A Number, Bridge Theatre review - a dream team dazzles anew

★★★★ A NUMBER, BRIDGE THEATRE A dream team dazzles anew

Roger Allam and Colin Morgan refashion Caryl Churchill's contemporary classic

There are any number of ways to perform A Number, Caryl Churchill’s bleak and beautiful play about a father and three of who knows how many of his genetically cloned sons. Since it first opened at the Royal Court in 2002, this hourlong two-hander has been staged in London with some regularity, as often as not with actual fathers and sons (Tim and Sam West, John and Lex Shrapnel).

The Stranger, Netflix review - strong cast grapples with labyrinthine plotting

★★★ THE STRANGER, NETFLIX Adaptation of Harlan Coben's novel is improbable but watchable

Adaptation of Harlan Coben's novel is improbable but watchable

This eight-part mystery from Netflix is based on the titular novel by American writer Harlan Coben, who has formed a production company with Rochdale’s own Nicola Schindler, the production brains behind Happy Valley, Last Tango in Halifax and many more.

Sex Education, Series 2, Netflix review - the teen sex show we deserved

★★★★ SEX EDUCATION, SERIES 2, NETFLIX The teen sex show we deserved

Happy Valentines: this humdrum holiday is the perfect occasion to stream the most affirming sex comedy in years

Netflix’s Sex Education has returned to our screens and streams. The show made waves last year for its refreshing take on the teen comedy-drama. It took on abortion, consent and female pleasure — subjects strikingly absent from our actual high school educations.

Jen Brister, Soho Theatre review - parenting, privilege and porn under scrutiny

Domestic anecdotes and political insights

Jen Brister loves her five-year-old twin boys, she is at pains to tell us, even when they have a major meltdown and, like Little Lord Fauntleroys, refuse to eat broken biscuits. Stories like these are sprinkled throughout her new show, Under Privilege, in which she describes trying to instil proper values in children who, she hopes, will probably never know any life struggles, and the broader issue of what privilege is.

Albion, Almeida Theatre review - more rewarding and resonant than ever

★★★★ ALBION, ALMEIDA THEATRE Mike Bartlett's play has deepened in accordance with our divisive times

Mike Bartlett's play has deepened in accordance with our divisive times

It's not been three years since Albion premiered at the Almeida Theatre, since which time Brexit has happened and, not without coincidence, Mike Bartlett's time-specific play is beginning to look like one for the ages. Set amongst a community in physical and psychic limbo, Bartlett takes the pulse of a people, and a nation, at odds with themselves.

Endgame/Rough for Theatre II, Old Vic review - Beckett played for laughs

★★★ ENDGAME / ROUGH FOR THEATRE II, OLD VIC Beckett played for laughs

Alan Cumming and Daniel Radcliffe lead a lively double bill

“Nothing is funnier than unhappiness.” Director Richard Jones has certainly taken Beckett’s words to heart in this vividly comic, star-cast Old Vic double bill, pairing Endgame with a lesser-known short play – which acts as a sort of stylistic and thematic amuse bouche.

Plus One review - charm, yes, but irritation too

★★★ PLUS ONE Charm, yes, but irritation too

Jack Quaid pushes romcom up a bumpy hill

The fast-rising young actor Jack Quaid comes naturally by the ease with which he takes to Plus One, a modern-day inheritor of the sorts of romcoms his mum, Meg Ryan, used to do alongside Tom Hanks. Playing a damagingly choosy singleton called Ben who realises that love has been staring him in the face all along, Quaid lends undeniable charm to a movie that often pushes back hard against it.

Faustus: That Damned Woman, Lyric Hammersmith review - gender swap yields muddled results

Chris Bush's retelling has feminist urgency, but lacks dramatic coherence

Changing the gender of the title character “highlights the way in which women still operate in a world designed by and for men,” argues Chris Bush, whose reimagining of Marlowe’s play premieres at the Lyric ahead of a UK tour.