Arifa Akbar is the Guardian's chief theatre critic
October 2024
Juno and the Paycock review – Mark Rylance delights as a drunken fantasist Dubliner
Rylance is entertainingly Chaplinesque as a dissolute husband in Seán O’Casey’s 1924 tragicomedy, but Succession’s J Smith-Cameron is its heart and soul as the long-suffering wife
Nowhere review – an audacious and radical message for peace
Mixing the personal and political into one consciousness-raising ‘anti-biography’, Khalid Abdalla’s solo show takes in western colonialism, 9/11, British identity, the typecasting of Arab actors, Hamas’s terror and the war in Gaza
Look Back in Anger/Roots review – double bill of 1950s gamechanging kitchen sink dramas
Redlands review – Rolling Stones play second fiddle in 60s culture wars clash
‘If audiences are crying, I’ve done my job’: closing the stories of a generation of British south Asians
September 2024
The Cabinet Minister review – perfect timing for a Victorian satire on political freebies
Giant – exploration of Roald Dahl and antisemitism that speaks to our times
1984 review – Keith Allen’s sadistic superior emanates controlled rage
Here in America review – Miller and Kazan test the bonds of friendship in McCarthy-era witch-hunt drama
Coriolanus review – David Oyelowo keeps you waiting and Es Devlin’s design is to die for
‘You become addicted to pressure’: Rufus Norris on success, stress and the National Theatre’s survival
A Face in the Crowd review – cautionary tale of the creation of a Trump-lite TV star
Waiting for Godot review – Beckett’s classic tragicomedy is more comedic than tragic
A Raisin in the Sun review – stirring drama of a family confronting segregation
‘I filed my copy from Waterloo station loos’: the Guardian’s theatre critics assess The Critic
The Real Ones review – fascinating friendship zooms through decades
Why Am I So Single? review – dating debacles from the duo behind Six
Our Country’s Good review – Timberlake Wertenbaker revises penal colony epic for a new world
V&A celebrates a century of national theatre archive with tribute to avid collector
The Band Back Together review – witty reflections on youth and middle-age
