Five star - Latest Top Rated Stage Reviews from the Guardian

Kim Noble: Lullaby for Scavengers review – strange, tender and endlessly funny
The notorious comic and performance artist explores loneliness and the human/animal divide in an intricately assembled scrapbook show - Brian Logan
Much Ado About Nothing review – hilarious, heartfelt show is everything
Daneka Etchells is the most compelling Beatrice you might ever see in an exceptional production of the romantic comedy - Nick Ahad
Hannah Einbinder review – inventive, off-kilter standup from the Hacks star
Soho theatre, London A brief but brazen set by the HBO series co-star shows a talent in full control of her own brand of scattershot comedy - Brian Logan
Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby review – Rambert’s dancers descend into opium-fuelled despair
Benoit Swan Pouffer’s swaggering dancers fly, fling and slide across the stage in this energetic, menacing prequel-style show - Lyndsey Winship
Noises Off review – Frayn’s exquisite farce-within-a-farce finds new humanity
Felicity Kendal, Tracy-Ann Oberman and especially Joseph Millson are comic gifts in this 40th anniversary version that fits our times almost too well - Miriam Gillinson
A Midsummer Night’s Dream review – gleefully anarchic opening show
New playhouse kicks off with a boisterous, boundary-pushing production that is inventive enough to find fresh laughs in the mechanicals - Mark Fisher
The Gretchen Question – fantastic time-hopping cast deliver a climate cautionary tale
Exquisitely staged on the banks of the Thames, with a fantastic ensemble cast this ambitious and inquisitive production uses its natural surroundings to remind us of everything we stand to lose - Kate Wyver
The Royal Ballet: Doncaster Dances review – glittering gala showcases dazzling array of talent
A rare excursion to the north sees the Royal Ballet in full peacock mode with a collection of classical and contemporary works displaying the huge span of a true 21st-century company - Lyndsey Winship
The Book Thief review – assured and courageous musical adaptation of global bestseller
The paean to the power of the printed word loses none of its earnest intent in a deft and tremendously delivered production adapted by author Jodi Picoult - Mark Fisher
Joyce’s Women review – Edna O’Brien’s powerful play is a fascinating portrait of a fellow writer
O’Brien’s empathy for Joyce shines through in this lavish production, as she brings him to life, seen through the eyes of his mother, wife, daughter and lover - Helen Meany
Othello review – taut update from the superb Watermill ensemble
An excellent cast animate Karla Marie Sweet’s adaptation with a drilled menace, while contemporary songs are employed to remarkable effect - Gareth Llŷr Evans
The Wonderful World of Dissocia review – whimsical and brutal
At first, Anthony Neilson’s play is a bewildering affair, but its sombre aftermath imparts understanding with crushing effect - Arifa Akbar
Sarah Keyworth: Lost Boy review – serious self-analysis whips up gales of laughter
The standup was planning an altogether sillier show, but life got in the way, resulting in a set that spins grief and loss into an uproarious hour - Brian Logan
Othello review – Frantic Assembly’s urgent, thrilling tragedy
This physical, modern-day version is immersed in violence, with gang members vying for sex and authority around a pool table - Mark Fisher
Wayfinder review – playful, colourful and immersive dance lights up with joy and hope
With music by Hiatus Kayote, design from Tango Hiromi, 70km of salvaged wool and an inflatable stage, Dancenorth’s latest production is thrillingly inspired - Olivia Stewart
Dawn French Is a Huge Twat review – mini-masterpieces of self-mockery
French heaps detail upon self-abasing detail as she shares hugely engaging stories from her 40-year career - Brian Logan
Family Album review – Alan Ayckbourn’s funny, moving new play about the lives of women
Directing a masterly production, the playwright follows three generations of women in one home, from 1952 to 2022 - Clare Brennan
United Ukrainian Ballet: Giselle review – a moving act of defiance
In borrowed costumes, this company exiled by war inhabit Alexei Ratmansky’s take on the 19th-century classic - Sarah Crompton
The P Word review – an irresistible romance and so much more
Waleed Akhtar’s bewitching love story between a gym bunny and an asylum seeker raises urgent issues - Arifa Akbar
The Clothes They Stood Up In review – Alan Bennett tale dressed to impress
