Five star - Latest Top Rated Stage Reviews from the Guardian

Little Baby Jesus review – Arinzé Kene's thrilling teens triumph
Standup, storytelling and poetry combine in this brilliant show about an inner-city trio on the verge of adulthood - Miriam Gillinson
Fierce festival review – a daring whirl of theatrical thrills
Aided by hula hoops, raw chicken and animatronic dogs, the performers in this six-day series of shows embarked on a quest for emotional connections - Gareth Llŷr Evans
Sing Yer Heart Out for the Lads review – a modern classic that displays a sense of danger
Set in a London pub during an England v Germany football match, the topical take on racism and nationalism shows Roy Williams’s 2002 play hasn’t dated - Mark Lawson
On Bear Ridge review – a potent study of loss
Writing, acting and design combine brilliantly in Ed Thomas’s post-apocalyptic new play - Clare Brennan
Natives Go Wild review – First Nations circus is a potent mix of defiance and triumph
Indigenous people were kidnapped and forced to appear in PT Barnum’s ‘greatest show on earth’. This variety show reclaims their stories with wit and bite - Larissa Behrendt
American Utopia review: David Byrne starts making sense
The country is far from perfect, a Broadway audience will not chant the names of black Americans killed by police. The singer presses on - Alexis Soloski
Billy Elliot the Musical review – the sweetest spots are still the strongest
Sydney Lyric theatreDance is the rightful soul of a show that reminds us we’re stronger, and better, when we look out for each other - Cassie Tongue
Lungs review – Claire Foy and Matt Smith shine in climate crisis drama
Duncan Macmillan’s two-hander is a frenetic portrait of flawed love in a flawed world, exposing the neuroses of a modern couple who struggle to put their principles aside - Arifa Akbar
I Have Met the Enemy (and the Enemy Is Us) review – ticking bomb of Britain's arms trade
This explosive, techno-soundtracked assault on the military machine cuts between war-zone combatants and anxious families in the weapons industry - Mark Fisher
Little Shop of Horrors review – gory musical blooms again off-Broadway
Killer performances from Jonathan Groff and Tammy Blanchard bring a revival of the 1982 tale of a bloodthirsty plant to vibrant life - Alexis Soloski
There Are No Beginnings review – Yorkshire Ripper drama reclaims female narrative
The Yorkshire Ripper is never mentioned in Charley Miles’s furious, funny play about women in Leeds between 1975-80 - Kate Wyver
Out of Sorts review – deeply tender drama about belonging
Danusia Samal’s complex drama explores the double life of a young Muslim millennial heading for marriage - Arifa Akbar
Oona Doherty review – a swaggering, graceful ode to working-class men
In Hope Hunt and the Ascension Into Lazarus, the Northern Irish dancer embodies a group rarely explored in dance - Lyndsey Winship
A History of Water in the Middle East review – cheeky political lesson makes waves
Poet Sabrina Mahfouz uses songs, music and humour to deliver an impassioned assault on British imperialism - Michael Billington
Out of Order review – putting the boot into a world ruled by clowns
Our era of buffoonish leadership is brilliantly skewered in Forced Entertainment’s mimed maelstrom of aggression - Kate Wyver
The Panopticon review – intense and brutal tale of a loveless childhood
Anna Russell-Martin gives a magnetic performance as Anais, the 15-year-old resident of a care home, who dreams of reinventing herself - Mark Fisher
The week in dance: Gisèle Vienne: Crowd; Dada Masilo: Giselle – review
Gisèle Vienne creates a mesmeric night of intrigue at a rave, while South African whirlwind Dada Masilo makes a ballet classic her own - Sarah Crompton
Royal Ballet review – sublime surprises from Cunningham, Tanowitz and Ashton
Pam Tanowitz’s gloriously rich Everyone Keeps Me is performed alongside bracing and serene revivals from Merce Cunningham and Frederick Ashton - Anna Winter
Kate Berlant review – one of comedy’s most electrifying performers
In the hilarious persona of a millennial narcissist blessing the audience with her precious jokes, Berlant’s impro-comedy is blazingly in-the-moment - Brian Logan
Shukshin’s Stories review – moving tales of Siberian village folk
