A letter from 15 critics to the Royal Lyceum in Edinburgh condemns ‘divisive move’ that saw non-Scottish publications excluded from reviewing the musical’s press night

Theatre critics in Scotland have written to the Royal Lyceum theatre in Edinburgh condemning a “divisive” and “London-centric” decision to not invite reviews from UK national publications for its new musical version of One Day .

The show, based on the 2009 novel by David Nicholls, held a press night on Wednesday but only critics writing for Scottish publications were invited to review it. A separate press night for other critics is planned for a later date, when the show opens in London.

Architect whose cultural projects included the Royal Exchange theatre in Manchester and the remodelling of St Luke’s church for the LSO

When men first walked on the moon in 1969, “space age” design began to percolate into mainstream architecture. One of the most literal and dramatic interpretations of this futuristic trend was the Royal Exchange theatre in Manchester, a heptagonal theatre-in-the-round contained in an ultra-modern structure of tubular steel and glass inspired by Nasa’s lunar lander. A key member of its design team was Axel Burrough, of Levitt Bernstein Architects, who has died aged 79.

The theatre module, which Burrough designed with David Levitt and Malcolm Brown, squats within the imposing neo-classical confines of the historic Royal Exchange . When the Exchange finally ceased trading in 1968, its grade two listed status ruled out conventional uses and refurbishment strategies, but it could be made to accommodate a building-within-a-building, conjuring a compelling visual and experiential contrast between old and new.

Palais Garnier, Paris
Jessica Wright and Morgann Runacre-Temple’s Arena spills off the stage while Morau’s equally audacious Étude has balletic body snatchers

What a joy to find Jessica Wright and Morgann Runacre-Temple given full run of the grandiose Palais Garnier. The sparky duo from London, known as Jess and Morgs , bring their audacious blend of choreography and live camerawork to a gripping new creation, Arena, with video design by Jakub Lech. It peaks with a bravura sequence in which Loup Marcault-Derouard leaves the stage and is seen on a huge screen, racing around the opera house’s imposing halls and staircase. Arena gives the sense of choreographers in a candy store, seizing the real estate newly available to them after their hit, tech-centric reboot of Coppélia for Scottish Ballet in 2022 .

The piece opens with understated, percussive coolness and shades of A Chorus Line – an athletic squad limber up with individual and collective confidence. “Next please!” barks the voiceover and a camera operator glides down the queue, capturing beady eyes, beating chests, glistening sweat. In the age of Instagram, dancers are ever-ready for their closeups and here the port de bras frequently results in tightly framed faces – but Arena exposes the perils of chronically online culture and the urge to compete, compare and conform. There is a gladiatorial element to Annemarie Woods’ costumes yet this is a dystopian contest that also feels rooted in the present day.

Indhu Rubasingham calls in Jennie Lee lecture for renewed commitment to creative risk and new writing

The National Theatre’s artistic director, Indhu Rubasingham, has said that “conservative” theatre-making will “kill” the industry, even if it helps venues balance the books for now.

Delivering the second-ever Jennie Lee lecture in front of an audience of 200 representatives from the UK arts industry on Thursday, Rubasingham called for a renewed national commitment to backing creative risk and new writing.

Citizens theatre, Glasgow
Even the safety curtain has a morbid air in Dominic Hill’s post-apocalyptic staging of Beckett’s classic

Productions of Samuel Beckett’s modernist classic often evoke the world of music hall. The duelling routines of Vladimir and Estragon recall the banter of old-time vaudeville acts. A sequence of hat-swapping could have come straight from Laurel and Hardy .

Echoes of that remain in Dominic Hill’s staging, a co-production with the Liverpool Everyman and Bolton Octagon, but his approach is less end of the pier than end of the road.

At Citizens theatre, Glasgow , until 14 March. Then at Everyman theatre, Liverpool , 17 March-4 April and Octagon theatre, Bolton , 15 April-2 May.

Theatre says it will harness art ‘to inspire societal shifts towards restorative relationship with nature’

From “shall I compare thee to a summer’s day” to “one touch of nature made the whole world kin”, some of the most famous lines in William Shakespeare ’s works are about the relationship between humans and the environment.

It is this connection with the bard’s work that has inspired Shakespeare’s Globe to launch its first climate playwriting prize for 2026, which it says will harness the skills of storytellers and artists to “inspire societal shifts towards a restorative relationship with nature”.

Spurred on by a vision of the Shakers’ founding leader, Celia Rowlson-Hall masterminded the whirl of movement in Mona Fastvold’s feverish film

‘I’ll tell you something I’ve not told anyone,” says Celia Rowlson-Hall . “This might make me sound a little wild, but I don’t care.” The choreographer is recounting her experience on The Testament of Ann Lee , a fever dream of a film starring Amanda Seyfried as the leader of 18th-century Christian sect the Shakers, whose ecstatic prayer rituals could involve dancing for days. “The night before we started filming, I was sleeping and, literally, the ghost of Ann Lee was over my bed with angels around and she said: ‘Go forth!’” Rowlson-Hall laughs at herself for revealing this. “Was that my imagination allowing myself to go forth? Maybe, probably,” she smiles. “It was so intense that I will never forget it.”

In Mona Fastvold’s film, we see Lee, a blacksmith’s daughter from Manchester, having vivid religious visions that trigger her evangelism. Much like creative visions, I say. Maybe in a different time Lee would have been an artist? “She was an artist, without a doubt,” says Rowlson-Hall. To be an artist, she continues, “you have to believe in more than just what you see in front of you. It’s a concoction of faith and drive, a little delusion and a lot of energy. Like gunpowder.” Lee definitely had those qualities, leading the Shakers to the US, preaching piety, pacifism, celibacy and the confession of sins, and inspiring devotion as well as ire.

Two Thatcher-years episodes of Peter Flannery’s award-winning TV series to be adapted for Newcastle stage

It is regarded as one of the greatest British television series ever made, exploring the decline of the Labour party, sleaze, social decay, dodgy developers, injustice and how idealism can so easily turn to disillusionment and cynicism.

Our Friends in the North will return this year in a new guise and will be just as relevant, its writer believes, as it was 30 years ago.

Arts theatre, Cambridge
Marital uncoupling may not be the social taboo it was in the 1920s, but this sumptuous revival delivers timeless pathos with the witty barbs

‘What’s the use of arguing and bickering like this?” a husband asks his wife in Easy Virtue. “It doesn’t lead anywhere.” He’s wrong, of course: it’s this kind of verbal fencing and simmering fury that would lead a 25-year-old Noël Coward to stardom.

Audiences may not know this early work, but in Trevor Nunn’s luxuriant new production they will know exactly where they are. Simon Higlett’s sumptuous drawing-room set comes complete with marble staircase for doleful exits and dramatic entrances and his 1920s outfits are accompanied by some of the best finger waves you’ll see outside Strictly’s Charleston week.

At the Arts theatre, Cambridge , until 7 March