Adrian Scarborough stars in his own adaptation of Bennett’s story, featuring convincing new dialogue and staged with visual panache - Mark Lawson
United Ukrainian Ballet: Giselle review – a classic revitalised
Kyiv-raised choreographer Alexei Ratmansky and a company featuring exiled dancers deliver a moving production with an urgent tone - David Jays
Who Killed My Father review – powerful study of class, cruelty and kin
Hans Kesting is spellbinding as an anguished man facing up to his abusive father in Ivo van Hove’s adaptation of the book by Édouard Louis - Arifa Akbar
The Glass Menagerie review – astonishing refresh upturns a delicate classic
Making dynamic use of a sparse stage and a spinning neon sign, Atri Banerjee’s adventurous production gives new shape to Tennessee Williams’ play - Mark Fisher
The Son review – laceratingly painful drama of familial fear and loathing
Venice film festival: Florian Zeller’s follow-up to The Father features a tremendous performance from Hugh Jackman, as a divorced lawyer who agrees to look after his troubled offspring - Peter Bradshaw
See How They Run review – Agatha Christie spoof scampers through 50s theatreland
This likable whodunnit comedy sees Sam Rockwell and Saoirse Ronan on the trail of high-camp crime in the original production of The Mousetrap - Peter Bradshaw
Sunshine Super Girl review – a warm celebration of Evonne Goolagong Cawley
Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide, then touringWriter-director Andrea James brings the tennis court to the stage in a warm and imaginative celebration of the Wiradjuri champion - Walter Marsh
Nureyev: Legend and Legacy review – firecracker spins and star turns
Ralph Fiennes introduced this gala honouring the ballet legend, which boasted a dazzling lineup of dancers including Natalia Osipova and Cesar Corrales - Sanjoy Roy
The Steamie review – memories of postwar Glasgow speak to the present
Tony Roper’s 1987 play conjures a vanished world whose hardship and longing for community feel nonetheless familiar - Clare Brennan
I, Joan review – non-binary Joan of Arc proves a rousing protest piece
Isobel Thom gives a visceral, courageous performance as the French saint, brought into the modern day by Charlie Josephine’s joyous production - Anya Ryan
The Narcissist review – a darkly honest dissection of post-Trump politics
A spin doctor’s life spirals into chaos after he’s hired by an ambitious senator in Christopher Shinn’s grimly comic drama - Mark Lawson
Jessica Fostekew review – sexuality switch exposes rich vein of fast-paced mirth
Since her last show, about weightlifting, the 39-year-old has split from her son’s father and moved in with a woman. Which adds up to hilarity for the audience if not the comic - Brian Logan
BriTANick review – dazzling mirth from two SNL sketch masters
There are few bells and whistles in Brian McElhaney and Nick Kocher’s fringe debut, just two seasoned US comics in effortless harmony with each other - Brian Logan
When You Walk Over My Grave review – metatheatrical musings on mortality
Sergio Blanco’s bad-taste drama uses deadpan humour and a tapestry of cultural allusions to probe our fixation with death - Mark Fisher
Josh Pugh review – fashioning fecklessness into front-rank standup
Pugh shambles his diffident way into the spotlight with a stealthy, clever and heartwarming show - Brian Logan
Sam Campbell review – loopiness underpinned by sharp observations
The Australian comic takes incongruity to uncommon lengths – and this year he’s recalibrated his show towards warmth - Brian Logan
From junkie poets to jailtime: August Wilson’s How I Learned What I Learned – review
Lester Purry is at home performing the late playwright’s breezy yet purposeful collection of stories from his youth, in its European premiere - Mark Fisher
The Rest of Our Lives review – a blueprint for happiness
Dancer Jo Fong larks about with clown and circus director George Orange in a manic affront to middle age that swings from absurd to tender to life-affirming - Lyndsey Winship
Colin Hoult review – a beloved character bids farewell
Hoult hangs up the dress and luvvie cadences of his fringe-staple alter ego Anna Mann in a camp, silly yet surprisingly emotional show - Brian Logan
Sami Abu Wardeh review – a clown in character-comic’s clothing
Outlandish physical antics and a spontaneous stage presence keep Wardeh’s audience laughing as he clowns through a cast of oddball characters - Brian Logan
An Untitled Love review – a delicious slice of African American life
The music of D’Angelo sets the mood for inimitable choreographer Kyle Abraham’s intimate house party production - Lyndsey Winship
