Hold on to Your Butts review – Jurassic Park redone with DIY dinos
This recreation of Steven Spielberg’s 1993 classic is frenetic fun, with the dinosaurs brought to life using physical comedy – and traffic cones
Jenny Eclair looks back: ‘Anorexia is difficult to get out of. I can joke about it now, because I’m overweight’
The comedian and novelist on the stress of sudden success, her disordered relationship with food, and how hobbies have replaced her libido
‘Very generous and utterly terrifying’: novelist Edward Carey on Pinter, puppets and his spell living in a theatre
The author, whose latest gothic novel is inspired by his lifelong love of theatre, on his journey from stage to page – and why his house in Austin is home to a 4ft doll of Madame Tussaud
The Guardian view on Christmas shows: they are fairy tales for our times
From Ballet Shoes to Wicked, stories of female empowerment and friendship are triumphing on stage and screen
The Borrowers review – Arrietty and co’s awfully wordy adventure
With a cumbersome script and no sense of danger or atmosphere, this production loses its way
Well Done, Mummy Penguin review – Antarctic antics warm the heart
This is a sprightly adaptation of Chris Haughton’s popular book, adding circus skills, projections and BSL
Treasure Island review – with a yo-ho-ho and the spirit of adventure
Duncan McLean’s riotous adaptation begins in a care home for retired pirates, from which the resourceful heroes set sail in a washtub buoyed by imagination
Emma review – a Regency comedy as light as a pillow fight
Set in a nonspecific Austenland inspired more by Hollywood than history, this is an energetic, puppyish production that is easy to like
Where to start with: Hanif Kureishi
It seemed the writer would have to retire after a devastating fall in 2022. But now, approaching 70, he has been more creative than ever. Here’s how you can get to know his work
Michael Morpurgo’s Pinocchio review – there’s nothing wooden about this magical musical
A stupendous cast, outstanding stagecraft and delightful songs prove how thrilling an old story can become in the right hands
Wicked review – Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are a blast in sugar-rush Wizard of Oz fantasy
Stephen Schwartz’s musical prequel has been brought to the big screen, with Erivo’s charismatic Elphaba exerting a planetary pull over a star-studded cast
The Red Shoes review – the RSC’s restyled fairytale doesn’t fit properly
Nikki Cheung impresses as the girl who loves dancing so much she’s carried away by her shoes, but Nancy Harris’s script frustrates
Peter Carey on Jack Maggs and snubbing the Queen: ‘I thought she was a relic’
As the stage version of his take on Great Expectations opens in Adelaide, the novelist looks back at a right royal kerfuffle – and a memorable encounter with a London cabby
My Brilliant Career review – this Miles Franklin musical is a funny, feminist triumph
Kala Gare is a force of nature as Sybylla, spurning suitors in order to live a writer’s life, in a musical that spans pub rock, hip-hop and sweeping solos
Paul Bailey obituary
Writer best known for the novel Gabriel’s Lament and a sympathetic biography of the brothel madam Cynthia Payne