Theatre

Our editor-at-large’s new rundown of the pick of the week’s theatre, film and TV

The King And I contains a powerful message about power and decency

Real-life couple Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker fail to spark in Plaza Suite

A star is born in this high school musical with roots in French literature

This could be the most truthful play ever about putting on a play

Frances Barber is brilliant as a deranged conspiracist in Steven Moffat's play The Unfriend

While she became one of the most highly respected names in the history of US theatre, Hagen brought a European sensibility to Broadway

Nothing has been quite the same in theatre since the pandemic – investors are risk-averse and a lot of money has been lost

The Motive and the Cue is just as good second time around

This year I learned the last great showman was one of those people I had loved deeply without ever fully realising it

This high-tech masterclass is also an extraordinary piece of unforgettable theatre

This take on Federico García Lorca’s classic left me dazed and speechless

The relentlessly prolific author of plays, poems, short stories and novels, Pirandello was always looking ahead

The withering contempt Christopher Eccleston's Scrooge has for the poor and homeless hits particularly hard this year

The American actor's solo show is eloquent - if sometimes self-indulgent

Backstairs Billy captures the charm of an eccentric keeper of royal secrets

The 7 Deaths of Maria Callas is framed around a catalogue of operatic demises

The latest reboot of Sunset Boulevard veers into self-indulgence

The Swedish actress’s unhappy Hollywood experience prompted a lifelong questioning of what being herself actually meant

An adaptation of a Neil Gaiman novel makes for a startling production

Few cultural figures can have combined political activism and theatre as successfully as Fo

Patient theatregoers will be richly rewarded with Bronagh Lagan's production of the Paul Gallico book

Richard Jones's revival displays perfectly what a preposterous activity our national obsession is

Putin’s regime has introduced ideologically driven cultural policies intended to shape a new, virtuous Russian citizen for the future

For a West End production, this show was simply not up to the mark

At a time when we have seen so much of the worst of it, this show appears to be tapping into something big

This year’s Festival d’Avignon – a celebration of song, music and dance – kicked off with a rebellion against Brexit

Her live show, Medico, offers laughter as a medicine for life's troubles and has taken the Edinburgh Fringe Festival by storm

Simon Williams has written a very clever and thoughtful play with an unusually sure grasp of the human condition

The return of La Cage Aux Folles, the show that proved too much for Thatcher-era Britain

Portuguese comedian André De Freitas is on a mission to put his country on the map, one joke at a time

The production is intelligent, well-acted, but oh, so boring