Diva: Live from Hell! review – killer humour and murderous teen rivalry
Luke Bayer single-handedly plays a classroom of feuding high school drama students in this unmissable take on All About Eve - Arifa Akbar
Isy Suttie review – charming comic on a wild childhood chase
A thoroughly likable autobiographical show, comparing Suttie’s domestic midlife and her past daredevilry, hits the comic jackpot with its songs - Brian Logan
The Crucible review – stylish restaging is all beauty and no bite
Director Lyndsey Turner misses the opportunity to give Arthur Miller’s allegory modern resonance with a too-faithful interpretation - Arifa Akbar
Jews. In Their Own Words review – appalling revelations in a gallop through centuries of bigotry
Jonathan Freedland has turned 180,000 words drawn from interviews into a potent verbatim play about antisemitism and the blindspots of liberal institutions. The results feel urgent – but is its remit simply too large? - Arifa Akbar
Stewart Lee review – underpowered show still stronger than most
Less richly structured than his best work, this looser-limbed evening has given the comic wing-spreading room to experiment - Brian Logan
Sus review – harrowing police racism drama more relevant than ever
Barrie Keeffe’s play about a Black man accused of the murder of his pregnant wife is still potent, but the production lacks polish - Anya Ryan
Mrs Wickham review – Austen spinoff sees despairing Lydia ‘banished’ to the north
What happened next to headstrong Lydia Bennet, the most rock’n’roll of the Pride and Prejudice sisters? This intriguing take by Sarah Page reunites Jessie Buckley and Johnny Flynn - Arifa Akbar
The Lifespan of a Fact review – sparky journalism dramedy falls short of big ideas
Sigrid Thornton and Charles Wu star in a rapid-fire play, recounting US essayist John D’Agata’s real-life run-in with a pedantic fact-checker - Jason Blake
Eureka Day review – Helen Hunt is an anti-vaxxer on the attack in anti-woke satire
What begins as a broad takedown of the liberal left morphs into an engrossing and textured debate on social justice, vaccination and the pull of conspiracy theory - Arifa Akbar
Clutch review – drama about driving lessons is a joyful ride
Will Jackson’s endearing two-hander pairs a nervous learner driver with an overbearing instructor - Miriam Gillinson
The Prince review – playful romp through Shakespearean roles
YouTube philosopher Abigail Thorn moves offline and on to the stage with an ambitious exploration of identities and the performance of gender - Kate Wyver
The Apology review – powerful tale of wartime ‘comfort women’
Kyo Choi’s shocking and intelligent play tells the story of a Korean woman who was forced into military sex slavery for Japanese troops at the age of 16 - Arifa Akbar
Stumped review – at the crease with Beckett and Pinter
Shomit Dutta’s play imagines the two cricket-obsessed Nobel prize winners as waiting batsmen in an enjoyable spin on Waiting for Godot and The Dumb Waiter - Mark Lawson
Rose review – Maureen Lipman is magnetic in journey through Jewish 20th century
A mourning woman looks back on her life in Martin Sherman’s ethereal yet uneven drama about history, heritage and memory - David Jays
Handbagged review – sparks fly at the Queen’s audiences with the Iron Lady
Moira Buffini’s clever political comedy returns, educating a new generation on Margaret Thatcher’s legacy through her weekly encounters with the monarch - Arifa Akbar
The Cherry Orchard review – Chekhov in space
Vinay Patel’s sci-fi adaptation boldly goes into the future on a rickety starship while exploring entrenched hierarchies and class - Miriam Gillinson
Shakers: Under New Management review – zero-hours Godber spikes the punch
Jane Thornton and John Godber’s knockabout 1985 cocktail bar comedy is updated to the cost of living crisis era, with a downsized cast doing a valiant job of keeping the party going - Mark Fisher
K-BOX review – K-pop and loneliness in surreal family drama
Echoing her own life as a child of transracial adoption, Ra Chapman’s mainstage debut is funny and incisive but struggles with pace and politics - Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen
The Maggie Wall review – vivid tale of a woman burned for witchcraft
In a monologue starring the excellent Blythe Jandoo, Martin McCormick finds a fearful, misogynistic, class-ridden society to blame for a girl’s death - Mark Fisher
Clorinda Agonistes review – a dance of love and death on the battlefield
