Five star - Latest Top Rated Stage Reviews from the Guardian

Royal Ballet Live: Within the Golden Hour review – a tonic for the soul
Even on a laptop, the Royal Ballet’s latest mixed bill is a joy to behold - Sarah Crompton
A dazzling, shocking indictment of America: What the Constitution Means to Me review
This funny, tragic and deeply unsettling one-woman tour de force shows who the US constitution serves – and who it lets down. The statistics alone are horrifying - Arifa Akbar
Uncle Vanya review – coronavirus gives Chekhov a shot in the arm
The pandemic supercharges the atmosphere in this film version of Ian Rickson’s recent stage production - Susannah Clapp
Faith Healer review – this virtual Friel is the stuff of miracles
Michael Sheen, Indira Varma and David Threlfall are magnificent in Matthew Warchus’s enthralling livestreamed production of Brian Friel’s 1979 play - Clare Brennan
Mangrove review – Steve McQueen takes axe to racial prejudice
The notorious 1970 prosecution that exposed police harassment of black Britons is brilliantly evoked as part of the director’s Small Axe project - Peter Bradshaw
Incidental Moments of the Day review – a feast for Covid historians
In Richard Nelson’s third play about a US white liberal family Zooming through the pandemic, the Apples are forced to confront whether they are racist - Mark Lawson
I Hate Suzie review – Billie Piper is nude, lewd and joyously off the rails
Chaos reigns as Suzie Pickles’ life and acting career are turned upside down by a compromising phone hack, in this scabrously funny drama penned by Piper and Lucy Prebble - Lucy Mangan
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom review – Chadwick Boseman glorious in his final film role
The movie version of August Wilson’s story of the blues, starring Boseman and a tremendous Viola Davis, is a ferocious opera of passion and pain - Peter Bradshaw
Tim Minchin review – bittersweet musings from comedy's Mr Marmite
If the performer gets in the way of himself and his impressive lyrical skills, the best of him still shines through in a fine set - Brian Logan
Locked Down: The Scariest Show You Will Never See review – a nerve-jangler
Get that blindfold on! Morpheus’s interactive horror is scary – but teaming up with strangers is fun - Arifa Akbar
Marry Me a Little review – Sondheim's rejects live happily ever after
This lonely hearts revue with songs cut from Follies and other musicals is a carousel of regrets and rapture - Chris Wiegand
Deliverance review – a radiant experience of lockdown me-time
You are the solo performer and audience in this quietly transformative piece whose script is delivered to your door - Mark Fisher
Petrichor review – woozy, hallucinogenic hi-tech dystopia
ThickSkin’s intense two-hander about automatons in a totalitarian regime makes gripping VR viewing - Mark Fisher
Royal Ballet Live: Within the Golden Hour review – sheer, ravishing class from top to pointed toe
Francesca Hayward, Natalia Osipova and Marianela Nuñez are among the many stars in this exquisite mixed bill of classics and more recent work - Lyndsey Winship
15 Heroines review – a triumphant revoicing of Ovid
The aggrieved women of the poet’s Heroides speak loud and clear in 15 bristling new monologues - Susannah Clapp
Phoenix/The Ghost Caller reviews – spiked satire and phone spooks
Mike Bartlett’s monologue brings us the inner life of a despotic public figure and Luke Barnes’s over-the-phone drama is profoundly creepy - Arifa Akbar
New York City Ballet: New Works festival review – dancing in the streets and making a splash
In lieu of NYCB’s 2020 season, five short pieces by new choreographers frame the Big Apple in colourful new ways - Lyndsey Winship
15 Heroines: The Labyrinth review – defiant women rise up from the myths
These bite-sized, beautifully written short plays give a powerful voice to aggrieved heroines from Greek and Roman mythology - Arifa Akbar
Little Wars review – starry cast sparkle as squabbling literary legends
Juliet Stevenson, Linda Bassett and others bring to life a fantasy dinner party thrown as the Nazis overrun France - Arifa Akbar
Death of England: Delroy review – brash and brilliant theatre
Michael Balogun delivers this monologue – a sequel to Clint Dyer and Roy Williams’ Death of England – with deftly controlled energy - Arifa Akbar
Crave review – Kane's bleak poetry is as potent as ever in taut production
