Gary Naylor

Ardent Theatre Company focuses on Britain's forgotten twentysomethings - and not just for the plot

It’s easy to forget that, while we all know that theatres have four walls, they also have two doors. The one we all know has bright lights, glossy playbills, a welcoming foyer and, sometimes, a queue for a bag search, that mark of 21st century life. But where is the other? Hard to find, hard to get past a code pad for entry / scowling guard and hard to know what to do even if you’ve cleared those hurdles. You guessed it, it’s all a bit on the nose as a metaphor for breaking into theatre as a career.

A touch of Grand Guignol and a soupçon of French farce can't land a show whose style swamps its substance

Olly Hawes excavates the anxieties of a man adrift in a hostile and confusing life

An evening of contrasting pieces, leading to a conclusion about the need to connect

Lovely intimate adaptation of immensely popular novel is a pleasing diversion in these troubled times

Recently, on the north coast of Ireland, I had lunch in a seaside bar. Outside, the wind howled, sunshine and rain were locked in a battle for supremacy and the sky was too big. I knew that feeling, as I had grown up by the sea with sandhills at the top of the road. It was ‘other’ to the adult version of me, but familiar to the childhood person. I’ve always understood that these edges are liminal spaces in which things change quickly and much (too much) is contingent.

A confession. It’s a guilty pleasure of mine to read the death notices on Wikipedia - I am my mother’s son after all and, without the columns of classifieds in the Liverpool Echo, where else is there to look?

Afro-Caribbean theatre company lend their own flavour to a universal tale of the dangers of political misjudgement and hubris

Theatre beyond London proves varied and interesting

Bleak, yet hopeful, drama/dance hybrid gives food for thought

Song, dance and colours light up the grim USSR

Looking for a New England? Here's Dondonia

A shameful event in Eurpean history is recalled and set within its tragic context

Technically unsurpassed, but is there a chill where its soul should be?

Adrian Lester is an astonishing presence in a new version of an enduring tale

If you liked Evita at the Palladium, you'll like Carmen at the Coliseum

Synergy Theatre Projectt's commission hits hard, but will it hit the right people?

Fragmented and frightening, the commitment of the work carries the production

A true crime story that offers hope as well as tragedy