There may be comfort in the retelling of Dickens' familiar tale, but the best adaptations show the imagination to still surprise Has Charles Dickens' charming little Christmas story become a…
Park theatre, LondonA crisp and jarringly satirical play presents the 1995 Panorama documentary as a forerunner of today's fake news Martin Bashir's now discredited 1995 Panorama interview w…
Apollo theatre, LondonJoss Stone and Dave Stewart's strangely forgettable score does little to lift this musical but there are some wonderful set pieces For the millions of readers held rapt…
Arcola theatre, LondonThe enigmatic 1999 novel about three entwined lives is sleekly adapted by Bryony Lavery and sharply directed by Melly Still Here is a story of unrequited love in which …
Wyndham's theatre, LondonAt two hours with no interval, the actor-director's production hurtles past at such speed that the depths of the play are too rarely realised Kenneth Branagh has con…
Theatre Royal, BathAn excellent cast give the story of Ruth Snyder, a woman executed by electric chair in 1928 for killing her husband, a cleverly inventive, chillingly modern update Ruth Sn…
Featuring contributions from poets, novelists and a Nobel laureate, this highly charged night " interrupted by updates from Gaza in real time " marked the suffering on both sides of the conf…
Welsh and Scottish venues have progressed, but only male artistic directors have run the National Theatre. It's time to address that Let's begin with a pub quiz style Q&A about British t…
Harold Pinter theatre, LondonStarry cast including Lily James and Doon Mackichan are tossed around in a plot that never gets hold of its many concerns Lyonesse has all the makings of a power…
Roundhouse, LondonSimon Stephens' adaptation of Max Frisch play about bourgeois indifference to a rising crisis should ring loud bells, but its absurdism fails to resonate There is a great t…
National Theatre, LondonAlexander Zeldin's profoundly moving play grew from his parent's reflections, which he uses to conjure an epic struggle for love and freedom A reluctant protagonist s…
Theatre Royal BathThe Succession star excels in Oliver Cotton's play about the meeting between the composer and Frederick the Great It is promoted as a dramatic encounter between God-fearing…
Orange Tree theatre, LondonIn a chic kitchen a Trinidadian couple discuss their high-end lives, but their cook, whose recipes the audience can scent, draws them back to deeper roots This dra…
As her play set in a truck stop kitchen is staged in London, the twice Pulitzer-winning playwright talks about the healing power of cooking, US theatre's recent shockwaves and her Michael Ja…
Sherman theatre, CardiffAstounding tale of how a volunteer at a Welsh hospital changed the lives of neurodivergent people globally is dynamically directed and movingly told This is a local s…
Savoy theatre, LondonLloyd brings hipster edginess, style and unpredictability to this revival of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical " though it's more surface-level than penetrating closeup W…
Royal Court Upstairs, LondonAn aspiring journalist comes up against the difficulties of accurately representing his shisha-going community in Mohamed-Zain Dada's energetic debut This debut d…
Dorfman theatre, LondonClint Dyer and Roy Williams' state-of-the-nation series continues, this time giving the perspective of the women in its central duo's lives From its inception as an on…
Riverside Studios, LondonDepicting the insinuating villain as a trio of manipulators is striking and gives the drama thrillerish momentum, but intimacy is lost Othello's nemesis has come in …
Bold theatre, LondonThis musical meta comedy allegorising Britain's hostility to immigrants arrives ahead of panto season but with perfect timing nonetheless. Unfortunately it seems under-re…
Theatre Royal BathRichard Eyre's production of the father-and-son drama has some strong performances but is too light to probe the play's plaintive depths A fine roll call of actors have pla…
Theatre503, LondonRachel Bellman explores Jewish exorcisms and rebellion in this darkly funny, psychological play There is a slow-burn buildup of creepiness in this haunted house story which…
Barbican, LondonCanadian company Why Not Theatre's take on the Sanskrit poem, led by South Asian artists, exquisitely blends classical elements with modern, but feels distant in the second a…
Royal Court, LondonWe're left wondering not just whodunnit but what was done and why in this lushly designed but confusing production This postmodern whodunnit begins, tantalisingly, with …
Chichester Festival theatreA delightfully performed revival of James Graham's fresh and funny play about the Millionaire cougher case, which critiques the TV industry and trials by media The…