‘Childhood holidays everyone wishes they had’: the Famous Five return in a musical

Enid Blyton’s adventurers roam the stage in a new show that considers the climate crisis, gender identity and the impact of the pandemic on children

Laura Lexx: ‘I did 10 gigs for a master’s in standup comedy – then never stopped’

The comedian and author on studying laughter theory, industry frustrations and the perils of gigging at a racecourse

Diaghilev’s Empire by Rupert Christiansen review – brilliance of the Ballets Russes

How the visionary impresario’s revolutionary ballet company took the Paris of Pablo Picasso and Coco Chanel by storm

Uncle Jack Charles, Indigenous actor and activist, dies aged 79

Artists across Australia have paid tribute to Charles, who died following a stroke, as a ‘true Australian legend’

On my radar: Claire Denis’s cultural highlights

The French director on being mesmerised by the film Memoria, and her love of Tindersticks, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and the Mediterranean

See How They Run review – Agatha Christie spoof scampers through 50s theatreland

This likable whodunnit comedy sees Sam Rockwell and Saoirse Ronan on the trail of high-camp crime in the original production of The Mousetrap

The Drowning of Arthur Braxton review – YouTuber Luke Cutforth paddles in the shallow end

Young Arthur – bullied at school and struggling with his dad Johnny Vegas – seeks sanctuary at his local pool

Unfinish’d sympathy: can literature get over reading disability morally?

The ‘crookednesse’ of Richard III’s back was presented by Shakespeare as an expression of his villainy while Quasismodo embodied saintly unworldliness. Are we ready to see disability without symbolism?

Shannon Molloy’s harrowing memoir takes the stage: ‘There’s power in sharing really dark stories’

An adaptation of his bestseller Fourteen for Brisbane festival recounts the traumatic bullying that shaped a year of Molloy’s life – and aims to find a little light there too

A Little Life review – Hanya Yanagihara drama is not for the faint-hearted

Ivo van Hove directs a mesmerising four-hour adaptation of a divisive novel that unpicks privilege, abuse and psychological damage

This Is Memorial Device review – memories of fictional indie heroes burn brightly

An adaptation of David Keenan’s novel about a Scottish band who nearly supported Sonic Youth is lovingly detailed

Medea review – Adura Onashile exudes awesome authority in bloody tragedy

Liz Lochhead’s Scots verse spits wit and venom as male power meets female determination with operatic intensity, in this National Theatre of Scotland staging

Irvine Welsh’s Porno review – coarse and gutsy Trainspotting sequel

Welsh’s band of unruly misfits reunite – 15 years older – in an intense, dark farce that rushes to a conclusion all too soon

On my radar: Vicky Featherstone’s cultural highlights

The Royal Court’s artistic director raves about a non-binary memoir, admires Gordon Brown’s stand on poverty and salutes Cornelia Parker’s proper mermaid

My life was turned into a romcom! How our arts writer became the lead character in a new play

Charlotte Higgins was thrilled that her history book about Roman Britain was being adapted for the stage – until she realised it was being reimagined – and she and her partner were the romantic leads