A gifted cast from Moscow’s Theatre of Nations brings Soviet-era stories of folly and obsession to enchanting life - Michael Billington
Dublin theatre festival review – gay clubs, glass houses and Greek tragedy
Marina Carr’s Hecuba probes a mother’s grief, family secrets unravel in The Beacon and audiences are immersed in 80s LGBT+ Dublin in Faultline - Helen Meany
Islander: A New Musical review – two voices bring a bustling world to life
Bethany Tennick and Kirsty Findlay weave theatrical magic in this entrancing tale of the last child left on a remote island - Miriam Gillinson
King John review – blood and popcorn spill in riches to rags thriller
Politics is all about preening in this pulsing production of Shakespeare’s rare history - Miriam Gillinson
Anansi the Spider review – children's theatre with beauty and bite
A mischievous arachnid from folklore is given fresh life in a silky show that leaves its audience charmed - Chris Wiegand
Anthem review – a remarkable, relevant follow-up to a classic Australian story
Two decades after Who’s Afraid of the Working Class, Christos Tsiolkas, Patricia Cornelius, Andrew Bovell and Melissa Reeves reunite for a new take - Gay Alcorn
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg review – Peter Nichols' classic has rare truth
There are excellent performances from a cast including Toby Stephens and Claire Skinner, in a fine revival of Nichols’ humane play - Michael Billington
One review – two stubborn clowns form a political potboiler
Talking over each other, getting the audience to choose the ending: Bert and Nasi’s new show may look scrappy but it’s highly relevant - Kate Wyver
The Great Society review – Brian Cox is an electrifying LBJ on Broadway
A Tony-worthy performance from the acclaimed actor dominates a sequel to All the Way, telling the story of the president’s ambitious mid-60s agenda - Adrian Horton
Ben Elton review – bracing return of a sexagenarian all at sea
Fifteen years since he last performed standup, Elton’s new show humbly embraces the madness of the modern world - Brian Logan
Rosie Kay's Fantasia review – the cartoon wonder of dance
Three dancers explore the harmony between music and movement in a show that flirts with parody as it unleashes joy - Sanjoy Roy
My Beautiful Laundrette review – an iconic movie cleverly reimagined
Adapted from Hanif Kureishi’s 1985 film, this production retains its 80s ethos while speaking to today’s world with the racial and gender politics heightened - Michael Billington
Blood Wedding review – bold and beautiful tale of doom
Yaël Farber’s visceral production, relocating the action to rural Ireland, retains all the potency of Lorca’s play about tribal vengeance - Arifa Akbar
Glass. Kill. Bluebeard. Imp. review – Caryl Churchill's compelling quartet
The latest from the daring playwright is a fascinating four-part exploration into our appetite for blood-soaked myth - Michael Billington
Sick! festival review – a funny, heartfelt poke at the biggest taboos
From dance to comedy to video, this series of events confronts illness, grief and death with uplifting candour - Catherine Love
The Permanent Way review – if only Hare's study of railway chaos had dated
David Hare’s searing play about the chaos and tragedy that followed rail privatisation rings as true today as ever - Michael Billington
An Enemy of the People review – Ibsen told as Scandi-noir with Alex Kingston
Set in a contemporary Norwegian town, the classic is reworked by Rebecca Lenkiewicz to chime with Brexit divisions - Mark Lawson
Faith, Hope and Charity review – urgent account of the austerity age
Alexander Zeldin’s latest production shines a light on the resilience and humour of those struggling to survive - Michael Billington
The Home review – 48-hour show turns residential care into theatre
This two-night stay in a simulated care home, recreated with extraordinary intricacy, probes at the line between care and control - Kate Wyver
Frankie Boyle review – scorched-earth standup's self-interrogation
On his first home tour for a decade, Boyle tempered bad-taste gags by trying to decide whether his trademark humour has any worth in extreme times - Brian Logan
Solaris review – love and loneliness collide in best take yet on sci-fi classic
