Summerhall, EdinburghSet in purgatory, Emma Howlett’s two-hander rethinks the national intrigue with 5 NovemberNever play with matches is good advice – especially when gunpowder is invol…
Rear Warehouse, Brown’s of Leith, EdinburghTwo men look back on their hedonistic past from a sobering present in Grid Iron’s adaptation of Andrew O’Hagan’s novelThe site-specific spe…
Summerhall, EdinburghGregory Nussen spins Italo Calvino’s surrealist authorial intrusions into a fascinating, playful and political showHow to adapt an unadaptable novel famed for its post…
With its marching bands, billowing flags and precision drills, the Tattoo has never exactly been cutting edge. But now an experimental theatre-maker has been let loose on it … Dusk has set…
Traverse theatre, EdinburghWriter-director Eilidh Loan takes inspiration from her grandmother for this portrait of grief and religionEilidh Loan marked her arrival as a playwright with Moorc…
Zoo Playground, EdinburghVeering from confident to crumbling, Verona Verbakel delivers a vivid show mixing humour with traumaWe are all familiar with the cliche of the influencer narrating t…
Assembly Roxy, EdinburghA researcher encounters an isolated community in thrall to a mysterious religious leader in Jack MacGregor’s atmospheric but elusive dramaWhat impresses about Jack …
Summerhall, EdinburghSohrab Haghverdi takes pleasure at winding up the audience in a subversively funny ‘anti-comedy’ of autobiographical insight and political provocationSohrab Haghverd…
Traverse theatre, EdinburghMilly Sweeney’s award-winning two-hander about an art student and a kitchen porter draws power from its clever structure and light touchIt is rare to come out of…
Traverse theatre, EdinburghA modern, secular woman is transformed into a Hellenic heroine as she sees visions of the future in Zinnie Harris’s minimalist dramaIf you found Christopher Nola…
Underbelly, Bristo Square, Edinburgh Quaz Degraft draws on his knowledge of high finance for these misadventures in a material, misogynist worldYou don’t hear much about the American dream…
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghWith characteristic wit, Dan Bishop’s comedy develops from a jolly send-up of the vacuous TV industry into a politically astute play about power‘I’ve neve…
Beginning his career as an actor, Gill went on to write plays including The York Realist as well as directing for the Royal Court and National TheatreTributes have been paid to the director …
Pitlochry Festival theatre Following its star through rehearsals and squabbles with her director, this is modelled on Cocteau’s La Voix Humaine but it’s no…
Birmingham RepWith tremendous singing from Ramin Karimloo and Meow Meow, Joe Murphy’s superb staging of the story is full of dark gothic humourStephen Sondheim was drawn to fairytales – …
Nottingham PlayhouseThe camaraderie and eccentricities of some model railway enthusiasts make for an endearing group portrait in William Ivory’s well-gauged comedyBefore the play begins, a…
Royal Exchange, ManchesterA celebration of the cartoonist’s sexual awakening and queer identity as well as an investigation of darker family dynamics, this soulful show wears its heart on …
Pitlochry Festival theatreMaureen Beattie leads a modern-dress version, which focuses on family dynamics rather than the decline of Shakespeare’s mighty rulerYou know when you walk into a …
Stephen Joseph theatre, Scarborough This celebratory show by Tim Firth and Gary Barlow delivers emotional openness alongside cracking jokesOne of the great qualities of Calendar Girls is its…
Utopia theatre, Sheffield Mojisola Kareem’s excellent production makes no concessions to this 50-seat space, bringing grand historical scope to a story of Nigeria in transitionUtopia is th…
Pitlochry Festival theatreWriter Douglas Maxwell’s playful conceit sparks a funny and superbly acted exploration of messy relationships There is a clever conceit underlying Douglas Maxwell…
Òran Mór, Glasgow Nay Dhanak’s clownish tale follows an odd couple struggling to live up to their roles passing news from royal power to the publicWe are in a medieval world of portentou…
Citizens theatre, GlasgowThe novel is adapted with equal parts wit and horror to capture the depravity of a notorious crime in GlasgowOn the bare brick wall backing Jen McGinley’s set – …
Plays about political extremes, religious sects, swimming the Channel and an 80th birthday party are among the highlights at this summer’s arts spectacularProducer Francesca Moody has show…
Pitlochry festival theatreThis stripped-down show with a maudlin set of songs makes for the most reluctant of musicals, but this is a production that has the confidence to be silent or state…