This time, I have time travelled with my companion Lia Ghilardi, crossing four hundred years of British theatre history.

The death of David Bowie provokes the Critic to take a trip down the motorways and side alleys of memory

Text of the day: “I want us to make a quilt of her husband’s clothes.”

Great new history play about Elizabethan England is not only insightful, but also full of contemporary parallels

New immersive experience tells its story of people trafficking with considerable power and imagination

Text of the day: “What good’s first woman if it’s her?”

Favourite stage direction: “Both faint laugh.”

Text of the day: “Damned bad luck.”

Thrilling revival of Black Panther Danai Gurira's 2012 play about Christianity and imperialism is a heartfelt cry for justice

A humorous and perceptive look at masculine identity from a new perspective by new talent Ishy Din

New epic from Jerusalem playwright Jez Butterworth is a breathtaking, if heartless experience

Martin Crimp’s latest experiment is a fabulously enjoyable anti-Christmas entertainment

Mark Ravenhill’s comeback play is a brilliant, complex and mature account of the abuse of power

Pix of the week: sneak preview of The Time Traveler’s Guide to British Theatre.

Even this clear and sympathetic revival of Stoppard’s 1988 Cold War spy thriller can’t quite take off like a rocket

West End star vehicle gets a new lease of life from Kristin Scott Thomas, but her cool performance cannot mask the piece’s flaws

All-star cast — including a gently charismatic Christian Slater — in American classic that celebrates the ideal of the deal

The longest-running play in world history is in good shape, despite the lackluster and mechanical cast

Travel back to the 1970s for a political docu-drama that’s high on circumstantial detail, but low on drama

Quote of the day: “Our working lives will be longer than those of our parents.”

National Treasure Maxine Peake stars in a brilliantly imagined and terrifically satirical nightmare fantasy

American writer explores issues of belief and redemption during the New Orleans floods

David Hare’s latest is set in an alternative reality that is more 2008 than 2018

Censorship appears to be simple, but is actually quite complicated.

Mike Bartlett explores Englishness with enormous metaphoric zeal — and only a touch of preposterousness

New drama about the downfall of Margaret Thatcher is theatrically exciting and immensely enjoyable

The Critic releases a howl of anguish as he goes against the will of the people

Explore the work of a handful of British theatre’s brightest and most exciting writing talents

New play about an illicit encounter between a teen student and an older teacher is powerful and challenging

The fraught relationship between Thatcher and the Queen creates hilarious theatrical sparks

More overviews of British new writing from the In-Yer-Face Theatre archive.

Text of the day: “Lonely people are twice as likely to go to A&E as non-lonely people.”

Text of the day: “So I made a decision.”

New comedy by a debut writer about a West Indian wake is lively, full of spirits, but a bit undercooked

In the Brexit era, this site-specific revival of Agatha Christie’s 1953 courtroom drama works like a treat