★★★★ STANDING AT THE SKY'S EDGE, NT 60 years in one Sheffield flat tells our nation's story Chris Bush and Richard Hawley write a love letter to a friendly and fla…
Affecting revival of Tom Kempinski play about an ailing musician and her therapist This 1981 two-hander was opened out for a film in 1986, starring Julie Andrews no less, with all its offst…
★★★★ SYLVIA, THE OLD VIC Beverley Knight is compelling and complex in suffragette musical Sylvia Pankhurst suffers for her commitment to votes for women and to soc…
Subtle monologue about a toxic relationship lacks dramatic punch Is new writing becoming increasingly literary? Recently, some of the language being used by younger playwrights seems to me t…
The dark arts of diplomacy get a makeover as a comedy workshop Who better to write a piece about the game-playing of a peace-talks negotiation than a former peace-talk negotiator, Daniel Tau…
Zinnie Harris reimagines Shakespeare to compelling effect, making the audience complicit You'd hardly call a director particularly perceptive for highlighting Lady Macbeth as the true power…
Hotshot auteur Simon Stone creates a dazzling new myth for our times How can old texts speak to us now? The point is not just to adapt classics, but to reimagine them " and that's exactly w…
The story of an immigrant family's contribution to American capitalism is still captivating The frantic world of finance moves fast, its giddy successes and thundering crashes causing ripple…
New play about a gender-pioneering couple is provocative and engaging With the total loss of its Arts Council funding, Hampstead Theatre's future as a specialist new writing venue is in dou…
★★★★★ SMOKE, SOUTHWARK PLAYHOUSE Kim Davies' 2014 play has only grown in relevance for the post #MeToo world The perils of navigating power relations whe…
★★ TITUS ANDRONICUS, SAM WANAMAKER PLAYHOUSE Gory play full of murders played with neither gore nor murders Tricksy staging distracts and disappoints If All's Well That…
Danny Robins' clever play gains a creditable star turn in its fifth run The set of 2:22 A Ghost Story is open to the auditorium when we arrive and locates us at once in gentrification-land. …
West End transfer for Sam Steiner's fringe classic does the play no favours Culture which arrives from the margins to the mainstream is a classic phenomenon. In the case of Sam Steiner's Lem…
Sonali Bhattacharyya's coming of age drama returns with a new cast Do the right thing! But doing the right thing isn't easy " especially if you are a teen. And a female teen who is being pre…
Shakespeare's tragedy as a tight thriller, with its racist elements fully exposed Frantic Assembly's Othello, originally co-developed with the Lyric in 2008, is back in its third iteration, …
New play about the queer club scene is a fabulous extravaganza Ever been to a queer club? You know, drag cabaret night at Madame Jojo's, or the Black Cap or Her Upstairs. No? Well, not to wo…
Told by an Idiot return with a celebration of silent-movie antics and daft gags Imagine what would have happened if the young Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel were cabin-mates on a transatlan…
★★★★ NOISES OFF, PHOENIX THEATRE Michael Frayn's farce about a farce still jars the funny bone Sure it's overly familiar, but, 40 years on, the laughs keep coming …
Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss's collaboration somehow forgets about the laughs We all have that friend. The person you met on holiday and couldn't shake off. You added each other on Facebook…
★★★★ ALLEGIANCE, CHARING CROSS THEATRE Beautifully sung show shines light into a dark corner of American history  Star Trek's Mr Sulu honours fellow Japanes…
A cast with an infectious gift for fun give this French confection a touch of stage magic First came Yasmin Reza's 1994 long-runner Art; now another French hit, The Art of Illusion, has arri…
★★★★ A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, ALMEIDA THEATRE Torment, toxicity and trauma in New Orleans  Torment, toxicity and trauma in New Orleans It's a long way fr…
★★★★ WATCH ON THE RHINE, DONMAR Country house comedy transforms into call to arms In wartime, when tough actions are needed to back up easy words, what do you do? …
In an iffy year for new plays and musicals, a post-pandemic London stage returned to life Where were the great new plays during 2022? That question underscored weeks of playgoing that tu…
Glittery stars and local heroes What joy it is to have pantomime and Christmas shows back with full audiences up and down the country " everything from local shows to star-driven productions…