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Ahead of the theatrical debut of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – the latest story in the Potter saga and the first on stage – new portraits of the characters have been revealed
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Jonathon Young and Crystal Pite collaborate to turn a traumatising experience into riveting drama and virtuosic dance
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Patrick Jones’s play is as messy as life can be, but its honest, unsentimental approach and terrific cast ensure it strikes directly at the heart
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Jeremy Corbyn, pervy sexual tension, tiny horned hamsters... improv comedy star Greg Proops is used to chucking anything into the mix. As he begins a London run of Whose Line Is It Anyway?, he reveals the show’s secret sauce
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Two outwardly confident school friends share a secret in Charlene James’s drama exploring the of betrayal involved in UK female genital mutilation
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Lesley Manville as a post-punk shepherdess, Juliet Stevenson in pinstripes and a forest of silk … the designer behind the RSC’s As You Like It in 1985 explains his approach to the plays
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The adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’s modern classic couldn’t survive in a competitive theater landscape where only the very best is good enough
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Globe theatre’s chief and deputy head of RSC disagree over merits of editing Bard’s work to make it more relatable
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Season comprising Julius Caesar, Henry IV and The Tempest to be staged at 420-seat venue next to King’s Cross station
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Damian Lewis performs Antony’s funeral oration for Julius Caesar from act III, scene 2 of Shakespeare’s tragedy
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In a speech taken from the first scene of All’s Well That Ends Well, Sacha Dhawan’s Parolles stresses the importance of losing one’s virginity
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Daniel Mays speaks Macbeth’s lines from Act II, Scene 1, in which he sees a murder weapon in a hallucination
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David Threlfall speaks Prospero’s speech in which the sorcerer contemplates the end of life – and the playwright, perhaps, considers the end of his career
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Jaques’s speech about the seven ages of man from As You Like It is performed by Zawe Ashton
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Paterson Joseph speaks Shylock’s lines from The Merchant of Venice, in which the moneylender reminds Antonio of the times he has insulted him
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The Olivier award-winning choreographer on working with Matthew Bourne, his creative process and his new production of Jekyll and Hyde
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I decided to liven up a lasagne by putting bananas in it
Kieran HodgsonFrom Not The Nine O’Clock News to Anchorman, the standup reveals the things he finds the funniest -
Will Adamsdale, Lloyd Hutchinson and Brian Logan find themselves trapped inside a gag in a piece that pays homage to the theatrical imagination
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I cut all my hair off the same year I got braces
Katherine RyanFrom Garbage to Funny Girls, the comedian reveals the things she finds the funniest -
David Baddiel airs his own family’s failings, Bridget Christie grapples with a Motörhead vibrator, there’s a raft of improv – and Mr Swallow recreates Houdini’s finest escape
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Lily James’s Juliet has a boozy balcony scene, Richard Madden’s Romeo seems genuinely inflamed by love and Derek Jacobi is a lounge-lizard Mercutio
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The star recalls how appearing in Phyllida Lloyd’s all-female Julius Caesar gave her the confidence to write her own play
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Japanese theatre director who harmonised the traditions of east and west in his productions of Shakespeare, Ibsen and Euripides
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In Lola Arias’s new theatre piece, those who fought on opposing sides of the conflict explore their memories together
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Here are 10 striking stage directions – can you identify the plays they're taken from?
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Are you a titan of the theatre or have the fates abandoned you? As the Almeida puts on a festival inspired by Dionysus, test your knowledge of Greek drama
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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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Many of Shakespeare's lines are used in daily life – but do you know which plays feature these popular expressions?
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The public struggle to keep in step with politicians during the financial crisis. A microplay written by Tim Price, directed by Hamish Pirie and choreographed by Ann Yee, after a conversation with Aditya Chakrabortty
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In this archive video, filmed in 2015, Alan Rickman remembers visiting the Royal Court as a teenager and taking Rachel Corrie’s parents to see the play based on their daughter’s diaries
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This is England star Vicky McClure is possessed by evil in this nightmarish manga take on Macbeth, the fourth of the British Council’s films for Shakespeare Lives 2016, a global programme celebrating William Shakespeare on the 400th anniversary of his death
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From Hogwarts robes to Hermione’s wand: take a look at some of the designs for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which begins previews at the Palace theatre, London, in June
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Cathy Marston displays a novelist’s touch in layering characters in her wonderfully choreographed show for Northern Ballet
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Sarah Frankcom Turning the Royal Exchange into a northern powerhouse