stage
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Burning Doors review – Pussy Riot member's charged stories of persecutionMaria Alyokhina’s dramatisation of artists targeted by Putin is most powerful when it evokes the dark political farce of Pinter
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Her Name Was Carmen review – stunningly inappropriateSt Petersburg Ballet’s take on the refugee crisis is undone by poor plotting, weak choreography and some astonishingly ill-judged costumes -
Plan your week’s theatreMaxine Peake arrives as Blanche DuBois in Manchester, Maria Aberg’s Doctor Faustus is at the Barbican and the Tron tells of the life of Holocaust survivor Alice Herz-Sommer -
Democracy review – Blair-era drama as colourless as a section of the Berlin WallRapture’s flat production of Michael Frayn’s 2003 play has more the stagy air of Yes, Prime Minister than the the sharpness of House of Cards
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The fringe messiah making a cabaret of ChristianityTriple Threat, Lucy McCormick’s Nutella’n’snogging take on the New Testament, has graduated seamlessly from the queer scene to mainstream theatre. But it’s as much an attack on celebrity culture as religion
talking points
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Our path to success isn't available to theatre's next generationThe theatre renegades have spent 10 years rising through the ranks. But the spaces where they cut their teeth are ‘going dark’
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State-of-the-nation dramas can’t capture the lost state of Britain todayJohn Osborne’s classic allegory The Entertainer is back. But the UK is now so fragmented that no modern playwright could pen a drama to sum up who we are
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Amy Schumer throws sexist heckler out of Stockholm showComedian posts video of herself dealing with man who yelled ‘Show us your tits’ during performance in Swedish capital
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'I just couldn't play female roles'One of the first young transgender performers in UK musical theatre talks about singing in the gender-bending first world war show Brass and the support of his parents who are both priests
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Ayesha Dharker as Titania: ‘The forgeries of jealousy’Ayesha Dharker plays Titania, the queen of the fairies, in a scene from A Midsummer Night’s Dream
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Paterson Joseph as Shylock: 'You call me misbeliever'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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Joanna Vanderham as Juliet: ‘The mask of night is on my face’Joanna Vanderham performs Juliet’s speech from the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet
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Daniel Mays as Macbeth: 'Is this a dagger which I see before me?'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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Zawe Ashton as Jaques in As You Like It: ‘All the world’s a stage’ – videoJaques’s speech about the seven ages of man from As You Like It is performed by Zawe Ashton
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David Threlfall as Prospero: 'Our revels now are ended'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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Jump to it: the must-see dance shows this autumnAkram Khan unleashes a radical Giselle, the Alvin Ailey company bring a hip-hop battle and secret choreographers keep audiences guessing at Dance Umbrella
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Young people think sex comes to a screeching halt at 32The Will and Grace star on writing songs about genitals and baring all on stage about the blissful – and highly sexed – state of her union with Parks & Recreation actor Nick Offerman
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The finest comedy of autumn 2016Brexit, starting over, a honey-selling scam and karaoke with chickens … these are the concerns of the big names in comedy this autumn
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Amy Schumer – sex, neuroses and gun control from a sure-footed starShe may be negotiating the move from everygirl to A-lister, but Schumer is truly at home on stage, hilarious on pills, guns – and even the odd heckler
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Richard Gadd wins Edinburgh comedy awardScottish standup picks up top prize, while Scott Gibson is named best newcomer
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The best theatre of autumn 2016Will Maxine Peake sizzle as Streetcar’s southern belle? Can Glenda Jackson crack King Lear? And will Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart beat their Beckett?
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'I should have been arrested for overacting'Our How We Staged Shakespeare series ends with the celebrated actor explaining why he keeps coming back to the much-misunderstood role of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice
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Fela Kuti, a Glasgow nightclub and the drama of the ladies’ loosAdura Onashile’s new play, Expensive Shit, takes place in two toilets – one in Glasgow and the other at Fela’s legendary Lagos club. She talks about her bathroom-sink drama
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How does Minchin's musical compare to the movie?Bill Murray’s deadpan misanthrope is now a jock belting out showstoppers. So does this stage replay bring new shine to the quirky love story – or kill a classic?
from the archive
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Look back in wonderLondon’s powerhouse of new writing is celebrating its 60th birthday. Explore some of the Sloane Square theatre’s key productions through extracts from the Guardian and Observer archive, alongside new recollections from Wole Soyinka, Ann Jellicoe, Amanda Redman, Sally Hawkins and others
pictures & video
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Hamlet's poisonous family reunionRonni Ancona’s Gertrude serves up a bloody homecoming dinner down the Prince of Denmark pub in the seventh of the British Council films for Shakespeare Lives 2016
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How I made an impression on Alistair McGowan and Rory BremnerAnt and Dec? Perpetual laughter. Boris Johnson? Strangle the vowels. Andy Murray? Just growl. Alistair McGowan and Rory Bremner try and make a mimic of Stephen Moss
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Isy Suttie's six tips for meeting The Actual OneHow should you act when you come face-to-face with a potential partner? Make sure you’re brutally honest. Isy Suttie and Stephen Wight demonstrate six ways to check your compatibility
you may have missed
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Read a new play by James GrahamIn a new play written for the Guardian, the award-winning writer of political smashes This House and The Vote, goes inside the Brexit bunker as its sweaty-palmed task force prepares to trigger Article 50
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Blinded by Sylvie Guillem's knickers Dancers and Strictly stars' missteps