Genre: Drama 0
Review: John Proctor is the Villain
The apotheosis is both thrilling and more than timely. At a moment where feminism is being closed down, this needs screaming
Review: Two
As fine a revival as you’re likely to see in London or the South. It's a classic that, like Road, is more political as it ages gracefully.
Review: A Doll’s House
The end, a question-mark, leaves a silence where you might hear a door banging three streets away.
Review: Edward II
Alex Pearson has devised an Edward II that’s fleet, clear, crisply compelling and as sly as Marlowe: something other productions could profit from.
Review: The Authenticator
Absorbing, playfully swerving from where it might travel, The Authenticator mildly frustrates, mostly digs you in the ribs with questions. And thoroughly entertains.
Review: Pack of Lies
This one-time hit though now rarely-staged Olivier-winning play is worth tracking down; and you’ve a little more time to find it in Southwick.
Review: The Old Ladies
A small classic, if not on the scale of The Truth About Blayds, it’s yet another gem. And a must-see.
Review: Summerfolk
We need Summerfolk. Sided and slant, this version is a must-see. And almost as much as Chekhov, we need more Gorky.
Review: Vincent in Brixton
An outstanding revival, not least for the quiet blaze between Niamh Cusack and Jeroen Frank Kales, but with a revelatory supporting cast
Review: The Crucible
One of Lewes Little’s finest of recent years; which often happens when they’re ambitious.
Review: The BFG
Evans and his team have transported the magic so completely it’s taken up residence. Both outstanding and a delight
Review: Dear Liar
Stella Powell-Jones and her team make the strongest possible case. A must-see for all lovers of theatre, wit, and wincing put-downs.
Review: The Constant Wife
An outstanding revival and adaptation, a faultless cast, an award-winning set too. Brighton has been lucky in its last three productions. This though is the gem. Outstanding.
Review: The Shitheads
Aa a blazing new voice though The Shitheads packs a flinty punch; and paradoxically heralds a vivid poetic talent. A must-see.
Review: Deep Azure
One of the few moments of Peter Brooks’ term “Holy Theatre” has arrived at the Wanamaker. A must-see.
Review: The Story of Peer Gynt
The Norwegian Ibsen company - and here Kåre Conradi - are doing for Ibsen what Conor Lovett and Gare St Lazare are doing for Beckett. And both are to be found at the Coronet.
Review: After Miss Julie
Provocative, absorbing take on Strindberg’s 1888 masterpiece. Fine cast led by Liz Francis make much of demob denouements.
Review: Glorious!
Wendi Peters sends you out singing: with all the right notes in the wrong order. Solidly recommended.
Review: The Tempest
Orlando Gough’s music stamps this production, and makes the pulleys of reinvention sing despite themselves. For that and the sweep of decolonised languages, a must-see.
Review: Jerusalem
This flawless production of weight and substance calling on NVT’s resources is a triumph.
Review: 1.17am, or until the words run out
A cracking debut that picks you up and never lets go. Like any play that gifts us believable characters, it leaves you wondering what life, not just Hunter Gordon, will do with them. Highly recommended.
Review: Arcadia
As bright as stained crystal and warm as the filament Thomasina reaches for: outstanding.
Review: Dance of Death
Strindberg to live with? Who’d have thought of that? An outstanding must-see. If you can’t get there, tune in to the livestream. This demands a wider audience.
Review: The Gambler
Chiten Theatre intensifies to a point of light here something barbarous, atavistic, and goes to the heart of nihilism. Still outstanding.
Review: Midsomer Murders
Don’t miss this. You’ll be surprised. Particularly if you think you know the badgers.
Review: American Psycho
If you can queue, you’ll be in good company. Jean queued for Les Mis at 6.30 am.
Review: The Lion in Winter
In the main a stupendous feat: two leads at the top of their game and three superb, beautifully detailed actors inhabiting the sons; with two fine supporting ones as siblings Philip and Alais. A must-see.
Review: Mrs President
Mrs President will continue to haunt and I suspect, develop. Be haunted though.
Review: Guess How Much I Love You?
Rosie Sheehy and Robert Aramayo are phenomenal and wholly believable. Norris’s next play will be worth seeking out, after such an outstanding debut.
Review: Safe Haven
There’s a perennial feel not just to the humanity at the play’s core; but the work itself. In these dark days, a must-see.
Review: 4000 Days
There aren’t easy answers here, but there is humour, especially if you’re cheated of consuming 17 boxes of Belgian truffles. A must-see.
Review: Our American Queen
Klingenstein’s attentive, witty above all brilliant re-imagining of two remarkable young people. Exceptional.
