Theatre review: Retrograde

Sidney Poitier would probably be the name most people would come up with if you asked who was the first black movie star to really achieve global fame and acclaim, but needless to say he didn't get to be a trailblazer without some major obstacles. Ryan Calais Cameron's Retrograde dramatises one particularly critical turning point, but the challenges the actor faces are a bit more complicated than pure, bare-faced racism. In the 1950s Poitier's (Ivanno Jeremiah) star is on the rise, and studios are interested. But there's also rumours that he turned down a lucrative role because he didn't want to play a passive black stereotype, so he might have a few more opinions and principles than Hollywood likes in its stars. His next step up could be a role in a TV movie written by his friend Bobby (Ian Bonar,) a minor screenwriter who's been the first person to offer him a role in which he'd be equal or senior to the white cast.

Theatre review: The Boy With Two Hearts

Phil Porter's The Boy With Two Hearts transfers to the Dorfman after originating last year at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff - appropriately enough, as that's the city where Hamed & Hessam Amiri, authors of the memoir Porter's play adapts, and their family made their home. But not before a rough journey: Beginning in 2000 in Afghanistan, where the Taliban are at their strongest, Hamed (Farshid Rokey) and Hessam's (Shamail Ali) mother Fariba (Houda Echouafni) speaks out publicly against the regime's treatment of women. She expects repercussions but doesn't realise they'll be so quick or so brutal: Within hours the local Taliban has sentenced her to death, and when husband Mohammed (Dana Haqjoo) refuses to give up her whereabouts he's lucky to escape with his life after getting "disappeared" for a while. The family manage to escape Herat for Moscow, but it's only the beginning of their journey.

Theatre review: The Solid Life of Sugar Water

Jack Thorne's enigmatically-titled The Solid Life of Sugar Water is likely to be the last thing I see at the National Theatre's Keith before it gets pulled down, and if so is a strong farewell to The Artist Formerly Known As Shed: Phil (Arthur Hughes) and Alice (Genevieve Barr) are a young married couple describing, in great detail, a rather awkward night of sex. The reason for their discomfort around each other is that this is the first time for them since their first child was stillborn. They're both worried about each other - Phil has noticed it's been a while since his wife last showered, while Alice isn't mentioning the fact that her husband hasn't been eating properly for weeks - but they're not sure how to speak to each other since their child's death. Looking back on both the highlights of their relationship so far, and their recent trauma, if they can get their sex life back on track everything else might follow.