News Flash: my latest book about contemporary British theatre, new writing and beyond, is now available

Let us remember the radical acts of 50 years ago.

Star cast give energy to a superb, if old fashioned, play about the anti-Semitism of Roald Dahl

Excellent revival of Mike Leigh’s masterpiece comedy of suburban manners stars Jill Halfpenny

A jury of young people hold their elders to account for disastrous climate change — chillingly compelling

One of the most important characteristics of contemporary British new plays is that they aim to provide a forum for the discussion of ideas.

Here is a sample from the introduction to my latest book about postwar British theatre — an alternative history

Populist show is now on its sixth cast, but despite some noisy shocks it fails to chill the blood

Rom-com in a time of Islamophobia: debut two-hander explores a gentle love story of two practicing Muslims

A few days ago, I watched the National Theatre At Home streamed recording of Michaela Coel’s award-winning Chewing Gum Dreams.

Artificial Intelligence is much hyped — but can it review a theatre show?

Katie Mitchell’s revival of Sarah Kane’s 1998 play sees it as a ghastly nightmare, but overburdens the text with too many additions

The longest-running play in world history is in good shape, despite the lackluster and mechanical cast

Excellent revival of Ryan Craig’s 2011 play about an British-Jewish family in crisis — still timely and thought-provoking

Grace Barnes’s excellent new book is both provocative and illuminating

Ryan Calais Cameron does it again: he portrays the male black British experience with joy as well as pain

More overviews of British new writing from the In-Yer-Face Theatre archive.

Playwright or director? Who is ultimately responsible for a piece of theatre? Our Critic attempts to find out

Exuberant comedy with a dark edge: Beth Steel’s new play about three sisters is full of energy, but also a bit too populist for me

The love affair between playwright and actor lasted far beyond their early divorce

The Raoul Moat case revisited (again) in Robert Icke’s terrifyingly powerful account of toxic masculinity

New comedy by a debut writer about a West Indian wake is lively, full of spirits, but a bit undercooked

Censorship appears to be simple, but is actually quite complicated.

Latest thriller from the Hampstead Theatre sees a reunion of two female childhood friends turn nasty, oh very nasty

Autobiographical show about the Middle East is a wry take on insoluble antagonisms, and prefers utopian longing to political engagement

Take an imaginative ride through 400 years of British theatre with our fictional guides

Explore the work of a handful of British theatre’s brightest and most exciting writing talents

Maxine Peake struggles to make the voice of reason heard in a rather reactionary feminist history play

Text of the day: “But it was no good.”

Can theatre habituate us to extreme violence? Blasted is both a denunciation of the horrors of war and maybe a domestication of them

Charismatic stand-up routine: Samuel Barnett performs a sizzling monologue about sex and fatal attraction

Repeat, reboot, repeat: Sarah Kane’s exceptionally groundbreaking play gets a problematically nostalgic anniversary revival

Can the stranglehold of naturalism and social realism in British theatre ever be broken?

As a new production of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot is about to open in London’s West End, I was lucky enough to get the chance to watch The Impossible Itself (2010), Jake Ad…

Tim Crouch’s latest is a masterly enquiry into the art of performance, and into the extremes of grief

The death of David Bowie provokes the Critic to take a trip down the motorways and side alleys of memory

Tom Stoppard’s 1993 masterpiece is revived in a highly enjoyable, often luminous, production by Carrie Cracknell

Favourite stage direction: “The funeral procession of Queen Elizabeth II goes past.”

Spirited revival of this 1990s popular classic is enjoyably entertaining, but lacks darker shadows

Perfectly pitched adaptation by Simon Stephens of Mark Haddon’s classic tale is brilliantly staged

Martin Crimp’s Not One of These People has been staged using help from AI — but what does AI think of the show?

The remarkable story of 1960s football great John White is told with great emotional and theatrical flair in this one-person show

Haunting blood relations: new play about love and loneliness in London has terrific gender and genre fluidity

Leo Butler’s wonderful new one is not a play, but a passionate book about a writer’s life and the craft of playwriting

In the Brexit era, this site-specific revival of Agatha Christie’s 1953 courtroom drama works like a treat

New drama about generational tension and nuclear disaster is rather metaphor-heavy and lacks energy

The Angry Young Men of the 1950s were more of a media phenomenon than a coherent movement

Bad stuff and change in a time of pandemic: a derivative lockdown poem

The Royal Court’s international season continues with a savage Ukrainian play about women and war

Favourite stage direction: “Jade steps forward, out of the ‘picture’ from behind the curtain, and puts on the record player.”

Joseph Fiennes is mesmerizing as Gareth Southgate in James Graham’s sport-of-the-nation docu-drama

Text of the day: “There are good days and bad days.”

Nick Stafford’s sturdy beast rides again — and retains its colt-like freshness and wild beauty