Theatre to watch in London and beyond

FT critics review the latest and best shows in the West End, across the capital and the UK
Rosenbaum’s Rescue — enthralling drama of politics and race, faith and facts

At London’s Park Theatre, a debut play tackles the Holocaust and Islamophobia with an exceptionally assured touch

Approaching Empty at the Kiln Theatre, London — a skilful, engaging drama

Ishy Din’s new play revolves around a medium-sized taxi firm run by Pakistani immigrants

Lady sings the greats in Songs for Nobodies at the Ambassadors Theatre, London

Billie Holiday and Edith Piaf are among the superstars brought back to life in Bernadette Robinson’s vivid performance

Aspects of Love at Southwark Playhouse, London — a lesser Lloyd Webber

Jonathan O’Boyle’s production never quite overcomes the musical’s lack of focus

Pinter Five/Pinter Six — deeply unnerving, unexpectedly resonant

The season at London’s Harold Pinter Theatre goes back to the playwright’s beginnings

Nativity! The Musical at the Eventim Apollo, London — amiable, sugary and exhausting

Based on the popular film series, this show starring Danny and Dani Dyer and Jo Brand is cheerily over the top

More from this Series

It’s Grimm in London: Snow White at the Palladium, Rumpelstiltskin at QEH

Lavish spectacle, filthy humour and contemporary concerns mingle in the capital’s pantomimes

Sweat — funny, sad, angry portrait of a divided America

Lynn Nottage’s magnificent play at the Donmar Warehouse shows the personal cost of geopolitical shifts

Simon Russell Beale is Richard II in a curious staging at the Almeida Theatre, London

Joe Hill-Gibbins sets Shakespeare’s Tragedy of King Richard the Second in a dimly lit metal box

A thrilling revival of Caroline, or Change at the Playhouse Theatre, London

Sharon D. Clarke is magnificent in the title role of Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori’s musical

The Convert — faith and identity in colonial Africa

Danai Gurira’s drama in an electrifying staging at the Young Vic, London

Timon of Athens, Stratford-upon-Avon — a humbug’s alternative to seasonal cheer

Kathryn Hunter stars in a strong production of Shakespeare’s bleak, underrated drama at the Swan Theatre

Mark Ravenhill’s The Cane — a gripping new play at the Royal Court, London

This complex moral drama tackles a topical debate about remorse and retribution

Christmas on stage in London and Oxford — reviews

Snowflake, Old Fire Station; The Messiah, The Other Palace; and Aladdin, Hackney Empire

The Tell-Tale Heart — a darkly comic drama at the National Theatre (Dorfman), London

Anthony Neilson’s new seasonal show is inspired by Poe’s tale

Fiddler on the Roof at the Menier Chocolate Factory, London — joy and sorrow

Trevor Nunn’s production bursts from the stage — but there’s a chill wind blowing, too

Uncle Vanya strikes a deliciously dyspeptic tone at the Hampstead Theatre, London

Terry Johnson has written a fine new Chekhov adaptation — but the staging is problematic

An illuminating Doctor Faustus at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, London

A production of Marlowe’s drama that makes excellent use of the intimate, candlelit space

Kit Harington is the big draw in True West at the Vaudeville Theatre, London

The Game of Thrones star is well matched with Johnny Flynn in Sam Shepard’s classic play

A likeable, good-natured Dick Whittington at the Lyric Hammersmith

The London pantomime season opens with this warm-hearted production

Switzerland — a portrait of Patricia Highsmith at the Ambassadors Theatre, London

Joanna Murray-Smith’s drama explores the relationship between the author and her work

Don DeLillo’s Love-Lies-Bleeding explores life, death and borderlands in between

A thoughtful production at London’s Print Room raises questions about assisted dying, consciousness and identity

Summer and Smoke — Tennessee Williams played with heartbreaking clarity

Patsy Ferran is glorious as the repressed daughter of a Mississippi pastor at the Duke of York’s Theatre, London

Ralegh: The Treason Trial — an awkward case comes to the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse

Oliver Chris’s verbatim drama struggles to reconcile fidelity to history with contemporary immediacy

Macbeth at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, London — this is the one to see

Robert Hastie’s production fully, wonderfully gets the measure of the play

An enjoyable, engaging Hadestown at the National’s Olivier Theatre

Anaïs Mitchell’s musical retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth opens in London

The Harold Pinter Theatre’s season of Pinter plays hits a high point

Pinter Three and Four feature fine performances from a cast that includes Lee Evans, Keith Allen and Tamsin Greig

Don Quixote at the Garrick Theatre, London — food fights and a superb double act

David Threlfall and Rufus Hound are the stars of this playful, poignant RSC production

A fresh, urgent Romeo and Juliet at the Barbican, London

Everyone is in a hurry in Erica Whyman’s rough and volatile staging

White Teeth — a fine filleting of Zadie Smith’s novel at the Kiln Theatre, London

Stephen Sharkey’s adaptation creates a rich mix of multicultural family life and music

ear for eye at London’s Royal Court is a passionate, sobering play about racism

debbie tucker green’s new piece balances contained anger with meticulous detail

Identity is at the core of Lauren Gunderson’s new play, I and You, at the Hampstead Theatre

Maisie Williams and Zach Wyatt bring touching freshness to their roles as troubled teenagers

Martin McDonagh’s A Very Very Very Dark Matter is a magnificent wild card of a show

Jim Broadbent and Phil Daniels star in this fabulistic new drama at London’s Bridge Theatre

Christopher Eccleston is a grim and gruff Macbeth at the Barbican, London

Polly Findlay’s Royal Shakespeare Company production comes to the capital

Machinal, Almeida Theatre, London — formal brilliance

A stylish staging of Sophie Treadwell’s groundbreaking 1928 play