Review: Single White Female
There’s potential for this to be a taut-paced thriller with higher stakes than the original. As it stands, this isn’t yet quite ready but there’s months ahead to make it work.
Review: Orphans
No wonder the propulsive energy of Lyle Kessler’s script, knotted with such complexity and switchbacks of violence has held the stage for over 40 years. You must see this.
Review: The Playboy of the Western World
An impossible balance, but having seen Playboy at farce-speed, it’s good to weigh in with a loquacious backbeat of despair. Wholly absorbing.
Review: The Mask Policy
Tianjiao Tan’s crafted a unique, witty take on an industry with little exposure as it were. A revelation.
Review: Nachtland
Janette Eddisford has scored with this outrageously provocative, troubling satire that flays the German soul and hangs up the skins, stretched.
Review: Ballet Shoes
A winter paean to wonder and possibility, Kendall Feaver’s and Katy Rudd’s Ballet Shoes has proved as evergreen as the book itself. Outstanding.
Review: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Certainly builds as the Globe’s strongest – if not truest - Dream since (at least) their 2013 production.
Review: David Copperfield
An outstanding production, a seasonal offering more satisfying than most pantos.
Review: End
Outstanding performances from Clive Owen and Saskia Reeves, and a script fired with conviction and probing tenderness around how we all face death; a must-see.
Review: Óran
A powerful immersive reworking of the descent of Orpheus into the underworld for the digital age
Review: Because We Said We Would
A tender and touching exploration of a relationship that spans decades.
Review: Duty
A fresh and urgent play, Duty should tour as a salutary reminder of how war impacts community, divides war-influenced majority from the few who see through war.
Review: Kindling
Sarah Rickman and Ciara Pouncett have assembled a superb team. They need to revisit the script once or twice more and they’ll have a winner.
Review: We Are the Lions, Mr Manager
At a time of racialised targeting – a distraction technique born of the very forces Jayaben Desai fought – Grunwick speaks with startling relevance.
Review: This Little Earth
Jessica Norman is going to be a force. Watch out for her and see a powerful dramatic imagination at least hatch here.
Review: The Unbelievers
The Unbelievers confirms the Royal Court’s new phase can again splice the traditionally-crafted with the exploratory. A must-see.
Review: Mr Jones
Once you’ve seen Mr Jones, it will never leave you. Not just history, but the poignancy that shivers across survivors and leaves them buried, ceaselessly pulling them to the past.
Review: The Line of Beauty
Not the most theatrical story, it’s a heady narrative. A dance to the music of a time that marred us, this still compels
Review: The Talented Mr. Ripley
A must-see. Minor caveats aside it’s as absorbing as some productions recently have plodded. This isn’t just any Ripley….
Review: Inspector Morse: House of Ghosts
For Morse fans, this is still a low-yield vintage that can mature
Review: Blue/Orange
Absorbing revival – and rethinking - of this still relevant 2000 play about abusing the already-abused in the name of psychiatry.
Review: 2:22 A Ghost Story
Sharp, satisfying in itself, above all hauntingly intelligent in its questions.
Review: Hamlet
Kate Waters ensures the fight scene’s a suitable climax to Robert Hastie’s fleet production.
Review: Inter Alia
After 15 years away from the stage, Pike returns in a blaze of morals versus the law. Her triumph though is unequivocal.
Review: Keep Your Sunny Side Up
In nearly every way exceptional. Hampshire is consummate and sets off Rouselle as worthy to inhabit Fields.
Review: Who Do They Think They Are?
A finely-written show, with tensions wrought individually to a satisfying whole.
Review: The Needle Room
An intriguing and beguiling look at the past which is eerily reminiscent of our present.
Review: A. A. Milne The Truth About Blayds
A classic revival of a minor classic. Pacily directed and with a consummate cast, this production couldn’t be bettered
Review: David Lan The Land of the Living
The most moving and theatrically gripping new play I’ve seen for a long time, it’s also the most layered and completely realised. A world that invites ours to ask where on earth we come from.
Review: Hamlet
An outstandingly thought-through Hamlet though, with more of the prince and play in it than I’ve seen. And Giles Terera’s is with the best of recent decades.
Review: Miller The Crucible
It’s almost sold out. If there’s a cancellation on any night, you must see this.
Review: Benny Ainsworth Vermin
The most riveting two-hander you’ll see this year; it’s not for the faint-hearted. Writing, acting and burned-off minimal staging draw us into hell, and its epiphanies. Outstanding.
Review: The Chaos That Has Been and Will No Doubt Return
It’s hard not to love this exuberant 75-minute romp through Luton’s urban sprawl. It’s both exuberant and serious, warm and yet with a chill undercurrent of deprivation
