Alan Ayckbourn | Quarndon Village Hall | Directed by Peter Konowalik

Sir Alan Ayckbourn celebrates both his 80^th birthday and the 60^th anniversary of his professional playwrighting debut this year. Incredibly, his 83^rd full length play will premiere in Scarborough this summer. Perfect timing this week then, for Quarndon Amateur Dramatic Society (QUADS) to treat audiences to a farcical journey back to the mid-1970s in their staging of one of the much-loved Norman Conquest plays – Living Together.

Khaled Hosseini | Birmingham Repertory Theatre | Directed by Roxana Silbert

Khalid Hosseini’s much-loved 2007 novel tells the deeply affecting story of an unlikely friendship between two Afghan women, both married to the same husband. The narrative spans several decades, starting in 1992 in an Afghanistan ravaged by civil war.

Lin-Manuel Miranda | Victoria Palace Theatre | Directed by Thomas Kail

Manuel Lin Miranda’s box office smash Hamilton, playing at the Victoria Palace in London, is a theatrical phenomenon. Musicals being ‘current’ and ‘relevant’ has become almost cliched but with a Trump administration in the White House full of anti-immigrant rhetoric, this show feels razor sharp and bang on the money.