The Unbelievers review " Nicola Walker grapples with family tragedy in a flat drama by Arifa Akbar

Royal Court theatre, LondonMarianne Elliott directs Nick Payne's tonally uneven play about a missing son that comes with ill-fitting moments of comedy Nick Payne is an exemplar of this theat…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 7:31am on October 21, 2025[SHARE]

Safe Space review " lively campus comedy wrestles with the culture wars by Arifa Akbar

Minerva theatre, ChichesterJamie Bogyo's debut play recounts the renaming of a Yale University college with broadstroke humour and some exquisitely sung a cappella interludes What happens wh…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 8:31am on October 19, 2025[SHARE]

Ragdoll review " Patty Hearst inspires an audacious account of power and privilege by Arifa Akbar

Jermyn Street theatre, LondonKatherine Moar's bold and taut drama about the kidnapping of a fictional heiress explores the toxic inheritance of the 1970s Katherine Moar's riveting drama is i…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 3:48pm on October 15, 2025[SHARE]

Small Hotel review " Ralph Fiennes' fever dream leaves you with major reservations by Arifa Akbar

Theatre Royal BathThis bizarre drama, with the star playing twins amid plenty of tap dancing, is a warp of hallucinations and reality Small Hotel is a play that defies category, or even expl…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 9:06am on October 10, 2025[SHARE]

Mary Page Marlowe review " Susan Sarandon shines in slippery study of a life in pieces by Arifa Akbar

Old Vic theatre, LondonFive actors play the protagonist at different stages over 70 years in Tracy Letts' play, co-starring Andrea Riseborough If there is something familiar about a play com…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 2:24am on October 9, 2025[SHARE]

Cyrano de Bergerac review " Adrian Lester brings sublime soul to roistering romance by Arifa Akbar

Swan theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon The giant-hootered lover ventriloquising his passion for Roxane through a physically dashing rival is the standout star of this warm and l…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:12am on October 8, 2025[SHARE]

Troilus and Cressida review " history repeats as farce in Pythonesque takedown of ancient heroes by Arifa Akbar

Shakespeare's Globe, LondonAchilles is a slob and Ajax is a meathead in Owen Horsley's streamlined production, which is bursting with invention and comic inversions Shakespeare's take on th…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 4:36pm on October 5, 2025[SHARE]

Uprooted review " the female fightback against the exploitation of Latin America by Arifa Akbar

New Diorama theatre, LondonEphemeral Ensemble's atmospheric but unfocused follow-up to Rewind depicts the west's ecologically ruinous colonisation of Latin America from a feminist perspectiv…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 7:02am on October 5, 2025[SHARE]

Hamlet review " a cocky prince of infinite jest runs riot at the National by Arifa Akbar

Lyttelton theatre, LondonHiran Abeysekera brings humour to the tragedy and Francesca Mills steals the show as Ophelia but this staging pulls its emotional punches Last week, Indhu Rubasingha…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 6:48am on October 3, 2025[SHARE]

Lee review " portrait of the artist stepping out of Jackson Pollock's shadow by Arifa Akbar

Park theatre, LondonPainter Lee Krasner's rivalry with her husband is laid bare in an affecting play about a relationship both loving and riddled with hostility Art history is littered with …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:24pm on October 2, 2025[SHARE]

Salomé review " breathtakingly boring spin on Oscar Wilde's baroque tragedy by Arifa Akbar

Theatre Royal Haymarket, London Maxim Didenko delivers Wilde's version of the biblical tale with a blingy design, topless men in hoods and yodelling Is it morally acceptable to host an Israe…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 6:54am on October 2, 2025[SHARE]

Breast-kneaders, skeleton orgies and five-metre-high penises: Marina Abramović on her most daring show ever by Arifa Akbar

The great performance artist reveals all about her new four-hour Balkan Erotic Epic " a wild reinvention of ancient rituals that is sure to shock, move and amuse audiences Marina AbramoviÄâ…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 2:42pm on October 1, 2025[SHARE]

The Billionaire Inside Your Head review " OCD and capitalism collide in daring office drama by Arifa Akbar

Hampstead theatre, London Will Lord's exciting new play adds a neurodiverse inner voice to the Mamet-like rivalry between ambitious debt collectors chasing financial success The most dangero…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:02am on September 28, 2025[SHARE]

