Branden Jacobs-Jenkins| Donmar Warehouse, London | Directed by Ola Ince

The ghost of a dead father and the brutal history of slavery haunt the ramshackle former plantation house of a dysfunctional American family in the UK premiere of Branden Jacob-Jenkins’ Appropriate at the Donmar Warehouse, directed by Ola Ince. It’s part gothic story, part family drama and part history play.

Thomas Otway| Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon | Directed by Prasanna Puwanarajah

Thomas Otway’s 1682 play is one of the very few Restoration tragedies still staged. In Prasanna Puwanarajah’s production, currently running at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, it receives a “noir twist”, presenting the audience with a ‘Blade Runner meets Mad Max’ cyberpunk vision of a corrupt Venice.

Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on ‘Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats’ by T S Eliot | Kilworth House Theatre, Leicestershire | Directed by Nick Winston

Nick Winston’s new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s hit musical at Kilworth House Theatre delivers on every level: this is ‘Cats’ as you’ve never seen it before. Fresh, playful and impeccably performed. fffffEncore Performing Arts, directed by Adam Guest, rise to the considerable challenge of staging this dark and raunchy tale of women getting away with murder in a production bursting with sexiness and sass.