Budget cuts, rising travel costs " it's tough for critics to get to plays in remote areas but let's not bolster the idea that regional theatre cannot compete In the week that A Nation's Thea…
Soho theatre, LondonA contemporary version of the Russian classic from Caligula's Alibi never gets to grips intellectually or aesthetically with its own ideasIn Some Trace of Her at the Nati…
Found 111, LondonStar-cast James Norton and Kate Fleetwood are intense, but Tracey Letts' confined millenial drama on paranoia and infestation doesn't get airborneThe pop-up West End space F…
Theatre By the Lake, KeswickWith theatrical sophistication and some delightful puppets, a community cast gives life to James Rebanks' account of flock and family life Sheep attached to a par…
Les Blancs Royal Exchange, ManchesterRating: **It is hard to imagine how Lorraine Hansberry's play, set in an African country under British colonial rule where the people are mounting an arm…
She was an indifferent mother with a string of lovers - so how did E Nesbit come to write such an idealised celebration of Victorian family life? By Lyn GardnerA hundred years ago this month…
Alistair McDowall's latest play, X, is at the Royal Court, there are King Lears in both Manchester and Northampton, and Kiss Me Quickstep is on tourThe Shepherd's Life, James Rebanks's book …
Tron, GlasgowA banker's wife, a journalist, a singer and a civil servant secure the last boat leaving the UK in a play that never plots a course through its political ideasThe waters are cho…
The Yard, LondonDeborah Pearson's playful show is a serious examination of racism and the inadequacies of liberalismA theatre is a public space. So is a park. In Deborah Pearson's play about…
Secret shows, street protests, satire … performance has long been connected to political causes. But does it have mass impact beyond a grassroots level?How can the arts effect social chang…
St Peter's Seminary, KilmahewThe artistic renewal of a derelict Scottish architectural gem starts with an otherwordly piece by NVA that delves into its graffiti-strewn cornersThe way the bui…
Unicorn, LondonTimberlake Wertenbaker's reworked Odyssey focuses on characters who had supporting roles in the original poem but the result is hard to untangle"It's what's forgotten as well …
Lesley Manville and Jeremy Irons star at Bristol Old Vic, there's a feast of new writing in Cardiff, and Lucy Bailey's Great Expectations continues in LeedsJane Wainwright's Jinny, about a m…
Arcola, LondonThere's a sharper story to be found inside this baggy drama about a Pakistan colonel who realises he might not be quite the war hero he thought he wasTariq (Robert Mountford) i…
Arts theatre, London The wartime actions of an all-female volunteer corps fuel this spirited Women in the West End festival showAnonymous Is a Woman is a new all-female company dedicated to …
Southwark Playhouse, London"Our revenge is never to forget," says one of the characters at the end of Emily Mann's 1980s play about the trial of Dan White. White, an all-American boy, w…
Young Vic, LondonHorrocks belts out the Smiths, Fall, Joy Division and other songs of her youth in this overly slick and choreographed dance-gig-theatre hybrid When you are younger the world…
Stratford Circus, LondonPart gig and part theatre, this clever show explores young people's experiences with a skilled quartet using simple means to show stories of pain and pressureJack Hob…
In the RSC's A Midsummer Night's Dream: A Play for the Nation, amateur actors feature alongside their professional peers: innovative theatre often has community involvement at its heart "We …
St James, LondonTate's accent goes walkabout in a wannabe screwball comedy set during America's desert nuclear testsThis mildly likable but lame new musical is that increasingly rare thing: …
Roald Dahl's The Witches hit Liverpool, Denise Gough reprises her role as a troubled actor at Wyndham's, and National Theatre Wales talks about democracyThe Solid Life of Sugar Water is fant…
Battersea Arts Centre, LondonIt's not an easy watch but Chris Goode's rewarding revival of Jo Clifford's play reminds us to focus on what's important in our lives Related: 'I want to be a th…
The Iranian Feast is just one of the ambitious shows challenging the stereotype that rural touring work is just armchair theatreIf you were looking for exciting contemporary theatre in the U…
Theatre Royal, BathThis sly portrait of a cobbler and his class-conscious daughters is shown to be way ahead of its time in Jonathan Church's handsome stagingThere are shades of King Lear an…
Farnham MaltingsAudience participation is a key ingredient of this touring regional theatre piece about cooking, community and life in TehranThe myth that theatre made for village halls and …