David Greig follows Tarkovsky and Soderbergh with this bold, rewarding take on Stanisław Lem’s novel about a sentient planet speaking to its visitors - Mark Fisher
Lit review – a blistering look at teenage trauma
Eve Austin is vividly volatile as a schoolgirl adrift over summer holidays in Sophie Ellerby’s slow-burning drama at the HighTide festival - Chris Wiegand
Royal Ballet mixed bill review – a trio of 60s flashbacks
Lauren Cuthbertson and Reece Clarke’s masterclass in clarity is the highlight in a night of Macmillan, Ashton and Petipa - Lyndsey Winship
Vassa review – revolutionary attack on moribund politics
Siobhan Redmond is impressive as a tyrannical mother trying to rescue her debt-ridden family in Tinuke Craig’s strangely rootless production - Michael Billington
Silent Lines review – cosmic ninjas in Maliphant's Milky Way
Lighting patterns sweep across Russell Maliphant’s dancers, who move with seamless fluidity - Lyndsey Winship
Staging Schiele review – art, obsession and orgasmic yelps
The expressionist aesthetics of Egon Schiele’s nudes should make for riveting dance, but Shobana Jeyasingh’s production is a bit too beige - Anna Winter
I Have Met the Enemy (And the Enemy Is Us) review – not quite on target
A blackly humourous production about the UK arms trade - Clare Brennan
[Blank] review – Alice Birch's build-your-own-play experiment
The playwright throws down the gauntlet to directors, and the result is a show full of ideas but lacking unity - Michael Billington
Josh Widdicombe review – the fine art of whingeing
The focus stays on the everyday as the standup works himself into a shrill rage. It would get repetitive if he wasn’t so good at it - Brian Logan
Zauberland review – after horrors, a feeling of 'so what' remains
Crimp, Foccroulle, Mitchell and Schumann combine their considerable forces to tell a shocking story, inspired by the Syrian conflict, that fails to have the impact it should - Andrew Clements
The Ice Cream Boys review – an ambitious slice of South African history
This vigorously performed play confronts the country’s past issues with a battle between the disgraced ex-president, Jacob Zuma, and one of his fiercest critics - Michael Billington
Split review – a compelling duet lays bare the female form
Lucy Guerin’s show features two dancers – one clothed and one nude – and explores identity and the public and private self - Anna Winter
Groan Ups review – school swots and bullies for life
From age six to 30, Mischief Theatre’s engaging band of classmates bicker and play but rarely test the assumption that character is formed in childhood - Michael Billington
Fabula Collective review – beautiful yearning bodies inspire belief
Convincing struggles to find solace, choreographed by ex-Wayne McGregor dancers, are enhanced by spectacular lighting - Lyndsey Winship
The Man in the White Suit review – Stephen Mangan reinvents Ealing boffin
With fart jokes and skiffle songs, this Sean Foley adaptation ditches the innocence of the 1950s capitalist comedy, but has plenty of drive - Michael Billington
Shuck ‘n’ Jive review – racism still has a lead role in the audition room
This fearless production uses intelligent humour to expose racial typecasting in the entertainment industry - Arifa Akbar
Variant 31 review – immersive zombie caper is more theme park than theatre
In an elaborate game of hide and seek, you have to avoid the marauding undead – but the fear and the fun soon fizzle out - Kate Wyver
The Last King of Scotland – morally flawed stage adaptation
By rendering its hero completely passive, Steve Waters loses a key aspect of Giles Foden’s novel - Clare Brennan
Manon; Boy Blue: REDD review – five-star performances rise above the fray
The Royal Ballet’s Vadim Muntagirov and Sarah Lamb, and Boy Blue’s Kenrick ‘H20’ Sandy, excel in otherwise laboured productions - Sarah Crompton
The Niceties review – race and revolution explode into campus feud
A patriotic history professor clashes with her activist student in a smart play sustained by an early surge of ideas - Michael Billington
'Master Harold' … and the Boys review – a waltz for worldly harmony
Athol Fugard explores South Africa in 1950 through a white teenager and two black men who practise ballroom dance routines - Michael Billington
