Marc Norman & Tom Stoppard | The Crescent Theatre | Directed by Michael Barry

The latest Crescent Theatre production is a hit. A very palpable hit.

Stephan Elliott & Allan Scott | Lichfield Garrick Theatre | Directed by James Pugh

Lichfield Operatic Society’s staging of Australian musical road comedy is a resounding hit: bold, bright and bursting with cheeky charm.

Paula Hawkins, Rachel Wagstaff and Duncan Abel | Sutton Arts Theatre | Directed by Dexter Whitehead

Whether you’re a fan of the book, the film, both or neither, book a ticket and board the train for what promises to be a theatrical night full of mystery and more than a few surprises. All aboard!

Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim | Sutton Coldfield Town Hall | Directed by Jennifer Holyhead and Matthew Collins

Trinity Players bring iconic fifties musical to life in style at Sutton Coldfield Town Hall. The clash between the Jets and the Sharks in this most famous of musicals is the stuff of theatre legend and this local production of West Side Story, co-directed by Jennifer Holyhead and Matthew Collins, is a resounding hit.

Stephen Sondheim | Sutton Arts Theatre | Directed by Emily Armstrong and Dexter Whitehead

A little bite of the Big Apple in Sutton Coldfield – ‘Company’, the latest offering from Sutton Arts Theatre, is an evening of musical theatre to transport you to New York, courtesy of the late great Stephen Sondheim.

Terence Rattigan | Sutton Arts Theatre | Directed by Faye Hatch

There’s nothing dated about the latest production of this emotionally complex masterpiece at Sutton Arts Theatre, directed by Faye Hatch. The cast, led by Jayne Lunn’s sympathetic Hester, rise to the considerable challenge of avoiding melodrama to deliver a night of raw, thrilling and ultimately uplifting theatre.The D

Oscar Wilde | Quarndon Village Hall | Directed by Leni Robson

Quarndon Amateur Dramatic Society bring Oscar Wilde’s ‘trivial comedy for serious people’ to life in farcical style.

Richard Bean | The Little Theatre | Directed by Joshua J Knott

Despite tackling serious themes of sexual discrimination, power and politics this is a sweet-natured story delivered with plenty of heart. A highly recommended production. Picket for a ticket.

Paulus | The Old Joint Stock Theatre | Directed by Sarah-Louise Young

‘Looking For Me Friend: The Music of Victoria Wood’, written and performed by Paulus (cabaret star Paul Martin) and directed by Sarah-Louise Young, is a joyful and celebratory show which is a fitting tribute to the late, great Victoria in all her northern glory.

Isley Lynn | Warwick Arts Centre | Directed by Hamish MacDougall & Julian Spooner

Rhum and Clay Theatre Company’s ‘The War of the Worlds’ is a brilliantly executed examination of the nature of truth and the storytelling drive which has underpinned our attempts to understand the world around us for centuries.

James Williams | The Blue Orange Theatre | Directed by James Williams

The Wicked Lady, Birmingham’s own Woman in Black, opens in spine-chilling style at the Blue Orange Theatre.

Mark Farrelly | The Old Joint Stock Theatre | Directed by Joe Harmston

New play about the pained life of much-loved comedian Frankie Howerd is a moving, funny and poetic hit.

Oscar Wilde | Sutton Arts Theatre | Directed by Dexter Whitehead

Sutton Arts Theatre return with Wilde society comedy ‘An Ideal Husband’ in a production worth waiting for.

Ayub Khan Din | Birmingham Rep | Directed by Iqbal Khan

25th anniversary production of East is East at the Birmingham Rep is a triumph: uncomfortably funny, depressingly timely and beautifully performed.

Vanessa Oakes | Shop Front Theatre | Directed by Mark Evans

OCD is centre stage in a new play which delivers an emotionally powerful and moving insight into living with this most debilitating condition. It is the perfect post-pandemic piece to reopen this intimate gem of a space in a Coventry shopping centre.

Alan Ayckbourn | Sutton Arts Theatre | Directed by Barrie Atchison

First performed in 1972, this black comedy from the prolific Alan Ayckbourn (84 full length plays and counting) time travels across three years to chart the changing lives and fortunes of three married couples over three successive Christmas Eve parties. The playwright’s own insistence that this early 1970s period piece should include a note in the programme stating the era of the play to put it into context is telling: it is certainly of its time and although dated in many respects, still delivers laughs and was much enjoyed by the opening night audience.

Emilie Cullum-Kenyon | Park Hall Academy Theatre | Directed by Emily Cullum-Kenyon

School productions are a hit-and-miss affair. They can be tedious at best and plain awful at worst as much-loved but talentless children forget their lines and struggle to remember where they should be standing on stage. Thankfully there is no shortage of talent in the latest theatrical offering from Park Hall Academy. ‘Roald Dahl’s School of Adventure’, a new musical written and directed by Head of Performing Arts Emilie Cullum-Kenyon, is a gloriumptious hit.

L Frank Baum | Sutton Arts Theatre | Directed by Emily Armstrong and Dexter Whitehead

Sutton Coldfield may be a long way from Kansas but this year’s heart-warming and brilliantly performed Christmas production of The Wizard of Oz at Sutton Arts Theatre proves there really is no place like home.

Paul Hutton | Blue Orange Theatre, Birmingham | Directed by James Williams

As the title of this filthily raucous adult panto suggests, this is Cinderella as you’ve never seen her before. Out with pumpkins and glass slippers; in with dildos and dating apps. Not so much ‘will she go to the ball?’ as ‘will she swipe left, or right?’

William Shakespeare | Shakespeare House, Derby | Directed by Matt Swan

The plot of Richard II is, at one level, very simple: it’s a play in which one king is deposed and another takes his place. Succession was an Elizabethan obsession and many of Shakespeare’s plays, historical and tragic, examine political, moral, social and psychological aspects of the transition of monarchical power. After James I was crowned in 1603, interest in plays on this theme disappeared almost immediately.