Director Tinuke Craig gives Sarah Kane’s one-act play an edge-of-the-seat tension as the four characters move between hope and despair - Arifa Akbar
Dot. Dot. Dot. review – Daniel Kitson's unkempt everyman charts the strangest of years
The comedian – on a solo tour of UK theatres – finds warm and funny layers of humanity in the small details of everyday lives - Mark Fisher
What a Carve Up! review – ingenious and gripping reimagining of Coe's novel
Beginning at the end, Jonathan Coe’s novel about the scheming Winshaws is turned into an audacious investigative whodunnit - Arifa Akbar
Russell Kane review – a cathartic shot of Covid comedy
Before live comedy disappears once more, Kane delivers a terrific, barnstorming set sending up the pandemic – and the government’s laughable response to it - Brian Logan
Ghost Stories With Mark Gatiss review – Halloween horror of the creepiest kind
The actor was joined by Adrian Scarborough for a seasonal dose of phone calls from the other side and undead criminality - Arifa Akbar
Have Your Passport Ready review – step inside the asylum system
Brothers Khaled and Mohammad Aljawad offer a rare insight into life as a refugee in the UK with this powerful choose-your-own-adventure play - Simon Parkin
Birmingham Royal Ballet: Lazuli Sky review – bold opener from Carlos Acosta
Will Tuckett’s intricate new work takes its inspiration from nature and was the shimmering centrepiece of an ambitious and enjoyable programme at the reopened London dance venue - Lyndsey Winship
Educating Rita review – sharp-edged take on 1980s nostalgia piece
Willy Russell’s play works well in a socially-distanced staging, and the questions it asks about the value of arts and education feel more pertinent than ever - Arifa Akbar
Loaded review – Christos Tsiolkas' hedonistic breakout novel becomes an exhilarating audio play
Melbourne’s Malthouse Theatre has turned the novelist’s 1995 work into a visceral, aural blast of sex, drugs and queer energy - Tim Byrne
Birmingham Royal Ballet: Lazuli Sky review – a very welcome return
A timely new work by Will Tuckett is the centrepiece of this fine new mixed bill - Sarah Crompton
Sarah Cooper: Everything’s Fine review – Trump lip-syncer ratchets up the hysteria
From Helen Mirren as Trump’s wingman to Marisa Tomei as Satan, this Netflix special is a funny and striking document of what living feels like in this fraught and febrile year - Brian Logan
Lone Flyer: The Last Flight of Amy Johnson review – soaring spirit
This powerful, affecting drama ranges over the pioneering aviator’s adventurous career and her final terrible moments - Arifa Akbar
Dr Blood's Old Travelling Show review – devilishly good
A fun-filled tale of local authority corruption - Clare Brennan
Adam Kay: This Is Going to Hurt review – penis gags delivered in full PPE
London’s theatre district reopened its doors to stage an evening of well-aimed wrath that somehow finds comedy in kidney surgery - Brian Logan
The Great Gatsby review – intimate immersive show offers heady discombobulation
A revitalised, socially distanced version of the F Scott Fitzgerald adaptation keeps the jazz age alive with song, dance and spectacle - Arifa Akbar
Betrayal review: Pinter's love triangle offers fresh pleasures and shorter pauses
Theatre Royal BathStaged in a Covid-safe auditorium, this rattling revival of Harold Pinter’s mind-stretching drama is enjoyably brisk - Mark Lawson
Azara: Just Another Day and Night review – the vibrant mess of the before times
Part of the Splayed festival of queer art, Azara’s witty combination of spoken word and effortless groove takes the audience on a night out that leaves you longing to dance - Lyndsey Winship
The Royal Ballet: Back on Stage review – an exuberant return
For the RB’s first post-lockdown performance, Kevin O’Hare prepared an optimistic, invigorating selection of classics - Sarah Crompton
The Mermaid’s Tongue review – turn detective for this dazzling online gothic thriller
Untimely deaths, ritual sacrifice, the supernatural ... steel yourself for a 90-minute immersive quest that’s an escape room for the age of social distancing - Mark Fisher
Songs for a New World review – singers face forwards in bold, Covid-safe show
Jason Robert Brown’s musical on the theme of life choices adapts well to social distancing, with a cast whose big voices make the huge auditorium feel small - Mark Lawson
