Five star - Latest Top Rated Stage Reviews from the Guardian

Typical review – Richard Blackwood is mesmerising in poetic tragedy
This superb play draws on the final hours of Christopher Alder, who died in police custody in Hull in 1998 - Arifa Akbar
Firestarter: The Story of Bangarra review – an engrossing celebration of artistic creation
Wayne Blair and Nel Minchin’s beguiling documentary deepens the already magical experience of watching the Indigenous dance company perform - Luke Buckmaster
Weg met Eddy Bellegueule review – a four-way triumph
Playing multiple roles, four young actors dazzle in Eline Arbo’s superb staging of Édouard Louis’s brutal coming-of-age novel - Susannah Clapp
Bluey's Big Play review – magical adaptation brings unbridled joy to kids (and parents)
A glorious celebration of everything you love about the show has been woven into a touching new story – for real life - Jason Reed
Oleanna review – brutal and brilliant revival of pre-#MeToo masterpiece
Rosie Sheehy and Jonathan Slinger are captivating in David Mamet’s 1992 two-hander about a university student and professor in a battle of power, privilege and consent - Arifa Akbar
High Man Pen Meander review – gorgeous homage to Edwin Morgan
In this exquisite film we go backstage at Glasgow’s Tron to hear and see the poet’s work performed with beguiling theatricality - Mark Fisher
Nate: A One Man Show review – outrageous and electrifying comedy
Natalie Palamides’s drag king show remains both raucous and subtle, as it explores grey areas around consent - Brian Logan
The Picture of Dorian Gray review – Eryn Jean Norvill dazzles in ambitious, whip-smart production
Kip Williams directs the actor through 26 different characters in a tirelessly inventive performance that taps into our collective fears and obsessions - Cassie Tongue
Playing Beatie Bow review – oldest of stage tricks bring new Wharf Theatre to vital life
This adaptation of the classic Ruth Park novel feels like a promise that this is still a space for magic - Cassie Tongue
Hymn review – thoughtful black bromance shuns convention
Danny Sapani and Adrian Lester strike up true chemistry in a friendship-themed drama that wears its racial context lightly - Arifa Akbar
Uppercase Print review – a fierce denunciation of Ceaușescu's Romania
Radu Jude dramatises the case of a disenchanted teenager turned in to the secret police in 1980s Romania in this chilling work of filmed theatre - Peter Bradshaw
Good Grief review – tender film-play hybrid hits home
Sian Clifford and Nikesh Patel rehearsed for two days on Zoom before being filmed in a studio in Lorien Haynes’s impressively naturalistic bereavement story - Susannah Clapp
Once Upon a Bridge review – three worlds collide in near-death drama
Inspired by a real incident where a woman was barged into the path of an oncoming bus, Sonya Kelly’s play explores proximity and distance - Helen Meany
Romeo & Juliet review – Verona is a dystopia in trailblazing tragedy
Sam Tutty and Emily Redpath star in an ambitious new version of Shakespeare’s play created with digital wizardry - Arifa Akbar
Dancing Nation review – a powerful reminder of what we're missing
Botis Seva’s BLKDOG, Matthew Bourne’s Spitfire and Shobana Jeyasingh’s Contagion are just three highlights in this celebration of UK dance-making - Sarah Crompton
Fangirls review – delightful musical homage to fandoms, screaming very much encouraged
Seymour Centre, SydneyWitty and agile with a powerhouse cast, Yve Blake’s musical balances serious social reflections with a loving twinkle in its eye - Cassie Tongue
Earwig review – weightlifting, witches and one high-stakes curry
A trip to the gym for some metaphysical exercise opens the Tron theatre’s fascinating series of experimental audio dramas - Mark Fisher
Tim Key review – banter, bathing and terrific poems about our new normal
Key and sidekick Edward Easton deliver a delightful housebound hour of shtick, backchat and verse - Brian Logan
The History of Sketch Comedy review – Keegan-Michael Key's love letter to laughter
The comic actor’s exuberant 10-part history unpicks the nuts-and-bolts of what makes a sketch funny, from overlooked past acts to SNL, and British favourites including the Two Ronnies - Brian Logan
Dancing Nation review – Sadler's Wells extravaganza stretches across three hours
Akram Khan and Natalia Osipova’s poetic duet and Shobana Jeyasingh’s Contagion are highlights in a festival from BBC Arts - Lyndsey Winship
The Inquest review – tangled cold case enthrals amateur sleuths
