Storm in a tea room

MASTER HAROLD… AND THE BOYS

A beautifully measured staging (by Roy Alexander Weise) of South African writer Athol Fugard’s play, which draws on raw first-hand experience. It’s a portrait of a Port Elizabeth tea room circa 1950 where cross-racial amity exists between the proprietors’ teenage son and two black waiting staff – only for that to be exploded over the course of a rainy afternoon. Fugard explores the inhumanity of apartheid in a drama steeped in compassion, with wonderful performances from Lucian Msamati, Hammed Animashaun and theatrical debutant Anson Boon. National’s Lyttelton Theatre, London SE1 (020 7452 3000), until Dec 17

KING JOHN

Rosie Sheehy is affecting as Shakespeare’s failed king, but this production goes overboard with distracting Sixties-ish references. Swan Theatre, Stratfordupon-Avon (01789 331111), in rep until Mar 2020

A DAY IN THE DEATH OF JOE EGG

Peter Nichols’s loosely autobiographical, taboobusting play about a couple raising a severely disabled daughter feels more savagely true than ever. Toby Stephens, Claire Skinner and Patricia Hodge star; Simon Evans directs. Trafalgar Studios, London SW1 (020 7321 5400), until Nov 30

ON THE EDGE Hammed Animashaun and Anson Boon