The Royal Ballet: Back on Stage review – freedom to soar again
After seven months away from the spotlight, the entire company release their pent-up energy in a jubilant and moving three-hour gala of greatest hits - Lyndsey Winship
Dublin theatre festival review – city's players adapt to age of Covid
With productions staged live outdoors, livestreamed, or available online, this year’s festival fused the past with the present, and engaged an audience both present and remote - Helen Meany
Apollo 13: The Dark Side of the Moon review – survival and enlightenment
The imperilled astronauts’ story is retold with a topical slant and a mastery of slow-burn tension - Mark Fisher
Michael Clark review – from the syringe solo to the bum-revealing jeté
The Scottish dance iconoclast married extraordinary technique with boundless imagination – and his work is as provocative as ever - Claire Armitstead
An Evening With an Immigrant review – irresistible
The Bridge, LondonIn this warm monologue, Inua Ellams recalls his journey from Nigeria to London to shed light on Britain’s asylum system - Kate Kellaway
Nights in the Gardens of Spain and Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet review – pain and passion in Bennett duo
Tamsin Greig and Maxine Peake play long-suffering women, gravely put-upon by the men in their lives, in Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads - Arifa Akbar
The Boys in the Band review – fierce fun and games in the pre-Aids era
This new film version of the off-Broadway hit about gay lives in New York is strange, compelling and unexpectedly potent - Peter Bradshaw
Playing Sandwiches and Lady of Letters review – Alan Bennett's quiet shockers
There are devastating moments and fine performances by Imelda Staunton and Lucian Msamati in this pair of Talking Heads - Arifa Akbar
Life review – hopes and heartaches behind closed doors
Mike Bartlett’s latest drama, set in the same world as his smash-hit Doctor Foster, is a smart exploration of the human condition, with just the right amount of sentimentality - Ellen E Jones
Greenwich Comedy festival review – starry lineup relishes return of live banter
Sara Pascoe, Rich Hall and Aisling Bea warm to an excited crowd – and a divine heckler – in the chilly outdoors - Brian Logan
Draw from Within review – Rambert's gripping horror show for jumpy times
Wim Vandekeybus’s ever-shifting dance theatre refuses to be pinned down in this live-streamed show from the company’s own studios - Lyndsey Winship
Faith Healer review – Friel's spellbinder captures theatre's magic
Michael Sheen, Indira Varma and David Threlfall are a superb trinity for Brian Friel’s powerful monologues - Chris Wiegand
Sweet Mother review – sorrow, joy and self-reliance in Toxteth
Prejudice and passion powers Maria Paul’s oral history of three white women who married black men in Liverpool 8 - Clare Brennan
The Outside Dog and The Hand of God review – chintz and terror from Alan Bennett
Rochenda Sandall is sensational as a woman suspicious of her husband’s behaviour, while Kristin Scott Thomas’s genteel dowager revels in nostalgia - Arifa Akbar
The Shrine and Bed Among the Lentils review – Manville and Dolan are magnificent
Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads monologues were TV gold during lockdown. Seeing Monica Dolan and Lesley Manville perform them live is even better - Arifa Akbar
One Night in Miami review – a pivotal moment for black America
Regina King’s movie puts Malcolm X, Cassius Clay, Jim Brown and Sam Cooke in a hotel room together in 1964. The result is immensely watchable - Jonathan Romney
Three Kings review – Andrew Scott shines in fatherhood elegy
The Sherlock and Fleabag actor is transfixingly tender in Stephen Beresford’s skilful monologue, performed against an eerie, empty auditorium - Catherine Love
C-o-n-t-a-c-t review – gripping thriller takes its audience on a pacy outdoor odyssey
Various locations, London In this immersive, socially distanced show which the audience follows on foot, an unhappy woman meets her leather-jacket-wearing guardian angel - Arifa Akbar
Shades of Tay review – a refreshing stream of magical tales
The sacred salmon is the star of Pitlochry Festival theatre’s series of poems and plays inspired by the mysterious River Tay - Mark Fisher
Educating Rita; The Comedy of Errors review – a breath of fresh air
