As the show seen by 8.8 million people across the world returns to the National Theatre, Katherine Cowles speaks to the creators who turned a ‘wild hunch’ into the play that revolutionised children’s theatre

Mark Gatiss cuts a grotesque figure as a Hitler-like gangster in Brecht’s parable on fascism – a show that is all thrills no chills

Is it entertainment or education? Distraction or analysis? High art or… whipped cream?

Kimberly Belflower’s bewitching depiction of defiant girlhood transports Arthur Miller’s The Crucible from 1692 to the MeToo age

Rebecca Lucy Taylor is fierce and funny in this compulsively entertaining examination of the end of the 1960s dream

Four years after the Russian invasion, Nicolas Kent’s sketchy, crusading short plays want you to stay engaged

Into the Woods and Paddington have 11 nods each for the 50th anniversary accolades

The late Black Panther star’s little-known revenge tragedy about police brutality brings hip-hop verse to Shakespeare’s Globe

Wicked star Cynthia Erivo holds her own as the cameras circle in a dazzling but bloodless one-woman take on Bram Stoker’s novel

Rachel Joyce’s much-loved story becomes an uplifting, folk-inflected musical – but treads a little too close to twee

Our critic picks five cultural highlights, whether you have five minutes, an hour or an evening to spare

An immersive performance staged in hotel rooms recreates the tension of the big day

Luke Norris’s drama tells of life-affirming love in the depths of grief

Cole Escola’s Tony award-winning farce asks: can you love someone this annoying?

This adaptation realises the beloved story through 16ft giants, magical illusions and masterful puppetry

This winking, camp production contains child-proof storytelling, catchy songs, and a fine cast

This technically impressive production has a slick, studio feel, but is merely a tribute act to the original story

The Almeida’s adaptation of Alan Hollinghurst’s novel about 80s queer culture and class division misses the book’s hilarious shifts from formality to filth

Men go in search of self-knowledge in this era-spanning saga whose meaning is frustratingly elusive

Arifa Akbar’s two-part series explores culture writing in the age of identity politics, algorithms and ChatGPT