Viewers collaborate to chase clues and solve a deadly mystery in the follow-up to last year’s Jury Duty - Catherine Love
London international mime festival: 5 Short Films review – now everyone can watch
As this year’s event goes virtual, five newly commissioned videos showcase the diversity of its artists - Clare Brennan
The Approach review – this jewel of a show captures the thrill of live theatre
The easygoing reminiscences of three women reveal depths of turmoil and heartache in Mark O’Rowe’s deftly written triumph - Arifa Akbar
Living Record festival review – milk cults, coma patients and homeless ghosts
Theodora van der Beek’s film about a lactose-fuelled religion is the highlight of an online compilation that finds British theatre-makers in morose mood - Mark Fisher
Magic Mike Live review – Channing Tatum's sex positive strip show dials up the heat in Sydney
While the show never takes itself too seriously, it’s sincere in its message women can get anything we want - Katie Cunningham
Rapunzel: A Hairy Tale Adventure review – an exuberant musical box of treats
National Theatre of Scotland retell the famous panto in a series of madcap monologues - Mark Fisher
Scottish Ballet: The Secret Theatre review – Christmas selection box is irresistible
Scottish Ballet blends The Nutcracker and The Snow Queen in an hour-long film full of twinkle and charm - Lyndsey Winship
The Comeback review – comedy that sparkles by double act The Pin
Described as ‘the cure for theatre’ by producer Sonia Friedman, Alex Owen and Ben Ashenden’s debut play is full of heart, pleasing pratfalls and endless flips of perspective - Brian Logan
Cinderella review – classy panto with a defiant spirit
Covid quips abound – and the Prince keeps his distance from Cinders – in Nottingham Playhouse’s colourful show - Mark Fisher
A Christmas Carol review – more humdinger than humbug
This delightfully staged concert has West End ritz, Disney schmaltz and an East End music-hall heart - Arifa Akbar
Oh Yes We Are! review – thrilling Zoom panto that's full of gusto
Dame and director Barrie Hunter’s tremendous live show, with characters confined in their Covid-era dressing rooms, is a richly ribald delight - Mark Fisher
Zoo Motel review – check in for a wild night of surprises
An ordinary hotel room becomes a place of upended perspective and magic in Thaddeus Phillips’ connection-themed play - Mark Fisher
The Nutcracker review – a glimmer of pure Christmas joy
Despite fewer dancers and musicians, Peter Wright’s production is a gorgeous spectacle at Covent Garden - Lyndsey Winship
Breakin' Convention: Social DisDancing review – a gripping hip-hop hour
The audience whoop behind their masks at a muted, Covid-era iteration of the festival, ending with a note of hope - Lyndsey Winship
Love Letters review – Jenny Seagrove and Martin Shaw are superbly matched
The emotional and physical distance of this epistolary novel for the stage is ideal for Covid-era theatre, performed here with power and finesse - Mark Lawson
Petrichor review – cringingly funny web sitcom with a fantastic cast
The Pin’s Alex Owen, Katy Wix and Lolly Adefope are among the cast in a superb series about a delusional wannabe auteur - Brian Logan
Overflow review – friendship and fear in bathroom-sink drama
Reece Lyons stars in Travis Alabanza’s thought-provoking play which explores trans safety and is set in a public toilet - Kate Wyver
Lyceum Christmas Tales review – make a date with this Advent anthology
A melancholic fairytale, African shadow puppetry and a haunted proscenium are among the first five offerings from the Lyceum’s series of Christmas plays - Mark Fisher
Joel Dommett review – playground humour elevated to an art form
The I’m a Celebrity survivor and Masked Singer host makes irresistible use of his tabloid sex scandal in this fun set - Brian Logan
Adventures in Film review – cracking trio from Matthew Bourne's company
Bourne’s New Adventures has given three female dancers from the company the chance to make their own creations – with impressive results - Lyndsey Winship
English National Ballet digital season review – a real Christmas bonus
Five diversely enjoyable new dance works filmed to watch at home are a testament to artistic director Tamara Rojo’s ambitious guiding principles - Sarah Crompton
A Christmas Carol review – clever multimedia reworking of Dickens
With dance, silent cinema and collage, Jacqui and David Morris’s version of the classic story is never less than enthralling - Ellen E Jones
The Prom review – is Ryan Murphy's musical the first film of the Biden era?
