Leah Tozer

Beauty pageants and bus boycotts seldom belong on the same page, but in Chinonyerem Odimba's joyously playful and beautifully played Princess & the Hustler, they're brought together by Princess James, a flamboyant young girl who is black, beautiful, and brilliantly funny.

From mathematics professor Lewis's insomnia and amnesia plagued night emerges a poetic, fragmented and poignant reflection on race, forgetfulness, and legacy enlightened by two fine performances in a thoughtfully directed production from Eleanor Rhode as part of the Ustinov Studio's UK premieres from the Americas.

From folk tales to fairy tales to festive (nut)crackers, Tchaikovsky's trio of 19th-century compositions, originally choreographed by Petipa and Ivanov for the Imperial Russian company, are the crowning glory of the classical canon.

The music is magical, with all its coloratura, patter, and character from the principals, male chorus, and orchestra magnificently managed by Tomaš Hanus, but there's still some magic amiss in this staging from Welsh National Opera.

'If music be the food of love, play on'… and play Wils Wilson does with Shakespeare's chaotic, sharp-witted comedy.While wonderfully entertaining, and a comical, musical, and colourful delight, without distinct commentary on the seventies setting or a timely political parallel, this Twelfth Night is dated to the whimsical, psychedelic revels of a 1970s evening.  

Like the English at Agincourt, Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory aren't unshaken, but they are victorious. Elizabeth Freestone's direction is austere, with the action playing out in a darkly industrial dystopia characterised by Lily Arnold's greyed costumes and frayed edges, steely drama and gravel underfoot.

Birdsong, based on the book by Sebastian Faulks, is a brutal and beautiful observation of war and remembrance, with this new revival touring in time for the Armistice centenary this November.

Balancing Ashton's charming choreography with bright characterisation and breezy ballon, Birmingham Royal Ballet are absolutely beaming in this most charming of ballets.

RashDash's Three Sisters, after Chekhov is thrillingly irreverent: to rules, to theatrical form, and even to reviews, but it's their irreverence that's so deserving of reverence.

'Only by forgetting all we've ever learned can we learn to live at all': wise words from a work that was, itself, forgotten.