Category ★★★★☆

Reading Time: 3 minutesA queer, interracial, interfaith exploration of a Shakespeare classic made up of almost entirely original verse, Romeo & Hamed is a bold and slick production. Sinew and Slime and Pie Productions present Scott Horgan’s debut play this week at Riverside Studios, starring its writer along with Anish Roy as the two leading men. Yes, Juliet has been replaced with Hamed, a young Muslim man, and he brings new dimensions to an already timeless story. The play is written in ‘lyrical verse’, intermittently rhyming and placing us firmly in modern day Croydon.

Reading Time: 3 minutesHow much can the media be trusted? This dilemma sits at the heart of Tracey Scott Wilson’s 2003 newsroom thriller The Story, making its UK debut at the National Theatre. Although today’s journalists may rely less on cold-calling for their leads, and perhaps care less about painstaking research, this question is as compelling in 2026. Similarly, The Story’s spotlight on racial tension has only gained potency over the last two decades. It’s an urgent, tense narrative that feels bang up–to-date.