Chichester Festival theatre New staging of classic has perfect singing, cute choreography by Matthew Bourne, but rather too little daring " and one show-stealing performance There are some m…
Lyric Hammersmith, LondonAn infatuated teenager's fantasy of saving a star from his fame clashes with the reality of frenemies and family frictions in an operatic plot Remember how, long bef…
Stage performances have been disrupted this summer by last-minute delays, cancellations and postponements. Is it just a run of bad luck " or a cultural shift? One theatre audience, already s…
With subjects ranging from the deadly serious to the downright silly, this year's shows include plays about addiction, politics, funk and Come Dine With Me "To be or not to be" … that Shak…
Dorfman theatre, LondonThis Pulitzer-winning play delicately explores issues of race, sexuality and masculinity with humour as the main ingredient A group of Black American men have convened…
Palladium, London For all its Broadway dazzle and gags, this musical's story of midlife bereavement and a second chance at love carries intense feeling How often do you see an old-style musi…
Hampstead theatre, LondonChristopher Hampton's sleek adaptation of Stefan Zweig's 1922 novella adds elements of the Austrian writer's own life Letter from an Unknown Woman is perhaps Stefan …
Watermill theatre, NewburyThe story is thin and slow to emerge but the actor-musicians and acrobats deliver the 1980 circus musical with gusto The circus begins outside with fire-eating, jug…
Noël Coward theatre, LondonKit Harington and Olivia Washington star in a charged, often comical drama about the legacy of historical racial violence in three couples' sexual dynamics What…
Royal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonThe hot pink shoes, tights and feathers are wonderful, but this update of the 1777 comedy has no satirical bite beneath its enormous wigs The ca…
Donmar Warehouse, LondonAn infectious soundtrack and a bubbling script boost Dominique Morisseau's drama as the spectre of closure looms over the lives of four assembly-line workers When in …
Harold Pinter theatre, LondonThe sad love story between bereaved piano prodigy KÅsei and free-spirit Kaori is played with verve " but what worked on paper and as an anime TV series stutte…
Olivier theatre, LondonSimon McBurney returns to direct his 1999 drama and it still fizzes, even if some of the images are more rewarding than the ideas Remembering is not a neutral function…
Troubadour Wembley Park theatre, LondonUpdated with references to net zero, the 1984 musical is back on track in all its outlandish glory What bald-faced audacity led Andrew Lloyd Webber to …
Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, LondonThis magical production sets the drama against the backdrop of Indian partition, allowing a deft exploration of dual heritage and cultural displacement …
Political art helps us debate and confront the challenges in our lives. It is also a record we must return to again and again 'A play should be an act of moral imagination," said the late B…
Park theatre, London A doctor, a therapist and the Kennedy brothers are among the characters in this cocktail of facts and fiction Marilyn Monroe died on 4 August 1962 from a "probable suici…
Anna Maxwell Martin excels as a good MP, while James Corden's ex-soldier shows he can be dark as well as funny A drama featuring a face-off between an MP and a constituent outraged by the fa…
Coronet theatre, LondonThis gnomic production of Churchill's 1997 play, about a couple awaiting their daughter's return, is packed with confusions and curveballs In Blue Heart, a pair of one…
Royal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon Blanche McIntyre's Midas-touched production is set in the present day and finds delirious comedy in its class divisions This lesser-staged Shak…
Jermyn Street theatre, London Adrian Lukis's self-penned one-man show revisits the character he played in Pride and Prejudice on TV in 1995, but doesn't discover much Those who watc…
Charing Cross theatre, LondonThis fast and furious Korean show has high-voltage tunes, but suffers from schmaltz and a breathlessly hectic pace Two women meet on a train, in a flashback to M…
Lyric Hammersmith, LondonAlice Childress's powerful story of a biracial couple is set in South Carolina in 1918, but burns with the heat of the civil rights era when it was written 'It's wro…
Orange Tree theatre, LondonTara Fitzgerald, Emma Fielding and Stephen Boxer deftly juggle roles in this marathon of marital malaise This 1965 trilogy of late works by Noël Coward has all …
Theatre Royal Haymarket, LondonArthur Miller's story of family, masculinity and immigrant struggles could seem dated but a brilliant cast bring out uncomfortably modern resonances This reviv…