A crusader and a Saracen have a fateful encounter in this richly layered work by Shobana Jeyasingh Dance, set to Monteverdi and a plangent score by Syrian-American composer Kareem Roustom - David Jays
Antigone review – a poetic tragedy about modern British Muslim life
Inua Ellams updates the Sophoclean drama into a beguiling piece about faith and prejudice, and casts a suspicious eye at politicians who betray their own communities - Arifa Akbar
Playtime review – a bubblegum take on Monsieur Hulot
Five actors play more than 100 roles as Tati’s 60s satire is transformed into a meet-cute comedy of quick-change physical comedy - Clare Brennan
Allelujah review – Judi Dench stars in sweet but slight Alan Bennett hospital drama
Toronto film festival: A-listers are tended to by formidable nurse Jennifer Saunders in Richard Eyre’s adaptation of the 2018 play about a struggling geriatric hospital - Peter Bradshaw
The Importance of Being Earnest review – knockabout fun with Wilde’s genteel wit
Denzel Westley-Sanderson’s staging of the high-society comedy adds a welcome dose of playfulness amid the cucumber sandwiches - Mark Fisher
Yellowman review – colourism drama with two terrific leads
Nadine Higgin and Aaron Anthony excel as the couple in Dael Orlandersmith’s Pulitzer-nominated play - Anya Ryan
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo review – arabesques, pratfalls and a swan on wheels
Mixing technical skill with slapstick hilarity, the Trocks are as engaging as ever in this symphony of perfectly timed mistakes - Lyndsey Winship
Rehab: The Musical review – 90s pop star hits the road to recovery
Featuring Keith Allen as a scheming PR man, this heartfelt comedy drawn from songwriter Grant Black’s own experiences is often great fun - Miriam Gillinson
Playtime review – quirky gags and mimed mayhem as Tati comedy takes the stage
This adaptation of the classic 1967 film is packed with fun despite losing its way in the second half - Arifa Akbar
The Goldberg Variations review – De Keersmaeker’s strange and sober journey into Bach
The Belgian choreographer’s interpretation of the great keyboard work is a rich, carefully crafted essay - Lyndsey Winship
Silence review – a potent and poetic telling of the partition of India
The stage adaptation of Kavita Puri’s extraordinary oral history project is at times superficial and blunt but also deeply moving - Arifa Akbar
Family Album review – Alan Ayckbourn’s playful snapshot of social flux
Skipping between three generations from the 50s to the present, this occasionally poignant play pulls back from the emotional force of its concept - Mark Fisher
Ride review – jaunty new musical takes cyclist’s feat for a spin
This soulful celebration of adventurer Annie Londonderry takes time to get into gear, but newcomer Liv Andrusier gives a superb performance - Arifa Akbar
The Ghost of Richard Harris review – a hushed reassessment of a hellraiser by his sons
Venice film festival: There are some memorable moments in this documentary about the great Irish actor, but too many inconvenient truths are dismissed for it to be definitive - Peter Bradshaw
Tom Walker: Javelin review – lots to enjoy, even if the central conceit does not soar
The Australian physical comedian conjures up a career for himself as a professional spear-thrower in this wacky if uneven show - Brian Logan
‘Did Will Smith hurt me? He played Ali!’ – Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle live
They are arguably the two greatest US standups of their generation – and both topical for not always lovely reasons. Could this double whammy possibly live up to the hype? - Brian Logan
Jamali Maddix review – the somewhat funny side of sex addiction
Maddix is a fluent, playful comic, but the window opened here on his conflicted psyche feels unresolved – for him as much as his audience - Brian Logan
Sister Radio review – a four-decade silence grows sinister as two Iranian siblings share a flat
Sara Shaarawi’s two-hander captures tenderness and sadness as the sisters negotiate the Islamic revolution, exile and betrayal - Mark Fisher
Follow the Signs review – an exuberant exploration of the life of a young Black Deaf man
Chris Fonseca signs and dances his early life story with a guileless charm, drawing on rap, immersive sound and comedy to lighten the darker moments - Arifa Akbar
The Comedy of Errors review – fun and funny but a touch too manic
Director Dominic Hill brings exuberance to Shakespeare’s tale of two sets of identical twins unknowingly at large in the same city - Mark Fisher
All’s Well That Ends Well review – an uneven take on Shakespeare’s most puzzling play
