Recommended by Sheila Cowley

What seems to be an everyday civic art unveiling becomes a moving and breathtaking moment of the power of imagination – and the power of art. I love that the mysterious piece of artwork is unseen, except in our own imaginations. And how beautiful that the audience becomes the art that the actors are moved by – such an intense connection.

Provocative and profound questions about women’s sexual desire and how it’s derailed by busy lives, self-image and fear of failure. Just three characters and all great roles for women - two conflicting scientists and one woman who plays everybody else. Creative ways of showing scientific work with visuals and sound, and a look at the ethics of new drug development. The most moving part is an honest range of women’s experiences with sex, ranging from boredom to hints of desire, to guiltily trying to please their partners, fearful disappointment and glorious, transporting joy. Bold and wonderful...

Such a beautiful, gentle, wonderfully theatrical retelling of Oedipus - but now with the point of view of his first wife, and his parents. A layered, magical exploration of fate and choice, blame and forgiveness, with a simple, perfect, lovely ending.

Wonderfully theatrical with multilayered roles and a fantastical junglegym set, this play faces up to complicated young women finding and creating ways to navigate sexual pressures, sexual prejudice, sexual abuse and their own sexuality. A richly rhythmic and visual script that hollers back at anyone who says girls need to be nice and quiet. Now more timely than ever.

This play is delightful and incredibly powerful. The dialogue is mile-a-minute gritty hilarious poetry, action-packed and profound.

It’s a play about fighting for who you want to be and what happens when you put off that fight.

The idea that you might never even see a basketball onstage is intriguing and it works, in a ferociously wonderful basketball play.

A beautiful and wrenching exploration of the trauma and post-traumatic stress suffered by Bosnian refugees - within a rousing, empowering, physically exciting play about a young woman who’s passionate about playing basketball.

A striking conversation-starter about strong women, female athletes, refugees and war, PTSD, rape, motherhood and sexual desire between teachers and students. And a fiery teenager taking action and trying hard to be a journalist, a very normal nerd who just happens to be in a wheelchair. All five characters are wonderfully complex.

This commedia dell’arte celebration of the post-disastrous present is gloriously absurd but utter truth. The wordplay is beautifully loony and the outrageous characters are human and complex.

Wildly theatrical and utterly over the top, but maybe that’s the only way to tackle war and climate change, by rolling around in the filth of it all and finding a way into a blackly hilarious desperate hope. The surrealist world of the play will be a joy for actors and audiences, directors and designers, and no one will be able to stop talking about it.

Mature and sensitive drama, as characters explore the complicated push and pull of commitment and divorce, forgiveness and regret. At times the dialogue is like a beautiful melodic fugue.

Outstanding. Bold, confident, hyper-realistic and at times surreal. A riveting look at lives in a Bronx housing project in the '70s that's all too current, as the playwright connects the failed and fiery hopes and small victories of a family to slaves longing for freedom and movie stereotypes of African Americans. Strong, engaging characters in seamless scenes that end at the perfect moment. Full of naturally erupting music, movement and spectacle, this will be a thought-provoking and exhilarating piece of theatre.

What at first seems like yet another pair of bickering hit men quickly becomes a fast-paced dark and physical torrent of emotion - exploring gay men, Catholicism, bleak realities and redemption. Three surprising, strong characters, an unpredictable plot and slowly unraveling truths force their way to a shattering end.