Grace Barnes’s excellent new book is both provocative and illuminating

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

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

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

Tom Stoppard’s 1993 masterpiece revived in a highly enjoyable, often luminous, production by Carrie Cracknell

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

New play about zero-hour contracts is powerfully authentic, but also rather depressingly unentertaining

Text of the day: “But it was no good.”

Autobiographical show about the Middle East is a wry take on insoluble antagonisms, and prefers utopian longing to political engagement

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

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…

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

Lucy Prebble’s latest tells the story of the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, but prefers buffoonery over analysis

Timely revival of Arthur Miller’s 1994 study of anti-Semitism, marriage and psychology: great play, production not so hot

Text of the day: “I wasn’t.”

The classic TV serial takes to the stage like a politician to a pay rise, but lags a bit behind reality

Suzie Miller’s follow up to her massive hit Prima Facie stars Rosamund Pike, whose dazzling performance makes up for the questionable writing

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

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

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

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

Feminist account of British imperialism is energetic and passionate, but rather slender — is it a play or a lecture?

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

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

Excellent revival of Ryan Craig’s 2011 play about an British-Jewish family in crisis — still timely and thought-provoking

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

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

Celebrating this venue’s 50th birthday, this revival of Philip Ridley’s in-yer-face shock-fest is a great evening

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

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

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

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

New epic drama set in Dubai is adventurous, original and well-written, if slightly slender

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Let us remember the radical acts of 50 years ago.

Leo Butler’s wonderful new one is not a play, but a passionate book about a writer’s life and the craft of playwriting

Adaptation of the John le Carré Cold War thriller is a tense courtroom drama, but could do with some more fleshing out

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

A few days ago, I watched the National Theatre At Home streamed recording of Michaela Coel’s award-winning Chewing Gum Dreams.

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

A couple of days ago, I was at the Soho Theatre.

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

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

Nick Stafford’s sturdy beast rides again — and retains its colt-like freshness and wild beauty