Taste the treacle as Nicole Kidman’s Broadway liberals rebuke a rural high school – and learn a few things about themselves - Peter Bradshaw
‘It’s a lot of work being black in Britain’ – Tales from the Front Line … and Other Stories – review
The experience of black frontline workers in the Covid crisis is brought to harrowing life in these plays based on interviews with a teacher and mental health worker - Arifa Akbar
Haunting Julia review – Alan Ayckbourn hunts the ghost of Little Miss Mozart
The dramatist plays a man looking for answers about the death of his musical prodigy daughter in an audio version of his 1994 work that keeps us guessing till the end - Arifa Akbar
Sherlock Holmes: An Online Adventure review – it's so fun who cares whodunnit?
It’s a ball playing sleuth – with Dr Watson’s help – even if you don’t identify the killer in this interactive show - Arifa Akbar
Young Frankenstein review – Mel Brooks' cult classic gets clever, camp revival
There are plenty of belly laughs and a stellar lead but Alexander Berlage’s take on the original text lacks the nuanced meta-commentary he usually excels at - Cassie Tongue
All on Her Own Review – a curio of repressed emotion
Janie Dee impresses in a smart production of a Terence Rattigan solo work bound up in class issues - Susannah Clapp
Barnes’ People review – angsty monologues raging against life and death
Peter Barnes’s spellbinding play about class as seen by a Buckingham Palace footman is the pick of these four single-handers - Arifa Akbar
Crips Without Constraints review – five duos deliver sharp satire and tender drama
Harriet Walter, Cherylee Houston and Sharon D Clarke star in the second collection of shorts in Graeae’s series of dramas - Arifa Akbar
All on Her Own review – denied love explodes with a voice beyond death
Janie Dee stars as a newly bereaved Hampstead widow in this poignant, ventriloquising monologue by Terence Rattigan - Arifa Akbar
After Hours with Margaret Cho review – say it with sexual adventure
Cho’s live-streamed Valentine’s Day sex advice workshop encompassed BDSM, bestiality and the fun that can be had with ‘pervertible’ household objects - Brian Logan
Comedians Telling Erotic Stories review – first snogs, orgies and a come-on from Boris
Rachel Fairburn’s showcase aroused funny bones, if not G-spots, with Shappi Khorsandi, Lou Sanders and Will Duggan - Brian Logan
If It Were Love review – a dance doc powered by the exuberance of youth
Patric Chiha’s film follows a troupe rehearsing a major production and draws its charm from the carefree energy of its performers - Peter Bradshaw
Leicester Comedy festival review – gags, groans and heckling gremlins
Felicity Ward and Tony Law star in the event’s opening cabaret, First Night Funnies, with false starts and flat-out laughs - Brian Logan
Simple Passion review – sensitive French study of erotic obsession
Laetitia Dosch is sensational as a lecturer passionately embroiled with Sergei Polunin’s reptilian Russian diplomat - Peter Bradshaw
Birds (Or How to Be One) review – flighty avian-themed drama-doc
Babis Makridis takes to the sky with an experimental and sometimes difficult to watch manifesto inspired by Aristophanes’s play The Birds - Phil Hoad
Manipulate festival review – visual theatre experiments on a different stage
Denied live performance, creators slip its boundaries to explore screen trickery in this stimulating festival of storytelling, puppetry and animation - Mark Fisher
The Virt Locker review – new comedy show addresses the elephant in the Zoom room
Banter and live laughter help NextUp’s show – featuring a grumpy Jen Brister, a lovable Sarah Keyworth and more – replicate in-person comedy - Brian Logan
Mischief Movie Night In review – make a musical with the masters of impro
Sofa-bound audiences help the team behind The Play That Goes Wrong to create spontaneous and funny stories on screen - Brian Logan
The Poltergeist review – you are invited to a new circle of hell
Joseph Potter summons enough characters to fill the stage in Philip Ridley’s dark comedy of manners about family dysfunction and wasted talent - Arifa Akbar
San Francisco Ballet: A Midsummer Night’s Dream review – two acts of pure dance run smooth