An unflappable duo braved the elements in Willy Russell’s comedy drama, while Shakespeare’s crowd-pleaser cheered a lockdown-weary audience - Clare Brennan
Traverse festival review – sense of apocalyptic doom is bang on trend
Traverse flies the Edinburgh festival flag with audio plays tackling ‘what happens after an earth-shattering event’, doomsday cults and slippery politics - Mark Fisher
Precipice review – an epic country stroll towards hope and renewal
Sinéad O’Neill’s promenade work weaved deftly around verdant grounds to encounter operatic scenes, circus acrobatics and a past pandemic reckoned with through poignant dance - Tim Ashley
Lament for Sheku Bayoh review – a stark critique of Scotland's self-image
Hannah Lavery’s play about the death of a man in police custody in 2015 is both impassioned and poetic - Mark Fisher
Tim Minchin: Apart Together review – Randy Newman-esque portrait of a man at a crossroads
In his first studio album, Minchin mixes bitter barbs and humour with self-introspection – and surprising vulnerability - Bernard Zuel
Hoard: Rediscovered review – treasure tales from Sara Pascoe, Isy Suttie and more
Staffordshire’s Anglo-Saxon booty inspires a host of short plays by writers including April De Angelis and Darren Sharp - Arifa Akbar
The Journey review – a polished magic show in search of deeper meaning
Playing to a live online audience, mind-reader Scott Silven appears to know our thoughts before we do - Mark Fisher
Dance On! review – bursts of joy and beauty from Mark Morris
This collection of dancers’ homemade films – in apartments, backyards or the great outdoors – connect in winningly lo-fi way - Lyndsey Winship
Misfits review – there's no place like Essex
The Queen’s theatre in Hornchurch seeks to set the record straight on the county’s much maligned image with four monologues that fizz - Arifa Akbar
[Title of Show] review – peek behind the curtain for musical theatre geeks
Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell’s characters deconstruct their own lines in a witty four-hander staged cleverly for streaming - Chris Wiegand
Ur Favourite Scary Movie review – welcome to your worst nightmare
Louise Orwin whispers monstrous imaginings into your ear in an aural interrogation of the horror genre that touches on pandemic fears - Arifa Akbar
Here's What She Said to Me review – a hugely ambitious Nigerian-Yorkshire family saga
Three fine actors portray more than 35 characters in Mojisola Elufowoju’s impressive production of Oladipo Agboluaje’s new play - Clare Brennan
Kevin James Doyle: The 30 Year Old Virgin review – sex and scripture
The American comic largely abstains from telling about his adventures in celibacy in a slick and wry standup special - Brian Logan
Here’s What She Said to Me review – evocative multi-generational Nigerian saga
A three-woman cast powerfully captures the shifting fortunes of a Nigerian family down the decades, from Ibadan to Britain - Arifa Akbar
Wolfwalkers review – wolves take on Cromwell in bold Irish history tale
Seventeenth-century Kilkenny is the setting for this beautifully made animation about history, heritage and family - Andrew Pulver
Scenes of a Sexual Nature review – hit-and-miss Hampstead romcom
Ewan McGregor, Tom Hardy and Sophie Okonedo are among the big names doing small roles in this mostly pleasant portmanteau film from 2006 - Leslie Felperin
Sunday Antics review – gloves-off cross-cultural banter
Britain’s Got Talent botherer Nabil Abdulrashid leads an impressively forthright and sometimes edgy night of standup dealing with race and identity - Brian Logan
Bubble review – tetchy, tender tale of love under lockdown
In James Graham’s Covid romcom, a couple who have just met decide to quarantine together, while in a parallel narrative they face isolation alone - Arifa Akbar
The Yes Queens review – digital crowd pipe in impro oxygen
Audience participation at arm’s length via screen happily injects some welcome randomness into this six-person improvised sketch show - Brian Logan
New English Ballet Theatre: Remembrance review – movement that sings
Wayne Eagling’s choreographic pedigree is clear in this wartime story of Marie Rambert – founder of Britain’s first ballet company – and her playwright husband - Lyndsey Winship
Quarter Life Crisis review – secrets of a reluctant grownup
Yolanda Mercy’s funny, engaging verse monologue finds a twentysomething woman torn between dodging responsibility and accepting it’s time to define herself - Kate Wyver
