MARIA DUARTE is swept along by the cocky self-belief of a ping-pong hustler in a surprisingly violent drama

STEVE ANDREW recommends a lively and often moving guide to once vibrant spaces that have been abandoned or swept away

GEOFF BOTTOMS appreciates the local touch brought to a production of Dickens’s perennial classic

MARY CONWAY is disappointed by a production whose design and cartoonish acting overwhelms the close scrutiny of characters

SUSAN DARLINGTON enjoys the raucous familiarity of a traditional topsy-turvy pantomime

RON JACOBS introduces the latest novel by the best writer of US working-class fiction writing today