'Master Harold' ... and the Boys, National Theatre review - timelessly moving

★★★★ 'MASTER HAROLD'...AND THE BOYS, NATIONAL THEATRE Timelessly moving

Athol Fugard's 1982 self-exorcism is searingly revived

Time has been kind to Athol Fugard's "Master Harold"...and the Boys. It's a stealth bomb of a play that I saw in its world premiere production in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1982 and that has been a regular part of my playgoing life ever since. Yes, the apartheid-era South Africa that Fugard dissects with terrifying force has been dismantled, and we live in (supposedly) more enlightened times.

Chiaroscuro, Bush Theatre review - music, sweet, sweet music

★★★ CHIAROSCURO, BUSH THEATRE Lively revival of a 1980s account of the black lesbian experience

Lively gig theatre revival of a 1980s account of the black lesbian experience

Identity politics has been around for decades. One of the great things about the Bush Theatre in West London is the fact that it not only stages new plays by a diverse range of playwrights, but also successful recent revivals of modern classics such as Winsome Pinnock's Leave Taking and Caryl Phillips's Strange Fruit.

The Secret River, National Theatre review - turbulent tale of Australia's past

★★★★ THE SECRET RIVER, NATIONAL THEATRE Turbulent tale of Australia's past

A resonant tragedy of mutual incomprehension, fresh from the Edinburgh Festival

Neil Armfield’s resonant, turbulent production of Kate Grenville’s classic Australian novel The Secret River sing out from the stage of the Olivier like an epic, with its conflicts, culture clashes, and quest for new territories.

Appropriate, Donmar Warehouse review - fraught family reunion blisteringly told

★★★★ APPROPRIATE, DONMAR WAREHOUSE Fraught family reunion blisteringly told

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s 2013 play is tensely dark, as well as very funny

You can’t fail to feel the ghosts in Appropriate at the Donmar Warehouse: they are there in the very timbers of the ancient Southern plantation house that is the setting for Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s fraught – and often very funny – family drama.

Once on This Island, Southwark Playhouse review - folkloric Caribbean musical charms

★★★ ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, SOUTHWARK PLAYHOUSE Class, calypso and warring gods feature in this enthusiastic revival

Class, calypso and warring gods feature in this enthusiastic revival

As British summer really kicks in (umbrellas at the ready), our thoughts might turn fondly to the sunny Caribbean. Good timing, then, for the return of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty’s 1990 musical set in the French Antilles.

Who Do You Think You Are? - Naomie Harris, BBC One review - shocks old and new

★★★★ WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? - NAOMIE HARRIS, BBC ONE Shocks old and new

Naomie Harris's fascinating story stretched back to Caribbean slavery

This episode of the celebrity genealogy show began with footage of Naomie Harris at Ian Fleming's former home in Jamaica, where she was helping launch Bond 25 (to be released next year), in which she is playing Moneypenny for the third time. It was a fitting location, as Harris’s folks hail from the Caribbean; her mother was born in Jamaica and her father's family are from Trinidad via Grenada.

Blues in the Night, Kiln Theatre review - hard times, hot tunes

★★★★ BLUES IN THE NIGHT, KILN THEATRE Sharon D Clarke leads a steamy, soulful musical revue

Sharon D Clarke leads a steamy, soulful musical revue

It’s too darn hot, BoJo is in Downing Street, and we’re all going to Brexit hell – so we might as well sing the blues. Or at least take a night off from the apocalypse to enjoy a virtuoso company singing them for us in this rousing revival of Sheldon Epps’ 1980 musical revue, which showcases jazz greats like Bessie Smith, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen.