Five star - Latest Top Rated Stage Reviews from the Guardian

Revisor review – astonishing take on Gogol demands to be seen again
Choreographer Crystal Pite and theatre-maker Jonathon Young combine their worlds for a riveting piece - Sanjoy Roy
The Upstart Crow review – authentically Shakespearean right down to the puffling pants
David Mitchell is engaging and confident as Ben Elton brings his hit TV sitcom to the stage – it’s the definite article - Mark Lawson
The Ballad of Johnny Longstaff review – an extraordinary portrait of a working-class hero
Set against the upheaval of world events, music from folk trio the Young’uns and animation combine to tell the story of the young anti-fascist activist - Clare Brennan
L'École des femmes review – MeToo times add bite to Molière comedy
A controlling fool in love comes across more like a sexual predator in this engagingly perceptive Stéphane Braunschweig production for France’s Théâtre de l’Odéon - Mark Fisher
BalletBoyz: Deluxe review – striking dances packed with talent
Michael Nunn and William Trevitt are characteristically unpredictable as they launch the Facebook Premieres series from Sadler’s Wells - Lyndsey Winship
The Seven Streams of the River Ota review – magic in motion
Robert Lepage’s extraordinary, seven-hour-long fusion of horror, romance and French farce - Susannah Clapp
Barefoot in the Park review – Neil Simon's newlyweds in a riveting ritual
Jessica Hardwick and Olivier Huband are compelling as a young couple facing harsh realities once their honeymoon ends - Mark Fisher
The Metamorphosis review – Kafka classic becomes metaphor for pandemic
Kafka’s story is given a chilling update that chimes with our times, referencing the migrant crisis, the gig economy and fear of the unknown - Mark Fisher
The Marriage of Figaro review – superb singing in hilarious staging
A simple yet effective conceit is one of the revelations in a production strong on witty detail and anarchic stylisation - Flora Willson
The Seven Streams of the River Ota review – pushes boundaries of theatrical possibility
Robert Lepage’s dazzling epic explores human resilience in the face of global trauma with elegance and imagination - Arifa Akbar
Northern Ballet: Geisha review – potent fusion of romantic dance and Japanese horror
This lavish production uses cinematic design to chilling effect and terrific choreography to drive the drama - Sanjoy Roy
Tylwyth (Kin) review – crowd-pleasing Cardiff drama revisits old friends
Daf James follows up his sensational 2010 play Llwyth with a return to its characters a decade on - Gareth Llŷr Evans
Love, Love, Love review – baby boomers v generation austerity
Mike Bartlett’s brilliant play follows a couple trying, and failing, to keep family together - Arifa Akbar
Alexei Sayle review – a blizzard of rage and gloriously biting wit
Touring for the first time in seven years, it’s clear that the standup veteran hasn’t lost any of his sharp humour - Brian Logan
Steve Martin and Martin Short review – a delightfully daft double act
The Two Amigos deploy mutual mickey-taking and the odd banjo riff in a variety show with comic timing to die for - Brian Logan
Richard Alston Dance Company review – a thrilling farewell
The company’s final outing ran through some of Alston’s most dynamic newer works, with performances ranging from the spellbinding to the effortless - Lyndsey Winship
Smile Club review – twists, turns and feminist rage in dystopian solo show
After being told one too many times to ‘cheer up, love’, Andrea Heaton’s Lisa lashes out and is sent to a finishing school to suppress ideas of resistance - Mark Fisher
Girl from the North Country review: Conor McPherson's grim, ravishing Bob Dylan musical
The acclaimed playwright has used the songbook of Bob Dylan to create an overstuffed yet often transcendent 30s-set Broadway show - Alexis Soloski
Oliver Twist review – artful new take on Dickens is stunning
The Victorian orphan is given an even greater sense of exclusion in Amy Leach’s excellent production for Ramps on the Moon - Mark Fisher
The Cherry Orchard review – pungent and urgent Irish take on Chekhov
Contemporary themes resonate throughout Garry Hynes’s production about a debt-ridden aristocratic family on the brink of losing their estate - Helen Meany
The Tin Drum review – Günter Grass's spectacular study of German trauma
Nico Holonics is in resoundingly offbeat form as as a stunted child in a solo show that delights in making its audience squirm - Arifa Akbar
LA Dance Project review - molten moves from the dynamic dozen
In Benjamin Millepied’s piece I Fall, I Flow, I Melt, mostly performed to Bach, the dancers sparkle like sun on the ocean - Chris Wiegand
Michael Ball and Alfie Boe review – dulcet bromance hits the high notes
Classic FM’s answer to Ant and Dec take their grandiose revue on a tour of the UK’s arenas, belting out broadway showstoppers and stirring pop ballads - Graeme Virtue
The week in dance: The Cellist/Dances at a Gathering; Message in a Bottle – review
Royal Opera House, Peacock theatre; LondonJacqueline du Pré’s life story is translated into a powerfully affecting ballet by Cathy Marston, while Kate Prince defies the odds with a refugee crisis hip-hop drama set to the songs of Sting - Sarah Crompton
Alina Cojocaru review – goosebumpy delight and gems amid disjointed evening
The English National Ballet’s luminous lead principal here creates her own show, ranging from Frederick Ashton to Arvo Pärt and two superb short films - Lyndsey Winship
Message in a Bottle review – Sting soundtracks a blistering hip-hop tale of refugees
A compelling cast pour their hearts into Kate Prince’s jukebox tale of civil war, trafficking and three siblings separated as refugees - Lyndsey Winship
Pass Over review – fiercely relevant and compelling
Antoinette Nwandu’s powerful absurdist urban tragedy sees two black homeless men – cowed by the ever-present threat of police brutality – pursue their own American dream - Arifa Akbar
Be More Chill review – glorious misfit musical for the age of oddballs
The soaring joys and plunging agonies of adolescence are treated with humour and heart in this refreshing arrival from Broadway - Arifa Akbar
The Cellist review – a joyfully giddy tribute to Jacqueline du Pré
Cathy Marston’s first main stage commission for the Royal Ballet translates Du Pré’s lyrical presence on the podium into dance, capturing her deep love affair with music - Lyndsey Winship
The Secret Garden review – grunts and gags in lush retelling
This imaginative adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s gothic fable amps up the physical storytelling with comic results - Mark Fisher
The Ballad of Maria Marten review – joyous play gives life to murder victim
Beth Flintoff rewrites the narrative of the woman killed in the Red Barn, focusing on her wit and ferocity rather than her notorious death - Kate Wyver
The Bee in Me review – a bold, challenging tale of childhood fantasy
In Roland Schimmelpfennig’s play, three actors narrate a day in the life of a young person who uses imagination to escape a precarious existence - Chris Wiegand
Alone in Berlin review – chilling drama of defiance against Nazi tyranny
Modern-day echoes resound in Alistair Beaton’s adaptation of the novel about tiny acts of rebellion in 1940s Germany - Mark Fisher
A Little Space review – thrilling whirl through a block of flats
The thin line between loneliness and connection is made manifest in Gecko and Mind the Gap’s surprising show - Catherine Love
Bluebeard review – Pina Bausch's punishing portrait of marital misery
Set to Bartók’s opera, the bloody myth becomes a bleak battle of the sexes where we can never quite tell right from wrong - Lyndsey Winship
David Baddiel – Trolls: Not the Dolls review – standup surveys the online cesspit
The comedian leads us from weird to wonderful to ‘the absolute worst of humanity’ in his new show about social media - Brian Logan
The Haystack review – brainy and brilliant GCHQ surveillance thriller
Al Blyth’s debut play explores how far into the lives of citizens a state can pry, and the effects on the snoopers themselves - Mark Lawson
Death of England review – Rafe Spall dazzles in punkish state-of-the-nation address
Spall is like a man possessed in Roy Williams’ and Clint Dyer’s hair-raising dramatic monologue about the grief and grievances of a working-class white male - Arifa Akbar
