US Edition
Spend Spend Spend: this musical buzzes with Northern humour and heartfelt poignancy
After a turbulent period for the Manchester Royal Exchange, this show about Viv Nicholson, who squandered her fortune, is great fun
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My Fair Lady: A star is born in a production that puts Broadway’s to shame
This superb revival at Leicester’s Curve treats Lerner and Loewe’s classic with respect, and boasts a career-making turn from Molly Lynch
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The Importance of Being Earnest: Ncuti Gatwa is a riot in this big bouncy castle of a show
Max Webster lands on Oscar Wilde’s glittering Victorian masterpiece – with the latest incumbent of the Tardis drawing the crowds
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Sheila Hancock: ‘Christ said exactly what he thought – he wouldn’t have lasted a minute today’
The garlanded actress talks about her Quaker faith, her late husband John Thaw, and her memories of a festive punch-up
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Cinderella: Edinburgh’s big panto is full of glitz, glamour and Scottish humour
The Festival Theatre’s pitch-perfect panto is made all the more enjoyable thanks to the ad libbing of its tremendous double act
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Rupert Goold is the shot in the arm that the Old Vic needs
The artistic director, who has triumphed at the Almeida, has proved he has the chops to reignite a once-great theatrical institution
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Alice in Wonderland: Carroll enters the class wars in a desperately misconceived production
The cast do their very best, but Shakespeare North Playhouse’s new staging is essentially one poor decision after another
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‘We were always going to be compared to Six’: The cast of Why Am I So Single? on its closure
The modern love musical from the acclaimed writers of hit show Six is getting standing ovations every night. So why is it ending early?
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‘I went from a lads’ mag editor to transgender actress’
Thirty years on from the launch of Loaded, former production editor Kristen Smyth opens up on life behind the scenes and becoming a woman
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All’s Well That Ends Well: one for Shakespeare completists only
The Sam Wanamaker’s intimate, candlelit staging of the Bard’s knotty problem play is rewarding but not quite essential
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The best UK restaurants for pre-theatre dining
Here’s where to get the best meal before curtain-up, from the West End to Glasgow
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A Christmas Carol, Old Vic: still a wonder, but John Simm is an underwhelming Scrooge
Jack Thorne’s festive adaptation is a terrific spectacle – yet the show’s customary stabbing potency doesn’t hit home soon enough
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Andy Street: ‘It would be absolute sacrilege to sell off Birmingham’s treasures’
As the ex-mayor of the West Midlands takes over at the Rep, he tells us how he aims to create the top regional theatre in Europe
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W1A star Hugh Skinner: ‘We were advised not to tell casting directors we were gay’
Ahead of his role in The Importance of Being Earnest at the National, the actor talks identity politics, Fleabag and the Royal family
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Wolves on Road, Bush Theatre, review: pedestrian attempt to get a grip on the wild west of crypto
Beru Tessema’s ebullient new play about young east London entrepreneurs fails to sink its teeth into the mysterious world of digital gold
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Timothy West and Prunella Scales: theatre’s greatest love story
Timothy West, who died this week, was a rock to his wife Prunella Scales, who has dementia. Their six-decade marriage was an institution
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Felicity Kendal: ‘I don’t grow vegetables like I did on The Good Life’
The actor, 78, on lazy dogs, garden walks in pyjamas, grieving and treating herself at her favourite Italian restaurant
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The Red Shoes: lovely to look at – but this is no Matilda
Offering a winning mixture of live music, movement, dance and song, Nancy Harris’s take on Andersen’s tale nevertheless lacks the wow-factor
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Mary Poppins, Bristol Hippodrome: Practically perfect in every way
The stage-musical brings together the best of the beloved PL Travers book and the 1964 Disney film – a heaped spoonful of theatrical sugar
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Festive 50: the biggest films, theatre, concerts and panto to book for Christmas 2024
As the nights draw in, let our critics guide you to the season’s hottest tickets – from A Christmas Carol to Charli XCX
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Cameron Mackintosh: Why Oliver! keeps me going back for more
How the theatrical impresario went from watching Oliver! as a child in the cheap seats to becoming guardian of Lionel Bart’s masterpiece
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Murder on the Orient Express: a remarkably stylish and humorous take on the Agatha Christie tale
Poirot’s air of cerebral superiority is brilliantly captured in this taut, pacy touring production
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The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: A match for the movie? This joyful musical is far better
Relocated to Cornwall, this lyrical adaptation of F Scott Fitgerald’s novella unlocks far greater meanings than David Fincher’s film managed
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How Benjamin Button became theatre’s most unlikely word-of-mouth wonder
Backed by the director’s own money, this small fringe show is arriving in the West End. So how did theatre’s biggest gamble pay off?
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Kenrex: Under Milk Wood meets Sergio Leone, with astonishing results
Jack Holden plays 11 characters in this extraordinary one-man show, based on the true story of a violent psychopath in small-town Missouri
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Summer 1954: this Rattigan double bill is a stirring examination of English repression
This pairing of one-act plays at Theatre Royal Bath offers an insight into a bygone age – and stars an astonishingly energetic Siân Phillips
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The best matinee shows in London
From a Disney family favourite to a revolutionary musical, these West End productions are all perfect for an afternoon theatre trip
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Barcelona: Lily Collins makes her theatrical debut – and proves she’s one to watch
The Emily in Paris star and Money Heist’s Álvaro Morte elevate a rather dated two-hander into something properly affecting
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Dr Strangelove: Steve Coogan steals the show but can’t save it
Sean Foley’s knockabout adaptation of Kubrick’s era-defining film is marked by a consistent refusal to take its subject seriously
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Peter Sellers, Stanley Kubrick and the battle to stop Dr Strangelove from bombing
How a control-freak director and his maniacal star defied terrified studio executives and onset injuries to make comedy gold from Armageddon
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Reykjavik: This bravely old-fashioned play is one of Richard Bean’s best
This new play at the Hampstead Theatre, which superbly explores the Cod Wars during the Seventies, is a rare treat
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Romeo + Juliet, Broadway: rising British star Kit Connor is a knockout in this lively production
Starring opposite Rachel Zegler, the Heartstopper alumnus dazzles in Sam Gold’s new staging at the Circle in the Square, New York
