Theatre

The 10 best plays of 2023

As theatre shakes off the long shadow of Covid, it is established regimes like Rupert Goold's that have fared best this year

Stranger Things: The First Shadow is a cash cow - but a mesmerising one

Theatre audiences are uptight - that's why we need 'relaxed performances'

Article thumbnail: ULSTER AMERICAN by Ireland, , Writer - David Ireland, Director - Jeremy Herrin, Designer - Max Jones, Lighting Designer - Oliver Fenwick, Riverside Studios, London, 2023, Credit: Johan Persson/ Provided by kate@breadandbutterpr.uk

Woody Harrelson is a force of nature - but Ulster American loses the plot

Fiona Mountford

Indhu Rubasingham's biggest National Theatre challenge is the most obvious one

Armando Iannucci's Boris Johnson satire Pandemonium isn't funny enough

Nick Cassenbaum

Why I wrote Britain's first Jewish pantomime

The Wind in the Willows at Shakespeare North Playhouse is charming but not very Christmassy

Annie Baker's Infinite Life is profound but too slow

My mum died a year ago. Can I face our annual Christmas theatre trip alone?