George Balanchine’s take on Shakespearean comedy may be more geometric than romantic, but the most delicate moments of this performance are truly enchanting - Lyndsey Winship
Abnormally Funny People review – cabaret of comics with disabilities
This Zoom gig of eyecatching diversity closed the Unlimited festival and felt like a family gathering with its affectionate mutual mockery - Brian Logan
Public Domain review – social-media musical swipes at Facebook
Francesca Forristal and Jordan Paul Clarke’s show supplies sharp satire on influencer culture, but doesn’t dig into bigger issues - Arifa Akbar
The Dig review – Sutton Hoo excavation romance is none too deep
Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes unearth an Anglo-Saxon burial ship, but leave their emotions interred, in this robustly English drama - Peter Bradshaw
Chris Rock: Total Blackout review – confessional comic cuts loose
The standup is back with a messier, extended version of his 2018 TV special Tamborine that better captures the spirit of a live gig - Brian Logan
The Snow Queen review – whirl through Scarborough's winter wonderland
Polly Lister plays umpteen parts in this spirited Hans Christian Andersen adaptation filmed at Stephen Joseph theatre - Chris Wiegand
Sunset Boulevard review – Hollywood musical is milder than Wilder
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s version of the 1950 film is smartly staged by Leicester’s Curve, starring Ria Jones and Danny Mac - Chris Wiegand
Rent review: scrappy New York musical grows up – and finds its heart and soul
Director Shaun Rennie lets the characters shine and adds an authenticity that will have you weeping into your mask - Cassie Tongue
Dick Whittington review – smut, songs and a dose of optimism
The National Theatre’s pantomime paean to London feels a little too bright in the current climate, but its naughtier denizens – including a goth Queen Rat – shine - Arifa Akbar
One Night in Miami review – high-concept quartet of 1960s African American icons
Cassius Clay, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke and NFL star Jim Brown ring in the changes in a Florida motel room in Regina King’s spirited film - Peter Bradshaw
London Hughes: To Catch a D*ck review – swaggering hour of sex-comedy
The X-rated stories still provoke a titter but this recorded performance is a limp substitute for her rousing original - Brian Logan
Rhys James: Forgives review – quickfire comedy is packed with gags
This online stream of a 2016 Soho theatre show whips through the young comic’s angst and uncertainty - Brian Logan
The Haunting of Alice Bowles review – murder at a time of plague
This MR James ghost story has been rethought as a suspenseful tale for the Covid era, with a standout performance from Tamzin Outhwaite - Arifa Akbar
A Christmas Carol review – Andrew Lincoln's Scrooge is a tearjerking gem
The Old Vic’s zoom-broadcast version of the Dicken classic is full of heart and pulls back the curtain on Covid-era theatre - Claire Armitstead
On Pointe review – arabesques and ambition at America's top dance school
This glossy and often uplifting Disney+ ballet docuseries lays bare the leaps and hurdles for young dancers - Lucy Mangan
The Haunted Woman review – the sound of fear
Olivia Williams voices Rafaella Marcus’s story of a woman in a house who has only bumps in the night for company - Arifa Akbar
Tiny Pretty Things review – pumped-up ballet drama is Fame for Gen Z
Netflix’s latest teen series pirouettes confidently on to screens, a cross between a girls’ magazine yarn and the hit 80s film – with a dark, contemporary edge - Lucy Mangan
My Brilliant Career review – a joyously angry take on Stella 'Miles' Franklin's complicated legacy
New stage adaptation sees Nikki Shiels inhabit Franklin’s heroine Sybylla in storm of wild romantic adolescence - Cassie Tongue
Death Drop review – murder most rollicking with Dragatha Christie
Panto innuendo, outrageous caricatures and death by crispy pancake haunt a riotous Christmas whodunnit - Brian Logan
The Emperor’s New Clothes review – larger-than-life belter goes big and bold