Lacrima review " gripping saga of a wedding dress unravels fashion industry exploitation by Arifa Akbar

Barbican theatre, LondonCaroline Guiela Nguyen's epic drama explores global labour and personal suffering with moments of haunting power A three-hour durational show with a three-minute paus…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:02am on September 26, 2025[SHARE]

Bacchae review " Indhu Rubasingham launches National Theatre tenure with new-gen rap tragedy by Arifa Akbar

Olivier theatre, LondonThis eccentric take on Euripedes by Nima Taleghani is a striking yet often frustrating opening statement It takes courage and some flamboyance to launch an inaugural p…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 7:42am on September 25, 2025[SHARE]

Measure for Measure review " Shakespeare's sleazy sex scandal chimes with our times by Arifa Akbar

Royal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonDirector Emily Burns puts a laser focus on the moral rot and hypocrisy of men in power with this streamlined and superbly performed version Shak…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 5:24pm on September 24, 2025[SHARE]

Emma review " Austen's comedy of manners gets an exaggerated Essex makeover by Arifa Akbar

Rose theatre, Kingston upon ThamesAva Pickett's modern-day adaptation of the novel adds pop music, farce and clowning but lacks gimlet-eyed observations An early blast of Lady Gaga's Bad Rom…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:12am on September 23, 2025[SHARE]

The Land of the Living review " resonant saga of displaced people told by Juliet Stevenson and a star in the making by Arifa Akbar

Dorfman theatre, LondonDirected by Stephen Daldry, David Lan's historical drama has a revelatory performance by Artie Wilkinson-Hunt David Lan's play takes us into a fascinating corridor of …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 9:02am on September 19, 2025[SHARE]

The Lady from the Sea review " Andrew Lincoln and Alicia Vikander make waves in magnificent rewrite by Arifa Akbar

Bridge theatre, LondonIbsen's mysticism and mermaids are thrown out as director Simon Stone amps up the 1888 play's psychological intensity with his eco-focused update Writer-director Simon …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 8:02pm on September 18, 2025[SHARE]

Not Your Superwoman review " Letitia Wright and Golda Rosheuvel are magnetic in mother-daughter drama by Arifa Akbar

Bush theatre, LondonBoth screen stars captivate in Emma Dennis-Edwards's tale of Gen Z Erica and emotionally distant Joyce Two screen stars blaze on stage in this mother-daughter drama: Leti…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:24am on September 14, 2025[SHARE]

Seagull: True Story review " Putin's war overshadows a heroically meta staging of Chekhov by Arifa Akbar

Marylebone theatre, LondonRussian director Alexander Molochnikov's play within a play raises vital questions about the cost and creativity of exile but is undone by its own cleverness This i…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 9:18am on September 12, 2025[SHARE]

Endgame review " Mathew Horne and Douglas Hodge bring macabre fizz to Beckett by Arifa Akbar

Ustinov Studio, BathAs a pair of wisecracking vaudevillian entertainers, the stars balance the comedy and desolation in Lindsay Posner's production This desolate masterpiece by Samuel Becket…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 6:02am on September 12, 2025[SHARE]

Susan Sarandon, Whoopi Goldberg and Caliban's take on The Tempest: the best theatre, comedy and dance of autumn 2025 by Arifa Akbar, Brian Logan and Lyndsey Winship

Andrea Riseborough and Sarandon deliver a decade-hopping drama, superstar standups hit the road and Shobana Jeyasingh rewrites Shakespeare ' See the rest of our unmissable autumn arts previe…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 3:18am on August 28, 2025[SHARE]

Juniper Blood review " middle-class urbanites up sticks in search for new pastoral idyll by Arifa Akbar

Donmar Warehouse, LondonMike Bartlett's invigorating play becomes a state-of-the-world drama about whether it is possible to live responsibly in our age of toxic capitalism Mike Bartlett's s…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 8:42am on August 27, 2025[SHARE]

As You Like It review " Ralph Fiennes' sombre, stately directorial stage debut by Arifa Akbar

Theatre Royal BathThe actor's minimal staging of the Shakespeare comedy favours stillness and feeling over comic fizz, with moving performances from Gloria Obianyo and Amber James Ralph Fien…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:48am on August 22, 2025[SHARE]