Harold Pinter theatre; Lyric Hammersmith; Palladium, LondonDreams of fame trap and inspire in Jez Butterworth's female-centred, Blackpool-set new play; Lemn Sissay takes a personal approach …
Dorfman; Sam Wanamaker Playhouse; Savoy, LondonBeth Steel's battling Notts wedding guests are a treat; Ola Ince's Met police Othello makes horrible sense; and Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jes…
Orange Tree, Richmond; Marylebone theatre, LondonZoe Cooper's vivaciously queer take on Jane Austen will make readers and audiences think twice. And Nicolas Kent distils a Holocaust fable to…
Park theatre; Lyttleton, LondonIns Choi's disarming Korean corner store comedy makes a timely return to the stage; a show of migrant stories feels more like ritual than chronicle; and a new …
Ambassadors; Yard; King's Head, LondonCatherine Tate and David Threlfall are stranded in a scarily dull ghost story; the end of a love affair looms over a lively two-hander; and the new King…
In a thin year for musicals and political drama, an 11th hour Blanche DuBois, a flurry of young actors, two James Graham plays and a pair of Macbeths were among the standouts Read the Observ…
Donmar Warehouse; Phoenix theatre; Riverside Studios, LondonDavid Tennant and Cush Jumbo wire you into the Macbeths' innermost thoughts; Stranger Things takes theatrical spectacle to the nex…
The Lucky Chance, Frome; Almeida; Soho theatre, LondonThere's a puppet but no happy ending at Emma Rice's fine new Somerset venue; Elvis Costello soundtracks a postwar Polish love story; and…
Dorfman; Young Vic; Menier Chocolate Factory, LondonChronic illness is captured to extraordinary effect in Annie Baker's slow yet absorbing new play. Elsewhere, snarling Pinter lacks bite, w…
The Depot, Liverpool; Lyttleton, London Ralph Fiennes and Indira Varma are magnetic murderers in Simon Godwin's bleakly immersive warehouse production, while Harriet Walter commands the stag…
Finborough; Hampstead; Royal Court, LondonAn exemplary staging of short plays by overlooked Ena Lamont Stewart; Alun Armstrong is at his hangdog best in Richard Bean's warm retirement drama;…
Duke of York's, London; RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon; New Diorama, LondonThe puns ricochet between Penelope Wilton and Luke Evans in a frisky royal tale of mistress and servant; merriment dispel…
Wyndham's; Harold Pinter; Battersea Arts Centre, LondonKenneth Branagh savours Lear's words rather too much; Kristin Scott Thomas and co are left high and dry in Cornwall; but at BAC, a beat…
Donmar Warehouse; Lyttelton, London; Theatre Royal BathLynn Nottage wires us into American life with her all-consuming truck-stop cafe drama; Alexander Zeldin weaves slow magic from his moth…
Bristol Old Vic; Almeida; the Yard, LondonMoonlight writer Tarell Alvin McCraney's elite school drama hits all the right notes; Marina Carr's intense Irish play finds its ideal director. Plu…
National Theatre; Savoy theatre, LondonThe fourth in Clint Dyer and Roy Williams's state-of-the-nation play series is precise, fierce and moving, while Nicole Scherzinger hammers home the dr…
Gielgud; Theatre Royal Haymarket; Royal Court, LondonAn all-star tribute to the acid genius of the late composer offers a terrific medley of hits, Michael Frayn's clever farce also proves ti…
Liverpool's Royal Court; Duke of York's; Kiln, LondonAlan Bleasdale's 80s TV classic about jobless workers hits home in James Graham's adaptation; Andrew Scott is not alone in his one-man Ch…
Minerva theatre, Chichester; Lyric Hammersmith, LondonAn evening of drinking turns dangerous in the sharply funny debut play from The Guilty Feminist's Deborah Frances-White. And the set is …
Almeida; Donmar Warehouse, LondonSam Holcroft's unsettling new play about censorship features a menacing performance from Jonny Lee Miller, while a musical drama exploring bipolar disorder i…
Lyttelton, London; Finborough, LondonJamie Lloyd galvanises Lucy Prebble's drama about two patients who on a drug trial, while a trilogy of pre-first world war playlets captures a forgotten …
She cancelled her honeymoon to star in A Streetcar Named Desire with four days' notice " then won the 2023 Critics' Circle best actress award. She talks to the Observer's theatre critic, an …
Traverse; Lyceum; Studio, EdinburghNat McCleary's new play gets to grips with Scottish identity; a French-language take on Lars von Trier glides between stage and screen; and dinner is serve…
Minerva, Chichester; Garrick, LondonThe wit and sharpness of the 70s TV series about a pioneering all-female band is partially captured in a spirited stage adaptation. As for Simon Nye's new…
Secret location, Milton Keynes; Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, Royal Court; Southwark Playhouse Elephant, London Catalan company Kamchà tka create an enticing piece of site-specific theatre in …