Almeida theatre, London
A north London Jewish family share a meal – and heated arguments – in this complex and courageous drama

Stella Adler, the renowned actor and teacher of Yiddish origin, believed theatre to be a “spiritual and social X-ray of its time”. That might be an ever more unattainable ideal in our time of Punch and Judy politics, culture wars and artistic self-censorship. This is one of the reasons why Sam Grabiner’s play about a north London Jewish family eating dinner on Christmas Day feels so singularly outspoken.

It begins lightly with humour (“You’re not Larry David, you’re from Hendon”), then builds to bickering and full-on fallouts, covering antisemitism, spirituality, belonging and how the Israel-Gaza war has shaped these Londoners’ sense of self. There is certainly no conflation of Israel and Jewishness but a deliberate foray into this highly charged and contested ground.

At Almeida theatre, London, until 8 January

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Staging a bestselling book that has already been adapted into a film starring bona fide national treasures (Jim Broadbent and Penelope Wilton) might have been daunting. But, in Chichester, Katy Rudd’s musical of a man’s Bunyanesque journey to visit a dying woman met that challenge with lo-fi eccentricity and folksy songs with a foot-stomping spirit (composed by Michael Rosenberg, AKA Passenger). In the West End from 29 January. Read the review