Edward Albee's 1966 country house comedy is a still startling mix of bizarre story-telling, sozzled sarcasm, unnamed terror and ruminations on friendship and alcohol.

Audiences are unhappy about the vanishing big names in the West End

The songwriter Stephen Sondheim is to be honoured at this year's Laurence Olivier Awards.

Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Ralph Fiennes

Part of Jane Austen’s greatness is something that Mike Leigh also demonstrates in his magnificent new film

Bitterly witty, his film about ageing is compelling

Starring: Jim Broadbent, Ruth Sheen, Lesley Manville, David Bradley

As Mike Leigh's new film, Another Year, is released, James Mottram explores the rigorous processes behind the performances his work is famed for, while stars reveal the demands involved.

Mike Leigh makes a triumphant return to the festival

Ridley Scott's new version of 'Robin Hood' is a heavy-handed way to open the most important festival in cinema's year

This year's focus on high-minded fare, including Jean-Luc Godard's comeback, will at least appeal to serious cinephiles

Lots under the bonnet

It is August, 1844. Mr Buxton (Jonathan Pryce) is a newcomer to the Cheshire town of Cranford, and he threatens to bring lots of alarming new-fangled ideas with him. He asks Miss Matty Jenkyns (Judi Dench), the pillar of the local community, about a trendy new dance: "have you heard of waltzing?" A look of horror, if not revulsion, passes across Miss Matty's face as she replies, "it is not a form of dancing we have experienced in Cranford."

Helen Mirren won an Oscar as Elizabeth II and now five more actresses are to play her on television. Is it time to re-bottle the monarch's mystique? By Gerard Gilbert