Adrian Bradley

The 2013 Bruntwood prize has proved to be a rich seam of writing talent. The latest of that cohort looks set to keep that going when Katherine Chandler's Bird receives its world premiere at Cardiff's Sherman theatre on May 13, before heading to Manchester's Royal Exchange, the home of the Bruntwood Prize, in June.

Green Day's American Idiot had the punk rock band's fans out in force for the band's rock opera - even if the staged version of the 2004 concept album was a little less than the sum of its parts.

Nearly two years after its Almeida premiere,  King Charles III has lost some of its topicalality - but none of its satirical punch as it continues its national tour in Manchester.

A perfume counter retail worker has won the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting with a piece of work she created for her dissertation at the Royal Central School for Speech and Drama. Katherine Soper's play Wish List took the honour at a ceremony at Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre.

Revived again, the touring favourite Hairspray is again packing out theatres across the country.  This new production delivers some impressive performances and a fun evening, if not quite living up to dancing in the aisles quality of the West End original.

Peter Darney's verbatim tale of chill-outs and sex parties - 5 Guys Chillin' makes an impressive transfer from the Brighton Fringe - and holds a mirror to some of the seedier parts of the party scene.

Camden's Invisible Dot Club brings its irreverent mix of stand-up and sketch comedy to the Manchester International Festival's central hub for the Invisible Dot Club Cabaret. But despite strong hosting from Mae Martin, it could not live up to high expectations set by The Invisible Dot Club.

Manchester's newest arts centre, HOME's inaugural contribution to the Manchester International Festival is Douglas Gordon's reworking of Little Red Riding Hood told as a piece of performance art. Neck of the Woods shows off all the capabilities of Homes intimate main theatre as it combines poetry, piano and design in this 80 minute fairy-tale.

It's twenty one years since Caryl Churchill's surrealist The Skriker first premiered at the National Theatre. This superb revival, one of the headline performances at the Manchester International Festival, highlights how this cautionary tale of environmental disaster has become more and more prescient as the global climate changes.

The Manchester International Festival returns on the 2nd July bringing the best in theatre, music and the arts into the heart of the Northern Powerhouse.  Ahead of the festival, Artistic Director of the Royal Exchange Theatre Sarah Frankcom spoke to BWW:UK about Manchester's thriving art scene, the Festival and working with Maxine Peake in her revival of Caryl Churchill's The Skriker.

10 years since its creation - The Royal Exchange Theatre's Bruntwood prize for Playwriting celebrated with a photo exhibition and the world premiere of one of 2013's winners - Chris Urch's The Rolling Stone. Urch's superb claustrophobic drama tells the love story of Sam and Dembe, in the backdrop of Uganda's witchhunt of LGBT people

Timed for the centenary of the First World War, Terry Johnson's revival of Oh! What A Lovely War still packs a serious satirical punch. It felt just as relevant and almost as hard hitting today as it would have done in 1963 - when it was first produced by Joan Littlewood at the Theatre Royal Stratford East.

BWW:UK gets exclusive access to the Manchester choir auditions for Godspell: The Broadway Revival in Concert. 11 regional choirs vied for three spots in Russell Scott's and Mark Pettit's touring production.

After wowing crowds and the Olivier Award judges, Top Hat is touring the country bringing its infectious enthusiasm and the spirit of Fred Astaire around the country. Manchester's Opera House theatre hosted the latest leg of this affectionate adaption of irving Berlin's 1935 film staring Astaire and his long time collaborator Ginger Rogers.

Domestic violence is a tough yet important topic for theatre to tackle. Iris, a new play by young writer Rebecca-Clare Evans, is the latest attempt to try and shine a light on the problem - but doesn't quite hit the mark.

David Mamet's Tony Award-winning Hollywood satire Speed The Plow is no stranger to stunt casting. Madonna played Karen, the temporary secretary with a dream of making a new kind of movie. So it is perhaps no surprise that producers cast troubled film star Lindsay Lohan in the role - but while it may get some bums on seats it has not made for entertaining theatre.

Jamie Lloyd's Trafalgar Transformed seasons are not just about renovating the look of a theatre. Lloyd wants the transformation to reach the audience too and deliver high quality theatre to new audiences. Halfway through his second Trafalgar Transformed season, BWW:UK was behind the scenes as the baton was handed over from the critically acclaimed Richard III to the cast of East is East, starring Jane Horrocks.

Conductor John Wilson talks to BWW:UK about his new show, Cole Porter in Hollywood, the great musicals of the 20th Century and having dinner with Stephen Sondheim.

Fully Committed was the production that put the derelict chocolate factory back on the map back in 2004. Now as the award winning theatre celebrates 10 years, Becky Mode's New York comedy is back to delight crowds once again.

The London Wonderground transports a piece of the Edinburgh Festival fringe to London's South bank. Miss Behave's Game Show is a raucous take on the late night cabaret genre