@sohoplace, LondonMartha Plimpton and the whole ensemble shine in Shakespeare's nuanced romance interwoven with sign language and song A piano, prominent on an otherwise empty stage, is a cl…
Southbank Centre, LondonParton's music is as warming as ever but a snowfall of schmaltz and minimal menace make this Dickens adaptation sickly sweet Here is Scrooge and his crew as we have n…
Hampstead theatre, LondonThere's some promising material in this tale of a struggling Lebanese American family " but too much story for the play to successfully contain A patron saint of pai…
Dramatising the latest watercooler story doesn't guarantee you box-office success. The stiffest competition may come from reality's own high drama Just before the curtain came up on Vardy v …
Rose theatre, Kingston upon ThamesCharles Dickens takes to the stage and Ebenezer Scrooge is a woman with a moving backstory in Morgan Lloyd Malcolm's adaptation As fine a festive treat as C…
Theatre Royal Brighton Panto finds dame and co-star John Bishop in need of a boost and better jokes, though song and dance performers give it unruly energy If you only come for Ian McKellen,…
Young Vic, LondonA strong cast cannot conceal the thinness of this superficial account of South Africa's great liberator This musical about the extraordinary life of the South African freedo…
Dorfman theatre, LondonApril De Angelis's comedy about a leave-voting entrepreneur in a gentrified area has echoes of Abigail's Party and Educating Rita " except all the characters are reduc…
Olivier theatre, LondonNo theatrical effect is spared in this emotional show, which returns to Charles Perrault's grisly and grief-ridden fairytale for inspiration This musical twist on Slee…
Sherman theatre, CardiffAs the characters in the classic tales revolt against their narrative bounds, a zesty cast make this imaginative rewrite very nearly brilliant It's fitting that a mu…
Park theatre, LondonSam Hoare's one-hour monologue, half of a double bill, is tense and engaging in its story about the dangers of eroding press freedoms A hustler stands by his pint and tel…
Park theatre, LondonOliver Yellop's East Berlin drama, half of a double bill, captures the claustrophobia of digging under the Wall, but never quite breaks free Two cousins are desperately t…
Lyttelton theatre, LondonGiles Terera stars in a thrilling production with a radical climax that explores the domestic violence in Shakespeare's play In 1964, the National Theatre Company st…
Noël Coward theatre, LondonThe 1968 debate between Gore Vidal and William F Buckley Jr is depicted with verve and feels uncomfortably up-to-date Could a grainy broadcast debate between tw…
As You Like It comes to London's new venue @sohoplace this winter. The play's director and the theatre's owner discuss arts cuts, the industry's gender balance and the pandemic Arifa Akbar: …
Royal Court, LondonA British Iraqi and her father re-enact his wartime memories under the direction of three ghoulish clowns in a daring if uneven debut There are searing moments in this tal…
Marylebone theatre, LondonThere's only one sleuth in Victorian London who can get to the bottom of the suspicious death of Ebenezer Scrooge, in this winning crossover mystery This is Sherloc…
Wyndham's theatre, LondonLaura Dos Santos and Lucy May Barker are excellent as the frenemies in a queasy verbatim drama From the moment Coleen Rooney dropped her Instagram post ("It's … Re…
Available onlineTwo actors share the role of Maya, telling stories of her absent sibling and the illusive title character which are unresolved but compelling This is a bracingly odd 30-minu…
Southwark Playhouse, LondonClive Judd's Papatango-winning play about a West Midlands family haunted by the past is unorthodox and invigorating It is hard to categorise this unorthodox and i…
Theatre Royal BathGeorge Bernard Shaw's discomfiting play finds a commanding lead in Quentin, playing alongside her real-life daughter Rose It is clear to see why George Bernard Shaw's 1893 …
Menier Chocolate Factory, LondonThere's tension in Terry Johnson's tale of four couples meeting for sex and nibbles but the unruly debate isn't deep enough At first, The Sex Party looks like…
Omnibus theatre, LondonAnna Coombs strips out two-thirds of the characters to deliver an intimate and intense adaptation of Shakespeare's play There is no sign of courtly pomp or ceremony i…
Hampstead theatre, LondonJoe White's romantic tragedy is a brave and original depiction of the hedonistic excess and inner battles of a co-dependent couple struggling with alcoholism The cou…
White Bear theatre, LondonInspired by real-life accounts, Jules Chan's play returns the audience to the early months of the pandemic but doesn't create enough drama This part-verbatim drama …