All My Sons
Ivo van Hove’s staggering West End production of Arthur Miller’s tragedy for “the common man” proved every bit as emotionally honed as his A View from the Bridge in 2014. Named best revival at this year’s Olivier awards, it brings together Bryan Cranston as compromised factory owner Joe Keller, Marianne Jean-Baptiste as his wife and Paapa Essiedu as his son. Jan Versweyveld’s stark design should look stunning on screen. From NT at Home.
Cymbeline
“Some pleasing scenes,” was Dr Johnson’s impression of Shakespeare’s late romance. If that sounds like damning with faint praise, he decided not to waste any more words on its “unresisting imbecility”. Director Jennifer Tang makes her case for the play in her 2025 Shakespeare’s Globe debut, turning the eponymous ancient king into a queen.
Catch Me Who Can
Shelagh Delaney takes another bow as her previously unperformed play about a schoolgirl runaway is released on Spotify as an audio drama. The cast includes Rita Tushingham, who starred in the 1961 adaptation of Delaney’s A Taste of Honey, and Toby Jones. Available from 23 September.
The Jonathan Larson Project
This summer’s UK premiere of Jonathan Larson’s lesser-known songs was a revelation. Alternately satirical and sunny, poignant and political, the collection – including numbers cut from Rent and Tick, Tick … BOOM! – was recorded for a 2019 album with a fine cast, including a bluesy Lauren Marcus on Break Out the Booze.
Play Time
BBC Radio 4 and the Royal Court team up for an audio season including a new 10th-anniversary recording of Lucy Kirkwood’s The Children. It’s accompanied by archive productions, from Look Back in Anger with Ben Whishaw to Cuttin’ It with Susan Wokoma, all selected by Mark Ravenhill. Available on BBC Sounds from 26 September.
Black Watch
It’s been 20 years since the nascent National Theatre of Scotland turned a pool table into a tank and had a blistering hit with Gregory Burke’s Black Watch, about a Scottish regiment in Iraq and inspired by interviews with soldiers. “Every one of my suppositions of what drove them to join the army was demolished,” said director John Tiffany. It’s part of a British theatre season on BBC iPlayer.
Cactus
Australian writer-performer Madelaine Nunn was at last year’s Edinburgh fringe with her acclaimed solo show about a nurse, Flick. This earlier two-hander is a funny and frank account of teenagers navigating that prickly final year of high school, with a medical diagnosis that puts the future in a new light. On MarqueeTV.
Caroline – A New Musical
Radio Caroline, the 60s pirate station, inspired this touring musical with “rebellious energy” by Vikki Stone, produced this year by Ipswich’s New Wolsey theatre. A tale of life on the ocean and airwaves, it’s delivered by a cast of actor-musicians whose playlist includes the Kinks, the Who and the Rolling Stones. Available until 19 September.
