Susannah Clapp

Groundbreaking Labour MP Jennie Lee is given her due in Mikron’s vibrant new touring show; the 60-year-old musical is an al fresco marvel; and Shakespeare finds new meaning through British Sign Language

Jack Lowden and Sean Gilder compel in David Ireland’s crackling new AA drama

Fresh talent shines, though nuance could try harder, in a 20th anniversary revival of Alan Bennett’s glinting schoolroom comedy

Reality is up for debate in Tife Kusoro’s rapid-fire new drama, David Eldridge’s nuanced take on John le Carré, and Tom Stoppard’s most loving play

Ben Whishaw and Lucian Msamati add star power to James Macdonald’s thoughtful Beckett; David Oyelowo’s Coriolanus is dwarfed by epic staging; and an Elvis Costello-scored musical has too few high notes

John Lithgow as Roald Dahl towers over Nicholas Hytner’s production of an extraordinary debut play; Morfydd Clark finds her voice in a Wesker revival; and a John Osborne staging is a step backward

Mark Strong and Lesley Manville transfix as Robert Icke wires Sophocles into the present; Adrien Brody excels in a sharp prison drama; and how not to update a Jacobean masterpiece

Over five hours, John Galsworthy’s family epic unfolds with intimate clarity on an almost bare stage. At the RSC, Emilia and Desdemona steal the show

In her new book the acclaimed actor imagines what the Bard’s female characters might have said if they had had the chance

In a week of underused talent, Steve Coogan, Armando Iannucci and Sean Foley merely recreate Kubrick’s satire; Lily Collins totters through a bland night in Spain; and Ruth Negga graces a trance-like hour