Kevin Sherwin

With music/lyrics by Mark Palmer and book/direction by Phillip McMahon, I'm Your Man aims, to quote Palmer's note in the programme, 'to lay bare the plurality of the human psyche'; as one might gather from that, it's not exactly a laugh riot.

As stand-up comedians go, James Acaster has got to rank among the more unusual. Skulking around the stage like a demented hyena (not that I can claim to have seen one of those), he's almost as entertaining to watch as to listen to.

'Magnificent' is how a friend of mine described Underneath. He added that it is, in his opinion, 'what theatre should be'.

A peculiar but undeniably enjoyable fifty minutes awaits in the Pleasance Courtyard's 'That' space at this year's Fringe

The Best New Musical category seems tighter than usual this year - of the four nominees, I can see three of them winning (sorry, Sunny Afternoon) but my money is on Memphis.

While perhaps not a vintage year, 2014 brought with it several theatrical delights and at least one colossal stinker. And as always, there was a handful of shows I wish I'd seen but never quite managed to.

Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's Assassins is the kind of show that, with its precise historical reference points and barely pronounceable surnames, makes you feel smarter just for looking at it.

As the voting deadline approaches, it's all to play for in this year's BroadwayWorld UK Awards…

There's a popular theory that, in order to have a good chance at success, a new West End musical must be based either on a well-known film or on the back catalogue of a well-known music act - or in the case of The Bodyguard, both - and indeed, if you were to cast your eye over a list of hits and flops over the past few years, you might be inclined to agree. But then there's Memphis.

Even as ritual humiliation goes, this is particularly cruel: a group of US marines, in San Francisco for one last night in 1963 before they head to war, initiate a game whereby each must lure the least attractive girl they can find to a party, with money in the pot for whoever brings the 'ugliest' date. Though fairly simplistic, the premise of Dogfight - making its European debut at the Southwark Playhouse - is an instantly intriguing one and a highly effective set up for the pathos that's to come.

Is it annoying if I? If my sentences never seem to? And for an hour, could you? Welcome to Show 6, a play in which no single sentence is allowed enough words for it to make sense, but which seems convinced of its importance, for one reason or another.

It gives me no pleasure whatsoever to write this but if you ask me, Theatre Ad Infinitum have dropped the ball. Their annual must-see status in the Pleasance Dome is completely justified, which makes it all the more baffling that their 2014 production is as leaden and, well, shonky as it is.

I'll admit it: I'm a fan of a theatrical gimmick. Generally speaking, a production that has a bit of a high-concept twist that can be summed up in ten words or less is in with a good shot at a positive review from me. And so, White Rabbit Red Rabbit, with its pitch of 'actor opens envelope and performs play without ever reading it' was already off to a good start.

Thanks to director Ray Rackham's gentle, uncluttered approach, a bouncy score played wonderfully by musical director Thomas Lees and a small but strikingly talented cast of four, this brisk 80-minute soujourn to the Big Apple is consistently and undeniably enjoyable.

Some people call Grease 2 a guilty pleasure. Many more consider it to simply be a bad film. And then there's the rest of us: people who come across it at an early age (often too young to understand what the 'Reproduction' lyrics we like to sing at the dinner table mean), genuinely love it to pieces and never let it go, who at various points in our lives come across fellow fans - there is no quicker bond - with whom we can recite the dialogue and sing the songs, fuelling our shared fervour, and on and on it goes.

When it comes to the question of what I'm most looking forward to in 2014, I have but three words: Grease. Two. Live.

Reviewing a dance show when one's expertise in the area is negligible at best is a slightly daunting prospect and so, a disclaimer: this review will include no technical terms whatsoever because I don't know any. That said, the opportunity to see four new dance pieces without any prior knowledge was an exciting one.

It's probably fair to say I didn't approach this screening from the most objective of standpoints: having seen the West End production of 'Merrily We Roll Along' four times, and having wanted to fit a few more trips in before it closed, I was already very much on board with the general critical consensus, overwhelmingly positive as it was.

The Herd is an entirely engrossing, emotional affair which offers a window on a situation which is relatively unique, but one that is experienced in a very real way by characters who will immediately resonate with anyone who has ever had a family.

The London theatre scene has got plenty to shout about this Autumn, with plenty of interesting stuff on the way. Kevin Sherwin has a look at what we've got to look forward to.