Tristan Bates theatre, London Hazel Maycock is superb in a moving family tale crammed with feeling and insightDementia is a heartbreaker. It's also a nightmare to stage: repetitive, meanderi…
Imperial War Museum North, ManchesterA dance work about the world flu pandemic that killed millions at the end of the first world war suggests a humanity invadedShobana Jeyasingh's Contagion…
Royal Albert Hall, LondonThe world-renowned pair team up with comics Mo Amer and Michelle Wolf to tackle Trump, the opioid crisis and gun violence in a night which delivers big laughsPlenty …
Theatr Clwyd, MoldTwo friends raised in care meet after many years in a complex drama featuring some deeply committed performancesTowards the climax of Katherine Chandler's Thick As Thieves,…
Manchester Opera HouseThe story of an ill-treated 18th-century convent girl is troubling, but English National Ballet perform Kenneth MacMillan's version with breathtaking virtuosityThe open…
His films tackled paedophilia, abortion and deadly dachshunds. In his debut play, the barbed laureate of US cinema explores the race and class dynamics of childcare. But his own nanny isn't …
Old Vic, LondonCarter's riotous novel about a south London theatrical dynasty bursts on to the stage in this life-enhancing showAt the end of a programme essay, Emma Rice wonders what Angela…
Sadler's Wells, LondonThe Greek choreographer delves into ancient myth for his visionary piece fragmenting the human experienceIn the opening scene of The Great Tamer, directed and choreogra…
Leeds PlayhouseCharacters stranded in a transitional land exchange stories, fears and hopes in this timely productionPremiered during the Yugoslav wars, the action of David Greig's first ful…
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…
Leeds PlayhouseJames Brining's revival of this rueful study of foreignness and fear doesn't go out of its way to seem timely because it doesn't need toWhat is Europe? A continent, an idea, a…
Actor returns from retirement to give show-stopping performance in acclaimed show that swaps male lead for a womanPatti LuPone has reclaimed her crown as queen of musicals in a performance t…
Dimitris Papaioannou's show at Dance Umbrella is a painterly piece that leaves little to the imagination, while Le Patin Libre deliver a haunting show on iceLondon's Dance Umbrella festival …
The Whitey McWhiteface and Lefty Tighty Righty Loosey standup on the things that make him laugh the mostMat Ewins's Edinburgh show in 2017 is hard to top. He is one of my closest friends in …
Royal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonVirtuoso percussionist Evelyn Glennie provides a soundscape for Gregory Doran's futuristic production Expectation whirls me round, to borrow a p…
In an ambitious new production, a 20ft beast is transported to Broadway and the team behind it talks about how they updated the classic storyFor better or worse, while strolling through Manh…
Studio 54, New YorkAn intriguing premise and a confident assemblage of ideas fall apart onstage despite a trio of strong performancesFact: Lifespan of a Fact is one of the three best new pla…
Old Vic, LondonRazzle-dazzle showbiz twins bewitch and delight in an inventive, smart and saucy productionWise Children is Angela Carter's rambunctious last novel about illegitimacy, incest …
Leading voice coach who joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1969Cicely Berry, who has died aged 92, was the best-known voice coach of her generation, though the term vastly underrates wh…
Exeter Northcott theatreThe actor and director Gadi Roll launch their new company with the drama set in the 16th-century Spanish courtSchiller's 18th-century drama has long lent itself to fl…
Dorfman, LondonPlaying a single woman determined to have a child, Claudie Blakley lights up a new play by the Consent dramatistA character in Nina Raine's vibrant new play points out that th…
My aunt, Kate Geraghty, who has died aged 78, was an accomplished actor on stage and screen. Her stage name, Kate Lansbury, came from her great-grandfather George Lansbury, the Labour leader…
Unity, LiverpoolDeparting from convention and reality, Leo Butler's simulated psychedelic experience crashes around with jolly abandonYou can imagine an Open University programme that sets o…
Gielgud theatre, London Rosalie Craig and Patti LuPone star in Marianne Elliott's reimagining of the musical about marriage and the single lifeA gender change can work wonders. It is no secr…
Royal Exchange, ManchesterSarah Frankcom gives Arthur Miller's decline-and-fall drama an extra edge in this powerful productionDon Warrington's Willy Loman is at the centre of his own univer…