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Arifa Akbar

Arifa Akbar is the Guardian's chief theatre critic

September 2024

  • Ben Whishaw and Lucian Msamati as Vladimir and Estragon in Waiting for Godot

    Waiting for Godot review – Beckett’s classic tragicomedy is more comedic than tragic

  • A Raisin in the Sun.

    A Raisin in the Sun review – stirring drama of a family confronting segregation

  • Not so much eating biscuits in the small hours with the laptop, then … Ian McKellen as Jimmy Erskine in The Critic.

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

  • Nathaniel Curtis (Zaid) and Mariam Haque (Neelam) in The Real Ones by Waleed Akhtar at the Bush theatre.

    The Real Ones review – fascinating friendship zooms through decades

  • Why Am I So Single? review – dating debacles from the duo behind Six

  • Our Country’s Good review – Timberlake Wertenbaker revises penal colony epic for a new world

  • V&A celebrates a century of national theatre archive with tribute to avid collector

  • The Band Back Together review – witty reflections on youth and middle-age

  • Twine review – threeway tree metaphors in a fractured exploration of adoption

  • The Real Thing review – Tom Stoppard’s gem still shines

  • G review – gothic dread meets goofy comedy in a thrilling coming-of-age story

August 2024

  • In pitched battle … Sharon Duncan-Brewster as Denise and Erin Doherty as Carly in Death of England: Closing Time.

    Death of England: Closing Time review – bombshell rants fail to land as the men watch the footie

  • From left to right; The Black Saint and The Sinner Lady, Natalie Palamides, Why Am I So Single? Writers Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss

    Autumn arts preview 2024
    A Six follow-up, an LA clown … and War Horse rides again: theatre, comedy and dance autumn preview

  • A shot from After the Silence by Christiane Jatahy, loosely based on Itamar Vieira Junior’s best-selling novel Torto Arado and the 1984 film from Eduardo Coutinho Cabramarcado para morrer.

    After the Silence review – compelling tale of racial inequalities and slavery in Brazil

  • Chasing her own tail … Libby Rodliffe in Jobsworth.

    Jobsworth review – caffeinated black comedy with a stupendous performance

  • The Fifth Step review – Jack Lowden excels as an alcoholic finding a sponsor

  • Stuffed review – urgent warning about food poverty drowned out by clowning

  • Deadheads review – the fraying of two sisters’ childhood bond

  • Man: A One-Woman Show – compelling collage of toxic masculinity

  • It’s the Economy, Stupid! review – engaging account of maths, money and personal cost

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