Almeida; Bridge, LondonAll becomes beautifully clear in Robert Icke's pared down Ibsen, while Martin McDonagh overloads his dark, dizzying fairytaleAh, Robert Icke and his theatrical revelat…
Gielgud; Donmar Warehouse; Dorfman, LondonMarianne Elliott dazzlingly remakes Sondheim, Josie Rourke adds a Shakespearean twist, and from Nina Raine, a sperm donor comedy…How marvellous th…
Young Vic; Lyttleton; Wyndham's, LondonA musical Twelfth Night flies, while David Hare's party games never take off. Plus, a masterclass from Eileen Atkins and Jonathan PryceKwame Kwei-Armah…
Harold Pinter theatre, Wilton's Music Hall, LondonA double helping of short Pinter plays delivers the playwright's trademark punch, while a series of London tales offers Dickens in the age o…
Royal Exchange, Manchester; Theatre Royal East Stratford; Trafalgar Studios, LondonJade Anouka is compelling in Jeanie O'Hare's bold take on Shakespeare and the life of Margaret of AnjouA fe…
Battersea Arts Centre; Kiln; Hampstead, LondonMissing reappears three years after fire interrupted its run at the Battersea Arts Centre, while the Kiln opens with some topical grievancesThes…
Almeida; Regent's Park Open Air theatre; the Scoop, LondonAdults act up as children in Clare Barron's acute new study of adolescence. And a man-eating plant, played by a drag queen, feels at…
Swan, Stratford-upon-Avon; Olivier, LondonMarlowe's bloody tyrant and Shakespeare's banished prince both get a rare chance to strut in two very effective productionsHot on the big-sandalled …
Lyceum; Studio, EdinburghPeter Brook's meditation on justice is imprisoned by its own virtues, while Édouard Louis's powerful teenage memoir translates vividly to the stageWhen better th…
Theatre Royal, Bath; Donmar, LondonPatricia Highsmith's most famous creation comes back to haunt her, while the ghosts are closer to home in revivals of Miller and FrielShe liked to watch sn…
Olivier; Royal Court; National Theatre, LondonRhys Ifans ages well in Patrick Marber's update of Ionesco's classic, while Rory Mullarkey's homage often palls. Plus tales of the River Stage�…
Bridge; Lyttelton; Old Vic, LondonAlan Bennett is on song " and on the attack. Plus, an epic tale of capitalist catastrophe and a tale of grief that overwhelms"I am," says Alan Bennett, "a t…
Festival theatre, Chichester; Theatre Royal, Bath Timeworn tropes work their magic as Chichester does the Lambeth Walk, while a knockout Katherine Kingsley overcomes a galumphing script in D…
Aidan Turner brings swagger to the Irish Troubles, a tribute to Joan Littlewood lacks her revolutionary spirit, and there's a twist in the Globe's Winter's TaleSeventeen years after its firs…
Young Vic; Royal Court; Greenwich and Docklands international festival, LondonAcclaimed cartoonist Alison Bechdel comes to life in a remarkable new musical, a stranger menaces liberal London…
LIFT Crossness Pumping Station, London; LIFT Royal Court, London; Dorfman Theatre, London; LIFT King's Cross, LondonDuke Riley's illuminated pigeons are a soaraway success, while Anna Deaver…
Donmar; Lyttelton; Almeida; all LondonLia Williams makes the role of Miss Jean Brodie her own, while Vanessa Kirby's Julie is a wild party girl in Polly Stenham's vicious, witty update of St…
Laura Linney is utterly assured in a fine adaptation of the bestselling novel, but fellow Hollywood star Orlando Bloom fails to convince in Killer JoeWhat fascinates me about the rise of the…
Shakespeare's Globe; Playground, LondonMichelle Terry's reign as the Globe's artistic director begins with an assured double bill; and Shirley Porter's dark deeds are nicely skeweredWhy does…
Wyndham's; Gate, LondonMark Rothko's work and mind are brilliantly evoked in a revival of John Logan's 2009 play. And Weimar Germany is alive and kicking…Red: for rage and fire " and Mark …
Ustinov Studio, Bath; The Bridge; Vaudeville, LondonA morbidly obese man is trapped with his regrets and his furious daughter in the Ustinov's superb revival of Samuel D Hunter's The WhaleTh…
Artist and producer fight over a song in Joe Penhall's intricate new drama, a revival of Chess makes all the wrong moves, and a party of mourners lifts the spiritsThe lens through which we s…
A thrillingly shifting feminist drama will send audiences out of the theatre arguing, but a plunge into postwar Soho is stiflingElla Hickson's new play is an assault on the stage. The Writer…
Aldwych, London; Everyman, Liverpool; Royal Court, LondonAdrienne Warren is a knockout as Tina Turner, droog culture rules in Liverpool. Plus, how to build a flat-pack childThe two most sign…
Donmar Warehouse; Southwark Playhouse; Old Red Lion, LondonTwo biting Restoration dramas conjure contemporary echoes, and a boy with a 'face like a fist' reacts with fury to school bulliesRe…