10 Minutes to … Call Home review – loss, regret and pot plants
Live Theatre’s series of short plays range from the joys and perils of gardening to a howl of rage against a cruel stepmother - Mark Fisher
Rialto review – raw emotional power fuels a punishing character study
Tom Vaughan-Lawlor excels in this bleak Dublin-set drama about a closeted gay man whose life is unravelling - Cath Clarke
Michelle Buteau review – winning hour of camp theatrics and Jersey sass
Joyous reflections on new motherhood, Amsterdam’s museums and working with J-Lo see the charismatic standup cresting a career-high wave - Brian Logan
Locked Down. Locked In. But Living review – Covid anxieties take shape
Claustrophobia and flights of imagination make a powerful connection in this triple bill of pieces commissioned as a response to the pandemic - Lyndsey Winship
Sunnymead Court review – the joys of love and live theatre
In her lockdown romance, playwright Gemma Lawrence explores desire, isolation and homophobia - Arifa Akbar
Say Your Prayers review – goofy Christian hitman comedy
Smart pacing, sharp editing and classy cameos elevate this Yorkshire-set tale above many recent crime capers - Mike McCahill
The Boss of It All review – whimsical Lars von Trier workplace comedy
This larky Zoom-era adaptation of the director’s film about white-collar leadership is full of improv-style gusto - Arifa Akbar
Rifkin's Festival review – Woody Allen's latest is a cinephile's dream (but only literally)
A neurotic writer unravels in a European hotspot as the director treads familiar ground to salute Bergman, Buñuel … and himself - Jonathan Romney
Pippin review – medieval musical lets the sunshine in
A cast of six including Strictly’s Joanne Clifton perform Stephen Schwartz’s breezy songs in a new outdoor venue - Chris Wiegand
A Room of One's Own review – Belvoir's wickedly funny and feminist return to the theatre
Anita Hegh’s performance for this cliff-notes take on Virginia Woolf’s classic essay marinated for six months in lockdown – and it shows - Kate Hennessy
The Third Day review – will Jude Law make it out alive?
This portentous, pagan-tinged series about a man trapped on a mysterious island is full of spooky intrigue – if you can handle the absurdity of it all - Lucy Mangan
Michael McIntyre: Showman review – super-trivial pursuits on Netflix
The horizons may be narrow in the British standup’s special but nobody does this sort of material better - Brian Logan
846 Live review – rousing shout-out keeps flame of activism alive
A basketball court becomes a stage to deliver short plays of protest over racial injustice, completing a fine festival embedded in its London community - Arifa Akbar
The Duchess review – Katherine Ryan shows mums can raise hell too
The comic deftly plays an uber-bitch single mother in this semi-autobiographical Netflix series – though there is little nuance behind the unapologetic laughs - Lucy Mangan
Beat the Devil review – righteous rage of David Hare's corona nightmare
In the return of live indoor theatre, Ralph Fiennes delivers the playwright’s fury at the government’s response to the virus – and his despair when he catches it himself - Arifa Akbar
Cinderella review – vintage fairytale from Birmingham Royal Ballet
The familiar story of transformation, in the company’s 2010 production, is given a free video outing two months before a new live ballet is set to debut - Lyndsey Winship
Kevin Hart: Zero F**ks Given review – fighting talk with a glass jaw
The US standup has his say on celebrity culture and Covid, but not the Oscars row, and ends up buffering his own ego in a new special - Brian Logan
An Evening with Tim Heidecker review – bad-standup spoof hits low notes
In character as an offensively aggressive comic, Heidecker weaves dodgy jokes with engaging meta twists, but ultimately a lack of variety spoils the party - Brian Logan
Dr Blood’s Old Travelling Show review – clarity missing amid punk spirit and ingenuity
Imitating the dog reinvents medieval wagon theatre for the 21st century – but it’s more of an idea than a fully fleshed out story - Catherine Love
Felipe Esparza: Bad Decisions review – cynical, in any language
The Mexican-American offers English and Spanish versions of his comedy show, but the sexist fare is depressing however you look at it - Brian Logan