‘I filed my copy from Waterloo station loos’: the Guardian’s theatre critics assess The Critic

Ian McKellen plays a theatre reviewer in the 1930s in the new film adapted from Anthony Quinn’s novel Curtain Call – but how accurate is it?

Brie Larson to make her West End debut in revenge tragedy Elektra

Oscar-winning actor will perform the lead role in Anne Carson’s adaptation of Sophocles’ play in London and Brighton next year

Trent Dalton’s Love Stories review – a stage adaptation that grabs you by the heart

From the team that brought Boy Swallows Universe to the theatre comes a new work that tells a city’s worth of stories – and packs an emotional punch

Intrigue, desire … and awful landlords: why queer authors are suddenly writing about houses

A settled domestic life can seem like a pipe dream for some LGBTQ+ writers, especially in the midst of a housing crisis. Yet novelists such as Booker nominated Yael van der Wouden are finding that inspiration begins at home

The Critic review – Ian McKellen’s poison pen sharpens 30s society cosy-crime drama

As a jaundiced reviewer with a dangerous private life, McKellen brings glorious life to this story of sour toffs in a dishonest decade

The week in theatre: G; The Spy Who Came in from the Cold; The Real Thing – review

Reality is up for debate in Tife Kusoro’s rapid-fire new drama, David Eldridge’s nuanced take on John le Carré, and Tom Stoppard’s most loving play

On my radar: Raymond Antrobus’s cultural highlights

The poet on the power of abstract art, Shakespeare in British Sign Language and the ‘articulated rage’ of James Baldwin

Rebus: A Game Called Malice review – Rankin’s fine-dining detective faces corpses between courses

Rebus fans will relish Ian Rankin and Simon Reade’s play in which the spiky Scottish cop must solve a crime at a posh dinner party

Michelle Brasier on turning cancer into comedy – and kicking her life into overdrive

After losing her father and brother, the Aunty Donna comedian was told she had a 97% chance of cancer herself. With a new album, musical and memoir to promote, she’s not slowing down

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is about an autistic boy. But it hasn’t always been autism-friendly

Mark Haddon’s bestselling novel gets an Australian adaptation ‘that Christopher himself would enjoy’ – with a warning system, ‘timetables’ and an autistic star

Edinburgh festival theatre 2024: The Fifth Step; The Outrun; I Wish You Well; Gwyneth Goes Skiing – review

Jack Lowden and Sean Gilder compel in David Ireland’s crackling new AA drama

The 39 Steps review – comic homage to Hitchcock thriller goes off the rails

With four actors playing 130 parts, this revival of Patrick Barlow’s take on the spy film is fitfully funny but ultimately frustrating

Garry Starr: Classic Penguins review – brilliantly ticklish riff on a stack of literary tomes

Dressed as the publisher’s emblem, in orange flippers and not much else, the ingenious comic delivers a dizzy series of droll visual routines

Edinburgh film festival 2024: 12 of the best movies on show

From uplifting drama to gonzo body-horror and an intensely personal documentary, here are our favourite picks

The week in theatre: The Years; Pericles – review

Extraordinary performances from five actors all playing the writer Annie Ernaux add up to a five-star adaptation of her Nobel prize-winning book. And a fairytale take on Pericles