Clare Brennan

Theresa Heskins’s Dumas adaptation provides fantastic action yet reduces the scheming servant Milady to a plot device

The audience sees above and below the floorboards – with a little help from puppets – as Mark Babych’s production cleverly plays with scale

A stand-in Genie saves the day in a magical production of the age-old story that has audience members young and old suspending disbelief

Shakespeare’s fleet-footed romance is somewhat constrained by Prasanna Puwanarajah’s direction, yet there are memorable moments

Shaw conveys both the public and private Thomas More in a period-perfect if patchy production of Bolt’s 1960 play of power and corruption

The remarkable true story of how the resident of a Cardiff institution and a student revolutionised supported living is told with agit-prop energy and via superb performances

Azuka Oforka’s bold, ambitious play confronts the horrors of slavery, while Emma Rice takes on Hitchcock’s classic, sidelining suspense but springing surprises

Grounding fantasy in emotional reality, director Theresa Heskins and her joyous 14-strong ensemble make the David Niven-starring film fly on stage

From dodging bombs to dancing in nightclubs, Syrian theatre-maker Hamzeh Al Hussien enacts the story of his life

Pam Gems’s play with music loses focus with its small cast playing multiple characters – and musical instruments – but its star brings it all together