The Week on Stage: From the ‘defiant’ Glad Game to a glittering Anna Karenina

A devastatingly defiant rallying cry, two stars capable of selling an absurdist farce, and Tolstoy updated to a contemporary world of neon outfits and disco-balls

Clockwise (from left): ‘The Glad Game’, ‘Anna Karenina’, ‘The Chairs' (Graeme Braidwood/Marc Brenner/Helen Murray)

The Glad Game – Hampstead Theatre ★★★★☆

When Phoebe Frances Brown arrives on stage at the Hampstead Theatre, she isn’t hiding anything. Brown was diagnosed in 2018 with incurable brain cancer and as she greets the audience, she admits that she’s probably going to cry – and reassures us it’s OK if we cry too. There are also practical considerations to be discussed. Brown stays seated throughout the performance, a script on her knee and a table of snacks to her side. The tumour sits on the part of her brain that controls speech and memory and she’s tired from the radiotherapy, chemo and steroids.