Provocative and political, the stand-up " who has died aged 57 " shook up Radio 4 at a time when it was in danger of resembling a Rotary Club quiz night Although generally excluded from list…
Theatre 503, LondonA catastrophic fact-checking error that nearly breaks the internet cues Osman Baig's expressive and energetic one-man piece about digital journalismThe narrator-protagonis…
Young Vic Theatre, LondonPaapa Essiedu and Black Panther's Letitia Wright are captivating in Danai Gurira's story of religious and linguistic colonialismEnglish-speaking missionaries in 19th…
Soho theatre, LondonNeil McCormick's memoir about schoolmates-turned-rock stars is brought to raucous lifeThe story of a talented composer whose hopes of fame are broken when a local contemp…
Menier Chocolate Factory, LondonWith antisemitism on the rise, Tevye's struggles with the tsar's thugs are powerfully topical in this note-perfect productionAlthough much-loved and often rev…
Theatre Royal Plymouth A daughter inherits her dad's diary and prized car in Carl Grose's tightly plotted episode of farcical intrigueThe bequests and effects of the dead are reliably dramat…
The RSC's revival of Edgar's 1985 drama about leftwing politics coincides with David Hare's latest study of the Labour partyTwo dramatists who share a generation and a first name " David Edg…
The Yard, LondonBrad Birch's play has a protagonist sharing space with huge projected images in an exploration of information overloadAfter an upsetting conversation with her dad, data analy…
Watermill, NewburyThe 'blasphemous' 19th-century pamphleteer William Hone is at the sharp end of destructive libel action in Ian Hislop and Nick Newman's dramaIan Hislop and Nick Newman, edi…
Bristol Old VicDavid Greig finds humour amid the horror in this triumphant stage adaptation of the mountaineering memoirClimbing high mountains is often used as a metaphor for other ominousl…
From The Yalta Game to Living Quarters, the Irish playwright's works have added resonance in this year's FrielFestAlthough Ireland is famously cultured, it's a shock to walk into a village h…
Almeida, LondonThis ingenious high-stakes show uncovers the psychology of those whose financial flutters shook the worldIn place of the Almeida theatre's rows of tip-back seats are 10 semici…
The Fawlty Towers star rails against the government, the BBC and British newspapers in stage appearance for Hacked OffIt was hard to know what to expect of a solo show by John Cleese, organi…
A number of comedy classics are being reinterpreted for the stage as 'joke-box' musicals. Can they avoid the pitfalls of previous sitcom adaptations?Over the weekend, it has been revealed th…
Star Audrey Fleurot and playwright Christopher Hampton talk about his reboot of the hard-hitting moral comedy set in post-Weinstein America"One of the marks of great plays," says Christopher…
Harry Hill and Steve Brown's show was staged too late " and felt conflicted. We were asked to laugh at the vacuousness of it all yet also care about the charactersWhereas the diaries of musi…
This clever PG Wodehouse tribute reproduces the manners of the Edwardian English upper classes, while cunningly sending them up' Bertie Wooster or Jez from Peep Show? Take our quiz' Mark Hea…
The Greek former finance minister talks about the lessons politicians could learn from Shakespeare, ahead of a lecture in LondonIs Theresa May Macbeth? Might King Lear agree with Jeremy Corb…
In Francis Turnly's trilogy one schoolgirl becomes a cat and another goes missing. The sheep farmer turned dramatist discusses The Great Wave, about North Koreans forced into prostitution'I …
Rourke, who will leave the London theatre in 2019, staged perky experiments, rapid-fire responses and invigorating revivals. Who will take her place?When Josie Rourke leaves London's Donmar …
He rides a racehorse, plays Arctic cricket and has already seen Hamilton. How will the new boss do at the DCMS " and will Ed Sheeran be invited to its Xmas party?In the BBC's self-satire W1A…
If Mr Burns, a provocative vision of post-apocalyptic America, has been slammed, it's because theatre critics know more about Homer than Homer Simpson. More fool them.One of the most tantali…
Gate theatre, London Caoilfhionn Dunne portrays the physical and psychological decline of a reluctant mother of three in Magali Mougel's chilling, visceral playIt looks as if a bomb has gone…
The great director, who has died aged 86, was a founding father of both the National Theatre and the RSC and masterminded landmark stagings of Shakespeare, Beckett and Pinter The roles of di…
Performance artists Louise Mothersole and Rebecca Biscuit are known for their political shows but their latest was designed to be 'pure fun'The theatrical double-act Sh!t Theatre got their n…