Vividly performed one-man play from Nick Dawkins about leaving a working-class home to attend Oxford University

Upper-class family drama directed by Adrian Noble has all the right ingredients but lacks clout

Harriet Madeley’s semi-autobiographical solo play about confronting death and relishing life subverts expectations

Paula Wilcox and Stephen Tompkinson star in a sharp, snappy production of Richard Bean’s sentimental sitcom about ageing, directed by Terry Johnson

Jess Edwards directs a strangled production of Mark O’Halloran’s intimate, underwritten play about sexual adventure and connection

Gary Oldman is a devastatingly stoic Krapp in his own production of the Beckett classic at York Theatre Royal

Striking magical-realist debut play by Chloë Lawrence-Taylor is a moving story of struggling to let go

Slick, stylised take on a Hitchcock classic adapted and directed by Emma Rice thrills but goes south in final moments

Promising debut from emerging playwright Ruth D’Silva. starring Lydia Bakelmun and Fisun Burgess, explores the cyclical nature of abuse

English Touring Theatre delivers a quirky, accessible take on Shakespeare’s supernatural tragedy at London’s Lyric Hammersmith

Ambitious, rap-fuelled reimagining of Shakespeare’s tragedy, performed with passion by Mia Khan and Kyle Ndukuba

Alan Ayckbourn’s 90th play is a comedy with pleasing twists and turns, and reflections on a changing theatre sector

Operatic comedy of manners with book and lyrics by James P Farwell fills a unique space 

Tense and trippy race play from Nia Akilah Robinson thrills but lacks nuance

Ovid’s myths get lost in this sparsely scripted trans reimagining from Jimmy Justice