Theatre Lockdown Special 1: Starry podcasts, late-career Shakespeare, a celebrity basement - and more

THEATRE LOCKDOWN SPECIAL 1: Theatre buffs have no shortage of scintillating options during our ongoing shut-in

Theatre buffs have no shortage of scintillating options during our ongoing shut-in

The lockdown has been extended, but here's the good news: each week whereby we are shut inside seems to bring with it ever-enticing arrays of theatre from across the spectrum, from online cabarets to freshly conceived podcasts and all manner of archival offerings of tites both familiar and not. Below is an unscientific sampling of items of interest to look out for either at the moment or during the week ahead.

Drawing the Line, Hampstead Theatre online review - modern history becomes dark farce

★★★★ DRAWING THE LINE, HAMPSTEAD THEATRE Howard Brenton's play offers a lucid account of the Partition of India

Howard Brenton's play offers a lucid account of the Partition of India

This week’s gem from the Hampstead’s vaults is Howard Brenton’s political drama from 2013, telling the extraordinary, stranger-than-fiction story of Cyril Radcliffe and his 1947 mission: to arrange the Partition of India in just five weeks.

Wonderland, Hampstead Theatre online review - a major play about the miners

★★★★ WONDERLAND, HAMPSTEAD THEATRE A major play about the miners

Beth Steel award-winner makes for muscular, eerily apposite fare

The talk is of an “economy in ruin [with] unemployment through the roof”: a précis of Britain in lockdown? In fact, this is one of the many eerily apposite remarks to be found in Wonderland, the Beth Steel drama set in the early 1980s that marks the second in the Hampstead Theatre’s sequence of three productions streamed across as many weeks: Howard Brenton’s Drawing the Line comes next, and last.

Wild, Hampstead Theatre online review - timelier than anticipated

★★★ WILD, HAMPSTEAD THEATRE ONLINE Mike Bartlett's 2016 play chimes with our topsy-turvy times

Mike Bartlett's 2016 play chimes with our topsy-turvy times

“The whole world is just tilting at the moment,” we’re told near the end of Wild, the Mike Bartlett play from summer 2016 that is available (through Sunday) online to help get us through these wild times right now.

The Haystack, Hampstead Theatre review - a chilling surveillance state thriller

★★★ THE HAYSTACK, HAMPSTEAD THEATRE A chilling surveillance state thriller

This flawed but trenchant new spy drama asks who's watching the watchers

With counter-terrorism an urgent concern – and specifically how best to find, track and use the data of suspected threats, without sacrificing our privacy and civil liberties – it’s excellent timing for a meaty drama about the surveillance state.

The Tyler Sisters, Hampstead Theatre Downstairs review – raucous celebration of sisterhood

★★★★ THE TYLER SISTERS, HAMPSTEAD THEATRE DOWNSTAIRS Raucous celebration of sisterhood

Quick-witted new play tackles a sibling bond in snapshots over 40 years

The Tyler sisters start as they mean to go on: bickering. Middle sister Gail (Bryony Hannah) has come home from uni to find that youngest Katrina (Angela Griffin) has stolen her room. “What about Maddy’s? Why didn’t you take that?” Gail snaps. “She’s in it,” Katrina points out. “I am in it, to be fair,” confirms eldest Maddy (Caroline Faber), trying her best not to take sides. “I am actually in it.”

Ravens: Spassky vs. Fischer, Hampstead Theatre review - it's game over for this chess play

★★ RAVENS: SPASSKY VS. FISCHER, HAMPSTEAD THEATRE Game over for chess play

The Cold War 'Match of the Century' fails to translate into compelling drama

We’ve had Chess the musical; now, here’s Chess the play. Tom Morton-Smith, who has experience wrestling recent history into dramatic form with the acclaimed Oppenheimer, turns his attention to the 1972 World Chess Championship in Reykjavík, in which American challenger Bobby Fischer battled the Soviet Union’s Boris Spassky.

Botticelli in the Fire, Hampstead Theatre review - history mash-up burns bright

Jordan Tannahill's queering of Renaissance art is riotously vulgar and unapologetic

Botticelli is a household name, but who knows the true story behind his most famous painting? The painter's 1480s masterpiece, The Birth of Venus, is one of the most striking images of Renaissance Florence – and has achieved iconic status. Because it has been minutely dissected by generations of art historians, it takes a bold playwright to smash through the scholarship and give a memorably fresh, in not necessarily accurate, account of its commissioning. Enter Jordan Tannahill, the Canadian polymath whose work spans theatre, film, dance, novels and everything else.

Either, Hampstead Theatre review - funny, ingenious investigation of gender and love

★★★★ EITHER, HAMPSTEAD THEATRE Funny, ingenious investigation of gender and love

First-time playwright Ruby Thomas is a daring and exciting new voice

This ingenious short work deftly investigates themes of love and identity with a breezy assurance that marks first time playwright, Ruby Thomas, out as a daring and exciting new voice.