Bad stuff and change in a time of pandemic: a derivative lockdown poem

Here is a sample from the introduction to my latest book about postwar British theatre — an alternative history

Playwright or director? Who is ultimately responsible for a piece of theatre? Our Critic attempts to find out

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

Can theatre habituate us to extreme violence? Blasted is both a denunciation of the horrors of war and maybe a domestication of them

Favourite stage direction: “The funeral procession of Queen Elizabeth II goes past.”

Marius von Mayenburg’s latest is a satire on art and anti-Semitism — both absurdist and unsettling

Nobel Prize winner Annie Ernaux’s bestselling book gets an enjoyable if problematic West-End staging

Joe DiPietro’s cult hit is enjoyable enough, but rather predictable in both form and content

Maxine Peake struggles to make the voice of reason heard in a rather reactionary feminist history play

Robert Icke’s latest ancient Greek adaptation: lots of stunning acting compensates for some cumbersome writing

New West End drama about spicing up marriage is oddly lacking in passion — a wordy and emotionless account of desire

Can the stranglehold of naturalism and social realism in British theatre ever be broken?

Peter Morgan’s award-winning story of Putin’s triumph is vivid, but lacks real complexity

Al Smith’s new play was jinxed before it started — and, bogged down in cartoonish detail, it never really recovers

It’s not often that I get to say a heartfelt thank you to any newspaper, but I really must acknowledge the good work of the Guardian, and especially its arts website.

One from the archives: film-maker and playwright Mike Leigh uses improvisation extensively in the creation of his work.

As a new production of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot is about to open in London’s West End, I was lucky enough to get the chance to watch The Impossible Itself (2010), Jake Ad…

Julia Pascal’s new play is an epic story of Jewish identity from Dublin to Jerusalem in the 1930s and 1940s

Fabulously queer extravaganza: London transfer for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s riotous comedy Western

Take an imaginative ride through 400 years of British theatre with our fictional guides

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

The love affair between playwright and actor lasted far beyond their early divorce

Favourite stage direction: “Note: this is not a play about inverted comma mental health inverted comma nor is it an Angry Black Women issue play.”

Text of the day: “Oh yes, we turn on the radio or a TV maybe, or we go to the pictures — if them’s love stories or gangsters — but isn’t that the easiest way out?”

Text of the day: “Healthcare is part of the entertainment industry.”

Text of the day: “We shall never have all we need.”

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

Anne-Marie Duff and Kenneth Cranham try their best in unconvincing rom-com, which is predictable and portentous

Superbly plotted family drama beautifully explores the relationships between the personal and political

Martin Crimp’s Not One of These People has been staged using help from AI — but what does AI think of the show?

One of the most important characteristics of contemporary British new plays is that they aim to provide a forum for the discussion of ideas.

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

The Royal Court’s international season continues with savage Ukrainian play about women and war

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

Yes, the sun is out and it’s time for a bit of honest enthusiasm.

The Angry Young Men of the 1950s were more of media phenomenon than a coherent movement

Thrillingly epic account of a defining American institution delights in three superb performances

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

Fear eats the mind: poignant Gaza play about living under terror is both surreally humorous and finally devastating

Populist show is now on its sixth cast, but despite some noisy shocks it fails to chill the blood

Old-fashioned family reunion play features two real-life parent-and-offspring couples, but is mired in too much complication

Star cast give energy to a superb, if old fashioned, play about the anti-Semitism of Roald Dahl

The poet laureate’s verbatim play about Brexit sinks into journalistic and untheatrical banality

Text of the day: “There are good days and bad days.”

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

Return of the emotionally intense exploration of Palestinian identity — both personal and political

Artificial Intelligence is much hyped — but can it review a theatre show?

Joseph Fiennes is mesmerizing as Gareth Southgate in James Graham’s sport-of-the-nation docu-drama