LAST NIGHT: The Entertainer starring Kenneth Branagh

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHERE: Garrick Theatre

WHEN: 12/11

The Kenneth Branagh Company’s year-long run of six plays at the Garrick Theatre closed tonight on its highest high with its star taking the lead in The Entertainer.

  • Read on for reasons including Greta Scacci’s amazing turn

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THEATRE REVIEW: Dead Funny starring Katherine Parkinson

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHERE: Vaudeville Theatre

WHEN: 2/11, runs to 4/2/17

This consistently joyous revival of Terry Johnson’s 1994 hit comedy is notable for including the second example of full-frontal male nudity we’ve seen in London theatreland in less than a week.

  • Read on for reasons including a fabulously camp supporting role by the League of Gentleman’s Steve Pemberton

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THEATRE REVIEW: King Lear starring Glenda Jackson

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHERE: Old Vic

WHEN: 28/10, runs to 3/12

How long is too long in the theatre? It’s a question which crosses our mind during this three-hour-and-45-minute production with one 15-minute interval.

  • Read on for reasons including 80-year-old Glenda Jackson’s gender-blind casting triumph

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THEATRE REVIEW: Lazarus starring Michael C. Hall, Amy Lennox and Sophia Anne Caruso

WORTH A LOOK?: **

WHERE: King’s Cross Theatre

WHEN: 27/10, runs to 22/1/17

The original cast recording of this show already sits at number 8 in this week’s midweek album charts as we take our seats for this third preview in a new temporary 800-seat King’s Cross Theatre venue.

  • Read on for reasons including Sophia Anne Caruso’s beautifully realised Girl

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THEATRE REVIEW: The intelligent homosexual’s guide to capitalism and socialism with a key to the Scriptures

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHERE: Hampstead Theatre

WHEN: 19/10, runs to 26/11

We missed the third act of this three-and-a-half hour epic after receiving some bad news in the second interval.

  • Read on for the highlights of the first two hours of this UK premiere

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THEATRE REVIEW: Shopping & F***ing

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHERE?: Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith

WHEN: 15/10 (matinee), runs to 5/11

Author Mark Ravenhill was co-creator of ITV sitcom Vicious and this was his first play, now 21 years old, which caused quite the stir in the 90s.

  • Read on for the lowdown on whether Shopping and F***ing stands up two decades later

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THEATRE REVIEW: Oil starring Anne-Marie Duff

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHERE: Almeida

WHEN: 7/10, press night 14/10, runs to 26/11

We last saw Anne-Marie Duff in Husbands and Sons at the National earlier this year where she gave a gritty northern performance that will be tough to be bettered this year and which brings us here to one of our favourite theatres and a first preview of a new play we’ve been excited about for months.

  • Read on for all the gossip about Carrie Cracknell’s exploration of the mother/daughter relationship

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THEATRE REVIEW: The Dresser starring Reece Shearsmith and Ken Stott

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHERE: Duke Of York’s Theatre

WHEN?: 8/10, runs to 14/1

Ronald Harwood’s 1980 play is based on his experiences as dresser to English Shakespearean actor-manager Sir Donald Wolfit, who is the model for the character Sir.

  • Read on for details of how the TV version of this play won a best actor monsta

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