With cartoon accents, embellished dialogue and eye-popping outfits, this lively show overwhelms on film but would be fun to see in a theatre - Mark Fisher
Frozen review – Disney's thrilling but occasionally gluggy stage musical won't let audience go
Capitol Theatre, SydneyDisney’s powerhouse musical makes its international debut on Australian stages – and becomes the only place in the world that it’s still showing - Cassie Tongue
The Magic of Christmas review – Clare Grogan steps in to help Santa find his way
Filmed at Pitlochry when a live show was prevented, Elizabeth Newman’s charming adventure channels star power to rescue festive spirit - Mark Fisher
The Dumb Waiter review – Pinter's enigma picks at the roots of power
This revival of Harold Pinter’s two-hander about a pair of Beckettian hitmen raises questions for the age of strongman politics - Arifa Akbar
A Christmas Carol review – Nicholas Hytner delivers an ode to theatre
Simon Russell Beale stars in an economical Dickens adaptation that reminds us of the richness of live theatre - Arifa Akbar
GHBoy review – a bold look at chemsex and trauma
Paul Harvard’s debut play, about homophobia and sexual assault, shows promise and has a complex lead but lacks focus - Kate Wyver
The Ballad of Corona V review – promenade through the pandemic
A mixture of surrealism and satire renders Maggie Norris’s production both unnerving and puzzling - Arifa Akbar
Cinderella: the Socially Distanced Ball review – a show that radiates delight
With high-end performers, rude jokes and lashes of self-irony, there’s throwaway fun to be had – despite the Perspex screens - Brian Logan
Mustard review – one-woman show doesn't quite cut it
Eva O’Connor’s piece about ‘madness, heartbreak and condiments’ loses its bite in this online performance - Clare Brennan
Pippin review – musical theatre returns with a sea of spectacle that almost drowns the show
This big, strange musical is an acrobatic, fire-juggling, hoop-jumping extravaganza. Like all magic, it’s also an exercise in misdirection - Cassie Tongue
Ari Eldjárn: Pardon My Icelandic review – footie, Thor and Scandi noir
Puncturing his country’s national stereotypes stays just the right side of charming in Eldjárn’s twinkly routine - Brian Logan
Eliot Smith Dance review – the Trojan wars complete with fetishwear and catwalk
The enterprising company presents three specially filmed virtual dance works, including Smith’s own intriguing take on ancient mythology - Lyndsey Winship
Mustard review – stinging tale of love, revenge and condiment addiction
A young woman takes an unusually sticky route to recovery in Eva O’Connor’s solo story about obsession and heartbreak - Kate Wyver
Pod review – tonight they're going to party like it's 2020
A strong cast from Guildhall School hit the dancefloor in a show that muses over house music, orcas and the meaning of a nightclub family - Lyndsey Winship
Rent review – touching New York tale … with very little touching
Luke Sheppard’s smart production of the classic rock musical, slickly recorded at Hope Mill theatre, Manchester, makes the most of social distancing - Kate Wyver
Eating Myself review – an audacious cooking lesson that serves the host for dinner
Available onlineIn an intimate and often traumatic one-woman performance, Pepa Duarte explores her hostile relationship with cravings, calorie-counting and identity, as a bean soup bubbles on the stove - Arifa Akbar
Gatecrash review – opaque auto-accident drama
A car crash provokes a torrent of toxic masculinity, but this strange film is neither surreal nor psychologically insightful enough - Leslie Felperin
The Color Purple review – musical romance rings hollow from a distance
Covid guidelines and clunky camerawork sadly undermine the ebullient performances in this digital adaptation of Alice Walker’s modern classic - Arifa Akbar
Nine Lessons and Carols review – fractured sketches from lockdown
Devised with the company, this is a bold but rough-hewn and perplexing production lifted by soothing music - Arifa Akbar
Blithe Spirit review – Judi Dench presides over a deathly farce
Dan Stevens, Leslie Mann and Isla Fisher mug spiritedly but there is little life in this unfunny Noël Coward adaptation - Peter Bradshaw