stage
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The fast-rising Color Purple actor lamented the lack of opportunity for black women on screen in an interview with the New York Times
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Backstage at Hackney Empire’s pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk
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Radical hip-hop history, reinvented modern classics and emotive musicals led a wave of innovative and poignant plays on and off-Broadway
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The year brought radical rethinkings of Chekhov and Beckett, superior Shakespeares and new plays that were daring, engaging and powerful
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It may not have the most sophisticated narrative, but this tale of Santa looking for a polar bear pal is an engaging and funny Christmas treat
talking points
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Black actor Noma Dumezweni has been cast as Hogwarts’ brainiest pupil in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. The decision is a welcome challenge to the assumption that heroes are white by default
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Paying buttons? That’s behind you as some productions bring in 3D effects and real horses
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The actor, currently appearing in Queen Anne, talks about making her RSC debut and searching for complicated characters
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Imelda Staunton bustled brilliantly through Gypsy and Shaw’s Superman soared. But it’s a celebrity hangman who tops our theatre critic’s pick of this year’s best shows
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Wayne McGregor distilled the essence of Virginia Woolf while others tackled Milton and Samuel Beckett, and the beauty of maturity found champions in Alessandra Ferri and Sylvie Guillem
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From newfound political awareness to the resurgence of mime, 2015’s comedy landscape was bumpy but invigorating
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Ganesh, Odin and Princess Diana substitute for the three wise men in Pascoe’s endearingly silly, variety-pack Christmas play
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Bridget Christie was belligerent, Doug Stanhope was savage, and Nish Kumar was reborn a rightwinger. But a touching show about Lance Armstrong wins our critic’s best comedy of 2015
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The Indian-American comic on making British audiences uncomfortable, losing out at the Grammys and redefining Americanness
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The actor recently stepped into Penny Skinner’s play Linda when Kim Cattrall was forced to cancel. She talks about ageing, single motherhood and script-cramming
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Josie Rourke directs a fine revival of Christopher Hampton’s adaptation, where two jealousy-fuelled aristocrats stumble into the confusions of true love
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David Greig’s anarchic take on the ecological analogy – where greed increases the need for ‘thneeds’ – is full of verbal wit and social purpose
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Peter Brook calls him a ‘superb artisan’ and his classic Cet Enfant has been celebrated for its uncompromising look at family life. Now, Joël Pommerat is reviving a Pinocchio that startles adults and children
polls & quizzes
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The hit QI podcast No Such Thing As a Fish separates quite interesting facts from quite impossible ones. But can you tell which of these statements are true or false?
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Broadway sensation, TV detective and three-time Oscar nominee Angela Lansbury turns 90 in October. See if you can detect the correct answers in our quiz
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Sometimes the description of a character in the stage directions says as much as lines of dialogue. Do you recognise these eight figures as described by the playwrights who created them?
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Thirty years ago today, Les Misérables had its official London opening. Test your knowledge of the show
pictures & video
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Royal Ballet principal ballerina Lauren Cuthbertson prepares for her opening performance of the classic Christmas production The Nutcracker
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As the spy thriller Hapgood is revived at Hampstead theatre, Tom Stoppard talks about his drama of doubles and deception – and how John le Carré redefined espionage fiction
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Robert Lindsay, John Simm, Susannah Fielding and others get ready to make an entrance in these exclusive photographs by Matt Humphrey
you may have missed
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She was Rudolf Nureyev’s greatest protege and he nurtured her to stardom. Now, after four decades, Guillem is to retire. She talks about her fights, faults and fears
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popular
Bah, humbug! How Christmas theatre is turning off the twinkle