Mám review – spellbinding gathering of music and memories
Michael Keegan-Dolan’s new dance work is steeped in the landscape and culture of the Dingle Peninsula - Lyndsey Winship
Albion review – Mike Bartlett's thorny study of politics and patriotism
Revived by Rupert Goold just over two years after its premiere, this subtle drama has grown with new meaning - Arifa Akbar
Ask Me Anything review – an astute untangling of adolescent angst
A trio of actors try to provide answers for teenagers’ anxieties in Paper Birds’ razor-sharp show - Mark Fisher
Two review – marriage's endless boxing match pulls no punches in the pub
Actors swap multiple characters to share stories and trade blows as pints are pulled and relationships dissected in Jim Cartwright’s bittersweet comic drama - Mark Fisher
The Croft review – a contagion story with uncanny resonance
Moving between three timelines of women who go against the grain, Philip Franks’s haunted-house production cranks up the tension - Arifa Akbar
Bubble review – Facebook furore is perfect fit for lockdown era
This experimental piece plays out in comment threads delivered direct to camera and raises important questions about theatre on the internet - Catherine Love
Stay at Home festival review – Mark Gatiss's dystopia flashbacks kick off comedy series
The Sherlock star joined Robin Ince and Josie Long’s daily online broadcast to self-isolated comedy fans – and the results were rallying - Brian Logan
Coriolanus review – a vivid, fast-flowing production
Robert Hastie makes the most of the now-nostalgic shared space between audience and cast - Clare Brennan
The Wicker Husband review – puppets weave a feisty fable for our times
This folk musical about a lonely fisherwoman looking for love boldly puts a puppet in the role of the leading man - Arifa Akbar
The Special Relationship review – compelling tales in Trump cabaret
Six almost-Americans narrate stories of cruelties inflicted when being expelled from the US - Brian Logan
Six review – Henry VIII's wives bring empty pop spectacle to Broadway
A flashy, concert-style musical offers some virtuosic performances but also a rather shallow take on female empowerment - Alexis Soloski
Coriolanus review – political powerplay that packs a punch
An arrogant elite, populist fury … Robert Hastie charts the rise and fall of Tom Bateman’s hero with a modern-day edge - Arifa Akbar
Cunningham review – powerful 3D documentary about a dance pioneer
This highbrow study is fascinating less for its fancy 3D footsteps than for its insight into choreographer Merce Cunningham’s life and work - Cath Clarke
Our Lady of Blundellsands review – it's like Ibsen turned up to 11
Josie Lawrence stars in Jonathan Harvey’s story of the dysfunctional Domingo clan who have plenty of skeletons in their cupboards - Catherine Love
Shoe Lady review – Katherine Parkinson's off-kilter commuter delights
Vicky Featherstone directs EV Crowe’s play about a working mother who loses a shoe and her grip on reality - Arifa Akbar
Blue Stockings review – terrific energy as the fight goes on
Four female undergraduates in 1890s Cambridge struggle for equality in this buoyant production of Jessica Swale’s 2013 classroom classic - Clare Brennan
The Glee Club review – Yorkshire miners soar through song
Compassion triumphs over prejudice in Richard Cameron’s play about pit workers who form a close-harmony combo - Mark Fisher
Run Sister Run review – raw portrait of enduring love seen in reverse
Two sisters travel back across four decades in Chloë Morris’s gritty and unsentimental story of a pained relationship - Arifa Akbar
The Revenger’s Tragedy review – gruesome tale with a touch of Berlusconi
Cheek By Jowl’s handsome Italian-language update of the cruel classic with Milan’s Piccolo Teatro delivers a harsh verdict on political corruption - Mark Lawson
Mark Thomas: 50 Things About Us review – an inventory of Britishness
This grab-bag show sheds little light on our political travails but it’s stuffed with funny caricatures and plenty of myth-busting - Brian Logan
Cloud Gate Dance Theatre review – swirling tales from Taiwan
Cheng Tsung-lung’s 13 Tongues circles and flows, while Lin Hwai-min’s Dust is a slow slide into the dark - Lyndsey Winship
Sinners review – Brian Cox directs sand-blasted sex and death drama
A woman waits to be stoned for adultery in a curious piece reminiscent of Beckett - Miriam Gillinson
Viviana Durante Company: Isadora Now review – tribute to a trailblazer
Sweeping nostalgia meets occult menace in this three-part homage to dance pioneer Isadora Duncan - Sanjoy Roy
The Father review - Alfred Molina is tremendous in Florian Zeller’s tragic farce
The actor brings out the dark humour in Zeller’s modern classic about a man with dementia, fluctuating from absurdity to despair in a heartbeat - Chris Wiegand
Quality Street review – a box of mixed delights
Uneven adaptation of JM Barrie’s 1901 romcom - Clare Brennan
Smile review – Dundee United's 'football pervert' brought to hilarious grimacing life
Title-winning coach Jim McLean is played with raging mastery by Barrie Hunter in a two-hander that pulls some punches - Mark Fisher
Quality Street review – JM Barrie's bittersweet romcom is a treat
Shakespeare meets Richard Curtis in the play that gave its name to the chocolates, carried by boisterous performances and sweet-wrapper chic - Mark Fisher
A Number review – Caryl Churchill's clone fable counts cost of progress
Roger Allam plays a father with multiple versions of the same son in a drama that feels like an early noughties Black Mirror - Arifa Akbar
The Ballad of Johnny Longstaff review – songs and solidarity against fascism
The Young’uns bring the astonishing true story of a working-class hero who fought against Franco to rousing musical life - Catherine Love
The High Table review – coming out and coming together in tender debut
Inspired by Netflix’s Master of None, Temi Wilkey delivers a heartfelt and funny tale of love and ancestral ties in Nigeria - Arifa Akbar
Nora: A Doll’s House review – Stef Smith’s powerful three-Nora rewrite
Stef Smith’s smart three-Nora Ibsen update spans 100 years and cleverly contrasting worlds of pain in this slick first revival - Holly Williams
Torch the Place review – first play from Benjamin Law tells tale of hoarder mum and family with warmth and humour
There are some hiccups in the stage debut for The family Law creator but ultimately this is a love letter to Mum and all those like her - Cassie Tongue
Acosta Danza: Up Close review – Carlos and co get intimate
The proximity to the action in this show highlights the finesse and strength of the Havana troupe - Lyndsey Winship
Far Away review – Jessica Hynes brings humour to short, sharp horror
The real world slides away with frightening ease and pace in Caryl Churchill’s masterclass of tension - Miriam Gillinson
Wuthering Heights review – extreme lovers haunt a wild wasteland
Andrew Sheridan’s adaptation of Emily Brontë’s novel focuses on Cathy and Heathcliff’s morbid passions and has the feel of a ghost story - Catherine Love
Leopoldstadt review – Stoppard's family portrait is an elegiac epic
Patrick Marber directs Tom Stoppard’s sweeping story of a Jewish family in Vienna across six decades - Arifa Akbar
The Whip review – political drama exposes cost of abolishing slavery
Juliet Gilkes Romero’s play about the battle to end slave-owning in the British empire grows in intrigue and tension - Arifa Akbar
Blood Wedding review – Barney Norris takes Lorca's tragedy to Wiltshire
Emmet Byrne is superb in this relocated update of the Spanish classic but it lacks the fire of the original - Kate Wyver
Crongton Knights review – teen quest pursued with bravado
Friends venture into danger on a rival estate armed with sassy spirit and beatbox energy – if not a clear plan – in this lively adaptation of Alex Wheatle’s YA novel - Mark Fisher
All of It review – everywoman takes us from cradle to grave
Alistair McDowall’s monologue – performed by a mesmerising Kate O’Flynn – channels female experience with warmth and humour - Arifa Akbar
I Think We Are Alone review – Frantic Assembly's tender sweep of connection
Six characters stalk the stage with boxes in the company’s anniversary show, co-directed by Kathy Burke and Scott Graham - Kate Wyver
