★★★ Review: Sunset Boulevard: The Backstage Cut – Morag Fullarton’s homage to the 1950 film is slick and gloriously melodramatic 👇

★★ Review: Dinner – Attractive production of an unattractive play about unattractive people 👇

★★★★ Review: The Marriage of Figaro – Scottish Opera’s staging highlights Mozart and Da Ponte’s themes of power and privilege. Read The Stage's review 👇

★★★★ Review: Return to the Forest – Theatre-Rites and choreographer Gregory Maqoma bring ancient museum artefacts to life for a forest-set visual feast 👇

★★★ Review: Rosas: Il Cimento dell’Armonia e dell’Inventione – Revered Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker takes on Vivaldi for a comment on climate change 👇

★★★ Review: Foal – Tense monodrama about the shattering effects of everyday racism and violence 👇

Obituary: Claire Nielson — Stage and screen actor, whose extensive career also included directing and writing 👇

While customer habits are changing in terms of booking, theatres need to remember what else box office staff bring to a building and find ways to retain that, writes Lyn Gardner 👇

Prima Facie and Inter Alia director Justin Martin has suggested that productions in regional theatres be filmed and shown in London cinemas. Read more 👇

Theatres should implement front-of-house protocols to deal with racist behaviour from audience members, performers at the Equity conference agreed. Read more 👇

The use of actors’ voices and faces by AI will be controlled by new contracts set to be developed by Equity after a motion calling for an end to “back-door” deals was passed at its conference. Read more 👇

Equity president Lynda Rooke has taken aim at boards and bodies primarily comprised of chief executives and producers, suggesting they are not active enough and do not truly represent the workforce. Read more 👇

★★★★ Review: The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher – Alexandra Wood adapts Hilary Mantel’s short story into an incendiary and provocative new play 👇

The Forum theatre in Barrow-in-Furness is in line to be demolished, in a move that will potentially leave the area without performing arts provision. Read more 👇

Stage managers are being expected to take on other technical jobs that are not in their contracts in order to reduce costs, Equity’s annual conference has heard. Read more 👇

Performers with children need a sector-wide shift towards flexible working, not just “ad hoc goodwill”, Equity’s annual conference has heard. Read more 👇

Scotland’s culture secretary Angus Robertson has lost his seat at Holyrood, with his Edinburgh constituency flipping from the Scottish National Party to the Scottish Greens. Read more 👇

Reform UK is the single biggest threat to the performing arts industry and would see arts funding “disappear”, Equity bosses have warned. Read more 👇

Almost 90% of audiences would choose live theatre over cinematic screenings or streaming at home, research has indicated. Read more 👉 www.thestage.co.uk/news/nin...

Tributes have been paid to actor Michael Pennington, who has died aged 82. Read more 👇

West End bosses could be set back hundreds of thousands of pounds every day if performers opt to strike this summer over pay, Equity’s general secretary has claimed. Read more 👇

Actor Felicity Kendal has vouched for the importance of shows offering "light relief" against a backdrop of "bad news and... endless disaster". Read more 👇

Does theatre need to be more honest about its close relationship with alcohol?, asks Lyn Gardner 👇

Can touring theatre fix its broken business model? In this month’s Long Read, leading figures tell The Stage about the support they need and why they’re not giving up without a fight👇

Pro-Palestine campaigners in Aberdeen are demanding Maureen Lipman's upcoming turn at His Majesty's Theatre be cancelled due to her views on Israel

ICYMI: Northampton’s Royal and Derngate will reportedly no longer open its box office before shows after making cuts to its workforce. Read more 👇

★★★ Review: Tea in a China Cup – Rarely performed, 40-year-old play benefits from a well-packaged, nostalgic revival 👇

★★★ Review: Bank of Dave: The Musical – Rob Madge’s larky new musical falls short of a solid investment in its social story 👇

★★★★ Review: Fourteen Again – World premiere of Victoria Wood musical 10 years after her death in a theatre renamed in her honour has a certain wonky allure 👇

Take a look behind the curtain with The Stage’s Technical Special ⭐ Subscribe today and get 10% off 👉https://www.thestage.co.uk/subscribe?utm_source=social&utm_medium=Bluesky&utm_campaign=techspecial

Durham Pride has signed an agreement with Equity establishing minimum pay and conditions for its performers. Read more 👇

Charles Dickens’ great-great-great-grandson is to perform two of the author’s most famous scenes in the building where they were written – including a piece from Oliver Twist that reportedly almost killed the writer. Read more 👇

A senior technical manager who worked on two shows by the now-defunct company Layered Reality has spoken out about the situation, as it is revealed 60 jobs have been lost through the closure of Jeff Wayne’s The War of the Worlds: The Immersive Experience alone. Read more 👇

Fifteen actors will perform excerpts from Hamlet in a central London Waterstones, in an effort to workshop Shakespeare outside usual theatrical environments. Read more 👇

A derelict former courtroom in Haverfordwest could be converted into a theatre if the project receives planning permission from Pembrokeshire County Council. Read more 👇

Ian McKellen is backing a new charity that aims to support the next generations of creative professionals and audiences through a period of squeezed funding. Read more 👉https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/ian-mckellen-backs-new-charity-aiming-to-keep-creative-pipeline-alive

★★★ Review: Malory Towers – Emma Rice’s gloriously silly take on Enid Blyton’s novel series is a collector’s item rather than a masterpiece within her canon. Read more 👉 www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/...

★★★★ Review: Fourteen Again – World premiere of Victoria Wood musical 10 years after her death in a theatre renamed in her honour has a certain wonky allure. Read The Stage's review 👉https://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/fourteen-again-review-the-victoria-wood-theatre-bowness-on-windermere

With audiences increasingly paying full price for previews, the case for reviews from the first performance is becoming difficult to resist, writes Richard Jordan 👇

Jesus Christ Superstar at the London Palladium has released onstage standing tickets, promising audiences “an electrifying, up-close experience”. Read more 👇

Manchester-based director Connor Goodwin has been announced as this year’s recipient of the Royal Exchange Theatre’s Hodgkiss Director Award. Read more 👇

Pro-Palestine campaigners in Aberdeen are demanding Maureen Lipman’s upcoming turn at His Majesty’s Theatre be cancelled due to her views on Israel. Read more 👇

Andrew Lloyd Webber has sold his wine cellar at auction for £517,910, with the money raised being donated to support his music in schools programme. Read more 👇

Edinburgh International Festival and Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society could receive up to £500,000 from the city’s new tourist tax to celebrate their 80th anniversary next year. Read more 👇

★★★★ Review: Oh Zeus! – Insane plotting, lethal timing and a bittersweet ending all help raise this unique burlesque on Greek mythology 👇

★★★ Review: The Psychic –Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson’s new supernatural thriller is haunted by an identity crisis 👇

Obituary: Gary Lydon — Stage and screen actor who starred in the plays of long-time friend Billy Roche and was known internationally for his role in The Banshees of Inisherin 👇

English National Opera’s programme to support people suffering from long-Covid continues to deliver clinically measurable improvements, according to a new study. Read more 👉 www.thestage.co.uk/news/eno...

Graduates from the likes of Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, ArtsEd and Oxford School of Drama are vying for this year’s Spotlight Prize, which is piloting a new "expanded" format this year. Read more 👇

Sadler’s Wells artistic director and co-chief executive Alistair Spalding has described taking corporate sponsorship from Barclays as "uncomfortable" but said without it the organisation’s output would suffer. Read more 👇