Preludes, Southwark Playhouse review - journeying into the mind of Rachmaninoff

★★★★ PRELUDES, SOUTHWARK PLAYHOUSE Journeying into the mind of Rachmaninoff

Dave Malloy's innovative musical immerses us in a creative crisis

Where does music come from? That’s the vital question posed to Sergei Rachmaninoff in Dave Malloy’s extraordinary 2015 chamber work, as the great late-Romantic Russian composer – stuck in his third year of harrowing writer’s block – tries to relocate his gift. It comes from others and from himself; from past and present; from everything and nothing. It is ephemeral, and yet it is at the core of his very being.

Suicidal: In Our Own Words, Channel 5 review - why are so many men killing themselves?

★★★★ SUICIDAL: IN OUR OWN WORDS, CHANNEL 5 Why are so many men killing themselves?

Harrowing and heartbreaking documentary in which six male mental health patients open up

September 10 is World Suicide Prevention Day, and Channel 5 marked the occasion with this sobering documentary. Focusing on male suicide – incredibly, now the UK’s biggest killer of men under 45 – it studied six patients at the Riverside Mental Health Centre in Hillingdon, west London. The results were both harrowing and heartbreaking.

Fleabag, Wyndham's Theatre review - superb swansong for modern classic

★★★★★ FLEABAG, WYNDHAM'S Final outing for Phoebe Waller-Bridge as her iconic creation

Final outing for Phoebe Waller-Bridge as her iconic creation

We're saying goodbye to a much treasured friend. Fleabag will live on, of course – other actresses have and will inhabit the role – but Phoebe Waller-Bridge, its creator, has said this short run at Wyndham's Theatre is the last time she will perform the character on stage.

Alastair Campbell: Depression and Me, BBC Two review - is there an alternative to a life on anti-depressants?

★★★★ ALISTAIR CAMPBELL: DEPRESSION AND ME, BBC TWO Is there an alternative to a life on anti-depressants?

Former spin doctor explores solutions to his mental health issues

Persistent depression is debilitating and terrifying, as Alastair Campbell illustrated vividly in this punchily-argued film. We first saw him looking like a disturbed, miserable ghost, as he described in his video diary a sudden plunge into depression at New Year, 2018. He seemed to be ebbing away before our eyes.

David Harewood: Psychosis and Me, BBC Two review - actor confronts his painful past

★★★★ DAVID HAREWOOD: PSYCHOSIS AND ME, BBC TWO Actor confronts his painful past

The 'Homeland' star explores the mental health crisis he suffered in his twenties

In the week that the Jeremy Kyle show has been yanked permanently off air after the death of one of its vulnerable guests, the timing couldn’t have been better for the BBC to show how sensitively the old-school broadcaster handles contributors with mental health problems.

The Glass Piano, Print Room at The Coronet review – fascinating story undermined by absurdism

★★ THE GLASS PIANO, PRINT ROOM AT THE CORONET A fascinating story undermined by absurdism

The production's levity eviscerates the underpinning emotional realities

Often the greatest works of dramatic absurdism spring from the worst extremes of human experience, whether it’s Ionesco’s Rhinoceros responding to fascism, or Havel’s The Garden Party satirising the irrational cruelties of Prague’s Soviet occupiers.

Minding the Gap review – profound musings on life

★★★★★ MINDING THE GAP Profound musings on life

Don’t be deceived, this skateboarding documentary is a heartbreaking classic

Where would you go for a devastating study on the human condition? The home movies of teenage skaters would be very low down on that list. But most of those movies aren’t filmed, compiled and analysed by Bing Liu, the director of Minding the Gap. Perfectly balancing perspective and curiosity, it’s perhaps the most unexpected achievement on the year.

We're Staying Right Here, Park Theatre review - rough and not entirely ready

★★ WE'RE STAYING RIGHT HERE, PARK THEATRE Rough and not entirely ready

Mental distress takes centre-stage in metaphor-heavy play

We're Staying Right Here, Henry Devas's debut play premiering on the smaller of the Park Theatre's two stages, carries a trigger warning on the theatre website: "May be affective for people coping with mental health issues". There's also, we're told, "very strong language, simulated violence, flashing lights, and vaping".

The Son, Kiln Theatre review - darkly tragic

★★★★ THE SON, KILN THEATRE  Powerfully melodramatic

The final part of Florian Zeller's domestic trilogy is powerfully melodramatic

Well, you have to give it to French playwright Florian Zeller — he's certainly cracked the problem of coming up with a name for each of his plays. Basically, choose a common noun and put the definite article in front of it. His latest, The Son, is the last in a trilogy which includes The Father and The Mother.