Assassins review – Sondheim skewers America with a bucket of chicken
This is a punchy revival of the icily ironic 90s musical about assassination attempts on US presidents - Miriam Gillinson
Ballet Preljocaj: La Fresque review – mesmerising dreams and fab hairdos
It struggles to make an emotional connection, but this gorgeous-looking, pulsing tale of love is sprinkled with magic - Lyndsey Winship
Brydon, Mack & Mitchell review – backchat and banter from TV trio
Rob Brydon, Lee Mack and David Mitchell take the off-the-cuff gags of Would I Lie to You? on the road for a nonessential but entertaining night of comedy - Brian Logan
Birmingham Royal Ballet: Giselle review – gentle touch ignites passion
This beautifully danced production captures the innocence, betrayal and supernatural spirits of the story’s early sources - Lyndsey Winship
Boy Blue: Redd review – sequel to Blak Whyte Gray pushes the pain button
Rhythms ricochet around an imaginary cell as the hip-hop partnership return with a darker, depression-themed piece - Sanjoy Roy
Macbeth review – John Simm excels despite much toil and trouble
The murderous thane faces witches, relentless video and a musical assault in this lengthy production but emerges as a figure of rare complexity - Michael Billington
Under Three Moons review – interrogating the pressures of masculinity
Following two friends over three decades, Daniel Kanaber’s play spans friendship, mental health and emotionally pent-up men - Catherine Love
Valued Friends review – Stephen Jeffreys' play about the property boom is cannily constructed
Set in the 80s, this character-led comedy drama features fine performances, but is all just a bit too deliberate - Miriam Gillinson
The Night Watch review – Sarah Waters' sorrowful story speaks to the pain of war
Set during and after the blitz, the lives of five characters and the scars left behind are movingly explored - Arifa Akbar
The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes review – bucking Hollywood clichés
Five actors with intellectual disabilities explore a world dominated by artificial intelligence in a play that’s anything but sweet - Clarissa Sebag-Montefiore
Es Devlin review – a bendy bamboo history of the world from Adele's designer
Pitzhanger Manor and Gallery, LondonThe artist and designer, who has made stunning work for Adele and the Royal Opera House, has created an epic map of history that takes in everything from Buddha to Rosa Parks - Jonathan Jones
Rite of Spring review – erotic and mesmerising tale of sacrifice with a Buddhist twist
Chinese superstar choreographer Yang Liping creates a real crowd pleaser as timeless European dance gets the Tibetan treatment - Brigid Delaney
Two Ladies review – presidents’ wives turn to violence
Zoë Wanamaker and Zrinka Cvitešić attempt to seize power at a summit meeting in Nancy Harris’s provocative play - Michael Billington
Mother of Him review – unflinching crime drama with Tracy Ann Oberman
Oberman stars as the mother of a teenage rapist in this revival of Evan Placey’s rich exploration of family conflict - Arifa Akbar
On Bear Ridge review – Rhys Ifans braves a storm of sadness
Ed Thomas’s lyrical new play situates its characters in a post-cataclysmic, Beckettian nowhere in which words are all they have left - Gareth Llŷr Evans
Youth Without God review – anti-Nazi drama calls out liberal bystanders
Christopher Hampton’s disturbing adaptation of Ödön von Horváth’s 1937 novel is a promising text, albeit let down by an imperfect production - Michael Billington
Rebel Music review – when Birmingham rocked against racism
Packed with punk and reggae tracks, Robin French’s bold new play about racial tensions in 70s Britain hits some high notes - Miriam Gillinson
Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story review – klezmer life lessons
The affecting tale of Jews escaping persecution to find new beginnings in Canada a century ago is a rollicking piece of folk music theatre - Kate Wyver
Reasons to Stay Alive review – hope beats the black dog
Matt Haig converses with his younger self in this engaging take on his memoir about depression - Clare Brennan
Romesh Ranganathan review – entertaining grouchiness from TV's Mr Ubiquitous
If the domesticity subject matter is well-worn, the Crawley comic’s vivacity keeps it fresh - Brian Logan
