Theatre Lockdown Special 6: A prolific playwright, a timeless play, and speeches galore

THEATRE LOCKDOWN SPECIAL 6 A prolific playwright, a timeless play, and speeches galore

A popular American star vehicle and 'Alice in Wonderland' minute-by-minute figure among the cultural bounty during the week ahead

Can we really be entering a third month in lockdown? Indeed we can, and culture, thank heavens, shows no signs whatsoever of leaving us in the lurch. This week's lineup of highlights offers a typically electic bunch, ranging from two sizable American talents streaming a two-hander for one night only to the arrival online of the latest work from an octogenarian playwriting treasure, Sir Alan Ayckbourn, who ought to be more celebrated of late than he is.

Midnight Your Time, Donmar Warehouse online review – intimate and quietly moving

★★★★ MIDNIGHT YOUR TIME, DONMAR WAREHOUSE Intimate and quietly moving

Revival of 2011 HighTide hit reconceived for streaming stars Diana Quick

During lockdown, some of the best online theatre has been shows that are specially created for this digital format. Much better than dull records of dramas that might have worked well on stage, but now seem sadly moribund and exceedingly slow on the laptop screen.

Cuck review - tediously nihilistic

★★ CUCK Dispatch from Trump's America makes for a sullen and unrewarding slog

Dispatch from Trump's America makes for a sullen and unrewarding slog

Deep from the heart of Trumpland comes Cuck, a deeply unpleasant film about a totally repellent character. Directed and co-written by Rob Lambert, the film opened simultaneously last autumn in the States with Joker, with which it shares an overlapping interest in societal outsiders pushed to the brink and beyond by their pathologies.

Jane Eyre, National Theatre at Home review - a fiery feminist adaptation

★★★★ JANE EYRE, NATIONAL THEATRE A fiery feminist adaptation

Sally Cookson's take on Brontë is innately theatrical and ferociously resonant

The National Theatre’s online broadcasts got off to a storming start with One Man, Two Guvnors – watched by over 2.5 million people, either on the night or in the week since its live streaming, and raising around £66,000 in donations.

Mark Townsend: No Return review - a masterclass in journalism

★★★★★ MARK TOWNSEND: NO RETURN A masterclass in journalism

The propulsive story of five Brighton teenagers who became jihadis in Syria

When Amer Deghayes departed for Syria in a truck leaving from Birmingham, a worker from a youth arts organisation in Brighton had been trying to get in touch with him. She wanted to inform Amer, an intelligent and creative 18-year-old who had once harboured journalistic ambitions, that his pitch to develop a project about identity in his hometown had been successful. The Heritage Lottery fund had decided to award him £50,000.

Cyprus Avenue, Royal Court Theatre online review - a mind in mesmerising meltdown

Stephen Rea rivets once again in David Ireland play

One of the most blistering stage performances in recent memory gets a renewed lease on life with the streaming of the 2019 screen version, aired last autumn on BBC Four, of Cyprus Avenue, the David Ireland play in which Stephen Rea unravels to memorable and merciless effect.

Rumpelstiltskin, Sadler's Wells Digital Stage review - spins an engaging yarn for young audiences

★★★ RUMPELSTILTSKIN, SADLERS WELLS An engaging yarn for young audiences

balletLORENT provides a sunnier take on the the Brothers Grimm

The latest in Sadler’s Wells’ Digital Stage programme – an impressively assembled online offering to keep audiences entertained during the shutdown – is balletLORENT’s family-friendly dance-theatre production Rumpelstiltskin. It was streamed as a "matinee" on Friday afternoon, and is available to watch for free on