Articles by Arifa Akbar

Troilus and Cressida review – history repeats as farce in Pythonesque takedown of ancient heroes

Achilles is a slob and Ajax is a meathead in Owen Horsley’s streamlined production, which is bursting with invention and comic inversions

Uprooted review – the female fightback against the exploitation of Latin America

Ephemeral Ensemble’s atmospheric but unfocused follow-up to Rewind depicts the west’s ecologically ruinous colonisation of Latin America from a feminist perspective

Hamlet review – a cocky prince of infinite jest runs riot at the National

Hiran Abeysekera brings humour to the tragedy and Francesca Mills steals the show as Ophelia but this staging pulls its emotional punches

Lee review – portrait of the artist stepping out of Jackson Pollock’s shadow

Painter Lee Krasner’s rivalry with her husband is laid bare in an affecting play about a relationship both loving and riddled with hostility