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Theatre

Evening Standard column

Henry Hitchings

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The King's Speech

The King's Speech, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre - review

While it's easy to quibble about whether a stage version of The King's Speech is necessary, the results are satisfying

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Absent Friends, Harold Pinter Theatre - review

First night: Absent Friends makes grief funny - a rare feat. And although Alan Ayckbourn's 1974 play is a period piece, its sharp understanding of psychology feels up-to-date

The Heresy of Love, The Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon - review

While too many scenes are earnestly loquacious, there's power in Helen Edmundson's positive feminist vision of Juana Inés de la Cruz

Masterclass, Vaudeville - review

This is exactly what the title says: the occasion for a magisterial and classy performance from Tyne Daly as the wildly popular soprano Maria Callas

Sex With a Stranger, Trafalgar Studios - review

First night: Phillip Breen's intimate production is absorbing and the committed performances make this a satisfying, unsettling experience

Angle: Repentance / Behind the Lines - review

Angle is a theatre company which sets out to discovers new playwrights, developing and presenting work by previously unheard voices

The Changeling, Young Vic - review

First night: Jam, jelly and custard do not usually play a large part in The Changeling. The opening night shows a messy approach to a tale of tragedy and vengeance

The Pitchfork Disney, Arcola - review

Ridley's writing delights in metaphor and is often intriguing, yet it's rather too effortfully enigmatic. Ultimately the surrealism and operatic gestures feel punishing

She Stoops to Conquer, National (Olivier) - review

First night: She Stoops To Conquer is almost 240 years old, but Oliver Goldsmith's tightly plotted play seems wonderfully youthful in this fizzy production

Port Authority, Southwark Playhouse - review

Despite flashes of lyricism and humour this production doesn't grip us. Although McPherson's piece is inherently static, the decision to seat the actors in front of an array of empty crates emphasises the lack of vitality

The House of Bernarda Alba, Almeida - review

In Bijan Sheibani's production of Federico García Lorca's final play, the action has been transposed from rural Spain to Iran. It's a decision that feels wilful

The Trial of Ubu, Hampstead Theatre - review

First night: Courtroom drama is always popular, and Simon Stephens subverts the conventions of the genre in this sharply contemporary piece, inventively directed by Katie Mitchell

Travelling Light, The National, Lyttelton - review

First night: Nicholas Wright's unabashedly sentimental piece is replete with folksy humour and features a commanding performance from Antony Sher

Our New Girl, Bush Theatre - review

First night: Our New Girl is a piquant satire on middle-class neuroses that's also an odd and riveting picture of the pitfalls of parenting

Lovesong, Lyric - review

First night: Abi Morgan is chilli-hot right now - and here the writer of The Iron Lady, Shame and The Hour makes a welcome return to the theatre, collaborating with Frantic Assembly on a tender love story

The Art of Concealment, Jermyn Street Theatre - review

2011 was the year of Terence Rattigan, so this new piece about the playwright seems a touch late. But it had a short run in Brighton last May and deserves the wider audience that it should find at the ambitious Jermyn Street Theatre

Huis Clos, Trafalgar Studios 2 - review

Paul Hart's prickly production of Jean-Paul Sartre's most famous play is theatre at its most claustrophobic and punishing, and many will find it hard work

Fog, Finborough - review

Fog is an intriguing collaboration between Tash Fairbanks, an experienced playwright now in her sixties, and Toby Wharton, a 27-year-old actor who has previously dabbled in being a grime MC

Stones in His Pockets, Tricycle - review

This deftly choreographed revival by Indhu Rubasingham, who will take over as artistic director of the Tricycle Theatre in May, it has real political bite

Swallows and Amazons, Vaudeville - review

Tom Morris played a significant part in the success of War Horse. Now, as artistic director of Bristol Old Vic, he's struck gold again with this inventive and enjoyable adaptation of Arthur Ransome's classic Swallows and Amazons

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Theatre top five
Matilda The Musical
Matilda: The Musical

Cambridge Theatre

Earlham Street, WC2H 9HU

Rating: 5 out of 5
The Comedy Of Errors

National Theatre

SE1 9PX

Rating: 4 out of 5
Hamlet

Young Vic

The Cut, SE1 8LZ

Rating: 4 out of 5
The Ladykillers

Gielgud Theatre

Shaftesbury Avenue, W1D 6AR

Rating: 4 out of 5
Noises Off

Old Vic

The Cut, SE1 8NB

Rating: 4 out of 5