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A heartwarming, foot-tapping restorative

Pros: Peter Duncan captivates as a Panto Dame sparkling with allure and panache. As the limelight dies down, glad rags are shed and greasepaint is wiped off, vivid memories take centre-stage. Cons: A performer treads the boards, then succumbs to dressing room blues. It’s a lyrical but familiar story: underneath a wild grin, the tears of a clown. The Park Theatre, hidden right behind Finsbury Park station in North London, was glittering on a cold January night as cheerful crowds ...

Pros: Irvin Shaw’s 1936 expressionist play about the futility of war is brilliantly brought to life by director Rafaella Marcus. Cons: This excellent staging does its best with a slightly uneven work, though the last third feels very much of its time. There’s always a lovely sense of expectation, going up the stairs to the Finborough Theatre. While the pub has recently been modernised and lost its old school atmosphere, the theatre remains unchanged and is as evocative as ever. ...

A hilarious take on human foibles and the stories we tell ourselves about the world, Still No Idea will jolt you out of complacency just when you are crying with laughter.

Pros: A potted history of artistic life in early 20th century Vienna, seen through the eyes of a 21st century writer. Music, architecture, art and psychoanalysis. From Freud to Jung, Klimt to Kokoschka, they all get a look in. Cons: Words get the better of everyone, on and off Sigmund’s couch. If music is the food of love, here both are thwarted in this tale of two composers, one triumphant, the other downtrodden. Gustav Mahler and Sigmund Freud meet in Leiden and ...

Pros: Catchy tunes, zingy one-liners and great performances. A hugely enjoyable riot. Cons: The play takes a little time to warm up, but the wait is worth it. When the devil sings, he roars, he reigns. New Year’s Eve, at the height of Stalin’s Great Purge. A young couple try to create a moment of solace in their little flat. A mysterious visitor brutally invites himself into their home. Time stops, and an air of wonderful menace hangs over the stage. Adapted from Elchin’s ...