Jamie Wilkes’s Parolles steals the show in Blanche McIntyre’s unromantic, social media-inflected production - Clare Brennan
Emmanuel Sonubi review – between beefcake and beta male
The Dave’s Edinburgh comedy awards best newcomer nominee carries an unflustered confidence and warmth that is hard to resist - Brian Logan
Phantom of the Opera review – a grittier revamp of the timeless phenomenon is still a one-in-a-million treat
While a more sophisticated take on the classic set slightly dampens the spectacle of old theatre magic, it’s the music truly brings the thrills - Cassie Tongue
Lauren Pattison review – fall and rise of a comic motormouth
The standup puts her working-class status front and centre in this compelling and cathartic journey through her Covid years - Brian Logan
All’s Well That Ends Well review – problem play gets a tasty Gen Z makeover
Rosie Sheehy dazzles as a woman calling the shots in this feverish production that underlines the play’s curious ambiguities - Arifa Akbar
Into the Woods review – Terry Gilliam’s rollicking take on Sondheim’s ‘fairytale collision’
Terry Gilliam’s production is visually enticing, playful and dreamlike but doesn’t quite reach the mournful depths of parental anxiety that run through the story - Arifa Akbar
Larry Dean review – cheeky-chappy persona begins to fray
Dean’s great skill is to make the audience feel like intimate confidantes, but sometimes his impatience to get to the next laugh weakens the shtick - Brian Logan
Payday Party review – joyful true-life cabaret sassily skewers the cost-of-living crisis
Whether tap dancing, singing Abba’s Money, Money, Money or lamenting the limitations of bargain-shop ‘pound pants’, the Welsh cast are cheeky and defiant - Mark Fisher
The Gunpowder Plot goes grime – Treason the Musical in Concert review
This absorbing take on Guy Fawkes’s plan to blow up parliament has striking resonances to today’s world, as well as a starry cast knocking out sensational songs - Arifa Akbar
We Are Monchichi review – culture-clash dance duet
Shihya Peng and Marco di Nardo bicker ceaselessly through movement in a child-friendly exploration of cultural misunderstanding - David Jays
Gilly Gilly review – Cush Jumbo’s searing play about abuse let down by mundane details
Delivered with rage, as a woman reckoning with her past, this audio drama written and performed by Jumbo takes too long to get to the point, stalling in domesticity - Arifa Akbar
Love All review – Dorothy L Sayers’ battle-of-the-sexes comedy lacks bite
A bestselling romance writer leaves his wife for a glamorous new partner in this 1940 play whose gender politics feel toothless now - Arifa Akbar
The Snail House review – Richard Eyre’s debut play takes on too much
The venerable director’s drama about a doctor’s splintering family broaches huge issues but never makes a unified whole - Arifa Akbar
The Clinic review – culture wars erupt at a birthday party
A family fight about politics, policing and race in Dipo Baruwa-Etti’s play but the ominous early signs lead nowhere - Arifa Akbar
Help! We Are Still Alive review – muddled apocalyptic comedy
A couple strive to survive Earth’s end of days with some glorious songs in an otherwise stagnant two-hander - Anya Ryan
The Drowning of Arthur Braxton review – YouTuber Luke Cutforth paddles in the shallow end
Young Arthur – bullied at school and struggling with his dad Johnny Vegas – seeks sanctuary at his local pool - Mike McCahill
Tomorrow Morning review – a married couple chronicle their relationship in song
Director Nick Winston’s film adaptation of his own stage musical about a marriage breakdown fails to strike a memorable chord - Phuong Le
Gary Barlow: A Different Stage review – Could it be magic? No!
This one-man, one-note show is a blandly sanitised history of Take That. While it won’t thrill you with its drama, its slightly smug star does have one hell of a voice - Miriam Gillinson
Sex dungeon cosplay comedy is just a bit too harmless – Horse-Play review
Two men trying to spice up their marriage get stuck with their dom in a cosy comedy that’s neither naughty nor revealing - Ryan Gilbey
As British as a Watermelon review – memories of migration are hard to read
Personal trauma, the horrors of migration and religious rhetoric feature in an impassioned narrative that ultimately feels more private than shared - Mark Fisher
Cages review – hologram rock musical is a dreary dystopia
An overreliance on technology and a doomy score can’t replace old-fashioned chemistry in this emotionless offering - Ryan Gilbey