Reasons to Stay Alive review – striking staging of Matt Haig depression memoir
This dramatisation of the mental health bestseller takes a step towards removing the stigma from depression – though it’s no substitute for the book - Michael Billington
Macbeth review – ferocity and techno witches in gender-switched tragedy
Lucy Ellinson stars as a lean, mean and moody Macbeth in Christopher Haydon’s noisy, dystopian production, with Ony Uhiara as a high-spirited wife - Mark Fisher
Composed review – behind the curtain on how theatre is made
Arts employee Rosa Postlethwaite sets out to satirise the corporate machinery of modern theatre – but deadpan irony gets it in the way - Mark Fisher
Anna Bella Eema review – trailer-park golem with a touch of Thoreau
Gothic sound design and a trio of sharp central performances lend this version of Lisa D’Amour’s rather mystifying play some definition - Michael Billington
Sofie Hagen: The Bumswing review – a tricksy trip into a slippery comic mind
The standup riffs on the oddness of memory in a show that takes in Danish queens, Welsh sex breaks and a late gutpunch - Brian Logan
Rockbottom review – a raw and personal journey into chemsex hell
Stuart Waters uses his full-on autobiographical solo show to document the downward spiral of an addiction to crystal meth. - Lyndsey Winship
A Museum in Baghdad review – two views of Iraq, 80 years apart
Hannah Khalil’s play frames Iraq’s history through the eyes of real characters, but feels like a missed opportunity - Miriam Gillinson
Alison Balsom in Gabriel review – trumpets get lost in translation
As actor, singer, compere and musician, Balsom drives this reimagining of Samuel Adamson’s celebration of Purcell, but the venue impedes its drama - Martin Kettle
For All the Women Who Thought They Were Mad review – a great unravelling
Zawe Ashton aims high with this intricate dissection of race and gender but a smart ending can’t save this muddled show - Arifa Akbar
The Rose Tattoo review – Marisa Tomei is wasted in Broadway farce
A delightful turn from the Oscar winner isn’t enough to save this garbled and tiresome Tennessee Williams adaptation - Alexis Soloski
The Monstrous Heart review – grizzly mother-daughter reunion
Oliver Emanuel’s Canadian log cabin drama goes nowhere slowly - Clare Brennan
The King review – Shakespeare reboot is Game-of-Thrones lite with touch of Python
Much of the poetry and emotion has gone from this decaff version of the Henry plays, letting down Timothée Chalamet’s decent lead performance - Peter Bradshaw
The Monstrous Heart review – blood, fury and a talking dead bear
A mother and daughter reunite and fight in Oliver Emanuel’s high-octane play, but it feels rushed and remote - Miriam Gillinson
Frankenstein review – monster-maker overeggs the horror
Placing Mary Shelley alongside the characters she created undermines the extraordinary power of her classic story - Arifa Akbar
The Last King of Scotland review – Ugandan history without the drama
Tobi Bamtefa gives a swaggering, thundering performance as the dictator Idi Amin, but this adaptation of Giles Foden’s novel is stodgy and plodding - Kate Wyver
Eddie Izzard review – would-be MP’s ‘last’ standup show
Wunderbar is packed with surreal sugar – delightful animals and gobbledegook – but the pill of messianic politics is hard to swallow - Brian Logan
Two Ladies review – fantastic performances, half-baked play
Nancy Harris’s study of a French and an American first lady is thin stuff - Hannah Jane Parkinson
Bianca del Rio review – startlingly mean drag star loves to hate
Though the timing is spot-on, the comedian’s outrageous swipes at every sexuality, race and even disability descend to cliche as their wickedness exceeds their wit - Brian Logan
Big: The Musical review – 80s movie hits wrong notes today
Jay McGuiness and Kimberley Walsh have chemistry in the lead roles but this revival is flat and insipid, and the story’s sexual politics are still a problem - Kate Wyver
Sunday review – Jack Thorne's book group drama is an empty misfire
The Tony-winning writer of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child stumbles with a navel-gazing show about an unconvincing group of twentysomethings - Alexis Soloski