Gabriel Wilding

Greg Hicks stars in The Master Builder. Photograph: Barry McCall Midway through the second week of rehearsals for Henrik Ibsen’s The Master Builder at the Arcola Theatre, Greg Hicks unburdens himself on the phone to the Hackney Citizen, likening the production to “really peeling one of the best onions in the world.” Pull back the skins and there’s further to go: “It’s the inside of Ibsen’s head, heart, soul.

Musical talent is not enough to pull off this group biopic with troubling historical omissions In 2021 the Marble Arch Mound promised ecologists a treat; a rising pyramid to rewilding. Sadly, it’s theatre’s turn for a similar disappointment. The Arts at Marble Arch looks from the outside like a data centre and inside like an egg carton, with excessive strip lighting and inadequate seating in the bar area/holding pen.

Daniel Mays and Hayley Squires in Golden Boy, Almeida Theatre. Photograph: Marc Brenner Crippling inflation, looming international conflict and a rise in fascism – so glad we left these things in the 1930s *stifles a sob*. Staging the Great Depression’s favourite playwright feels a bit on the nose, but don’t worry, that won’t be my only boxing pun.