adaptation of All About Eve, while Nicôle Lecky's Superhoe storms the Royal Cour…
Derby theatre; Barbican; Hampstead, LondonMalorie Blackman's bestseller leaps off the stage in a fine new adaptation. Plus, Chekhov without the samovars and 2018's Pulitzer prize winnerIt is…
Vault festival; Soho theatre, London Waterloo's tunnels buzz with sharp new writing. And the joy and pain of a night at the circusIn Dublin, Edinburgh and Manchester, festivals light up summ…
Dorfman; Gate; New Diorama, LondonCate Blanchett and Stephen Dillane can't save a clunky S&M study of sexual politics, but thrills are to be had in a vivid account of poetic friendship a…
Royal & Derngate, Northampton; Arcola; Kiln, LondonIn a trio of new plays, three young Rwandans are moved by the spirit, a lorry driver and a refugee share a watchful journey, and two fr…
Harold Pinter theatre; Finborough, LondonThe surprises continue in an extraordinary Pinter season. Plus, the rise and rise of Sheila AtimIt has been hard to guess where lightning will strike…
People of colour finally moved centre stage, young performers shone, and two veterans gave an acting masterclass. See our top 10 list below' Read the Observer critics' reviews of the year in…
Donmar Warehouse; Young Vic; Almeida, LondonLynn Nottage brilliantly dramatises industrial unrest in small-town America in the year's most powerful playA tremendous theatrical week culminate…
Royal Court; Dorfman; Hampstead, London Corporal punishment still hurts in Mark Ravenhill's haunting new play, Poe is channelled for festive creepiness, and fine performances spruce up Chek…
Vaudeville; Royal Court; Menier Chocolate Factory, LondonKit Harington and Johnny Flynn slug it out as Sam Shepard's feuding brothers, women rabble-rouse at the Royal Court, and Trevor Nunn'…
Chickenshed; Little Angel; Unicorn, LondonThree festive shows for young and old serve up Dickens with attitude, ticklish puppets and Philip Pullman's grisly Grimms' fairytalesThe future vigo…
Kiln, London; Orange Tree, RichmondZadie Smith's White Teeth bounds on to the stage leaving some of the novel's subtleties behind. And 30 years on, Martin Crimp's Dealing With Clair has chil…
Royal Court; Theatre Royal Stratford East; Hampstead, Londondebbie tucker green delivers blistering insights into racism in the west. Elsewhere, joyous teenage kicks and a gasp-out-loud deno…