Vignettes review – slender slices of life by female playwrights
This collection of short plays by women features vivid characters and bears the bruises of the patriarchy - Catherine Love
Nigel Ng review – primetime culture-clash comedy
The Malaysian standup is strongest when he delivers adroit gags about Asian versus British stereotypes, from dogs to food allergies - Brian Logan
Mrs Puntila and Her Man Matti review – socialist satire starved of humour
The comic talents of Elaine C Smith and Steven McNicoll can’t save Denise Mina’s stilted, gender-switching adaptation of a Bertolt Brecht comedy - Clare Brennan
Afterplay review – Brian Friel's Chekhovian parlour game
Friel’s mashup of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya and Three Sisters is an exciting prospect, but this production lacks chemistry - Arifa Akbar
Corpse! review – murder most tepid
Some nifty staging and a strong performance from Tom York as two warring brothers cannot enliven this outdated caper - Arifa Akbar
The Mikvah Project review – bathing, banter and burning desire
Josh Azouz’s play explores the passion between two men who go to the same synagogue but it lacks tension and tenderness - Arifa Akbar
Trainers review – a messy brush with Montaigne
Sylvan Oswald gives a dystopian twist to the French essayist’s ideas on borders to explore modern gender politics - Kate Wyver
Mrs Puntila and Her Man Matti review – Denise Mina's Scottish Brecht falls flat
This update starring Elaine C Smith focuses on modern-day Scotland’s landowning class but struggles to make the satire funny - Mark Fisher
The Last Quiz Night on Earth review – audience competes as apocalypse beckons
An asteroid is hurtling towards Earth in Alison Carr’s new play, where everyone takes part in a pub quiz - Catherine Love
United Queendom review – we are not amused by this Kensington Palace palaver
Les Enfants Terribles take us inside Will and Kate’s home for an immersive yet unreachable story about two women who once lived there - Miriam Gillinson
Pretty Woman: The Musical review – tasteless romcom returns with tunes
Danny Mac and Aimie Atkinson star in the schmaltzy and shallow Hollywood tale, told with a few winning songs - Arifa Akbar
Kojo Anim review – BGT star on fame, faith and fatherhood
In his show Taxi Tour, the comic from last year’s Britain’s Got Talent offers only standard-issue middle-aged standup - Brian Logan
Seeds review – racism drama is emotional but clunkily contrived
With echoes of the murder of Stephen Lawrence, Mel Pennant’s new play focuses on the mothers who are left behind - Catherine Love
Women Beware Women review – excess all areas with Tara Fitzgerald
Thomas Middleton’s play seems perfect for the #MeToo era, but this over-stylised production misses the mark - Arifa Akbar
The Prince of Egypt review – Ramses goes to Vegas
It’s got pageantry, pyramids and dazzling dance moves, but this lavish stage adaptation drowns out the emotional drama - Arifa Akbar
The Great Australian Play review – promising playwright's debut satire aims high
Production smashes up Patrick White, Lasseter’s Reef, tired myths and old ghosts into a not-quite-right combination with brilliant flashes - Van Badham
The Visit review – Tony Kushner's plodding revenge epic falls flat
Lesley Manville excels as the billionaire returning to her small town but even she can’t save this bloated adaptation - Arifa Akbar
Black Waters review – a muddied outcry against colonial horrors
Phoenix Dance Theatre’s new piece contains flashes of anguished brilliance but feels cut off from its subject matter - Sanjoy Roy
Return to Heaven review – all aboard for the dystopian merry-go-round
Mark Bruce’s latest work is sensationally stimulating but perilously dizzying and hard to stomach - Sanjoy Roy
Asking for It review – sexual assault drama misses the mark
This adaptation of Louise O’Neill’s novel has all the right intentions but offers cliches instead of real insight - Kate Wyver
The Taming of the Shrew review – misogynistic comedy is a rotten apple
Flat insults, bland puns and painful verse let down this staging of Shakespeare’s problematic play, which charges ahead without a trace of satire - Kate Wyver