The signs are glaring, a figurative and literal Chekhov's gun, it's a car crash in slow motion and you can't look away. 

There is a heartbreaking inevitability to Florian Zeller's play The Son which is currently on at the Kiln Theatre.

Nicolas (Laurie Kynaston), a once bubbly teenager has become withdrawn since his parent's divorce. He lies, skips school and his behaviour has started to frighten his mother Anne (Amanda Abbington).

Moving in with his father Pierre (John Light) and new wife Sofia (Amaka Okafor), it is hoped, will return him to his old self.

Denial or ignorance?

Anne talks about Nicolas being ill, his father believes it is 'a phase' but whether through denial, fear of stigma or ignorance neither addresses what is obviously wrong with their son.

Jesus Hopped The 'A' Train is gripping from start to finish, laced with black humour and a play that will have you questioning your reactions and beliefs.

At the interval, I turned to Poly and said: 'This isn't going to have a happy ending is it?'.

How Jesus Hopped The A Train pans out isn't quite how you imagine, or perhaps it is but that's the genius of Stephen Adly Guirgis' writing, he has a way of twisting the way you look at things.

Set in a New York prison, Angel (Ukweli Roach) is awaiting trial having shot a cult leader 'in the ass' in order to rescue his brain-washed friend.

Holding a smoking gun

His lawyer (Dervla Kirwan) prides herself in turning around the most open and shut cases which is good for Angel because he's holding a smoking gun and his charge sheet is about to get more serious.

While spending his hour a day out of his cell, Angel meets Lucius (Oberon K. A. Adjepong), a notorious murderer fighting a transfer to Florida where he'll face the death penalty.

The play explores faith, justice and what it means to be good.

Arthur Miller's Depression-era drama The American Clock isn't revived very often - is it unfairly overlooked?

There is a sort of central narrative following the once wealthy Baum family, who lose everything in the Great Depression and are forced to give up their Manhatten apartment and move in with relatives in Brooklyn.

This is peppered with vignettes showing events elsewhere in the city and elsewhere in America - farmers fixing foreclosure auctions to keep their farms, for example.

Despite committed performances by Blanchett and Dillane, there is something cold and mechanical to what is going on.

Cate Blanchett is clever casting for Martin Crimp's new play When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other at the National Theatre because without her I very much doubt it would have sold out before it opened.

I'm putting my hand up and admit it was her casting that persuaded me to buy tickets, it certainly wasn't the fact that the play is written by Martin Crimp - the last of his I saw I tried to fall asleep to escape the boredom.

But even the thrill of seeing the Oscar/Golden Globe/BAFTA winner on the stage couldn't elevate what was a tedious two hours at the theatre.

Anouilh's humour doesn't ignite as well as it probably should but The Orchestra is otherwise an interesting snapshot of a period of social history that is often overlooked.

Stefania Licari (Suzanne Delicias). Photo: Jacob Malinski

Set just after WWII, Jean Anouilh's black comedy The Orchestra is set in a French café during an evening performance when the harmony in the playing isn't matched by the musicians' conversations between pieces.

Mme. Hortense (Amanda Osborne), the leader of the orchestra flirts with piano player M. Leon (Pedro Casarin) which inflames jealousy in his lover Suzanne (Stefania Licari).

And while the tension increases between the three, the rest of the orchestra bicker, show off and complain about their lives.

She may be in a distinctly chilly New York but that didn't stop @polyg spotting the announcement that one of my favourite actors, Clive Owen, is taking to the West End stage in the Summer.

His last stage outing pre-dates my obsession with theatre but I've been a huge fan of his screen work since Chancer and Close My Eyes back in the early 90s.

To make this announcement even more exciting he is co-starring alongside the fantastic Lia Williams and it's a Tennessee Williams play I've yet to see - The Night of the Iguana.

It opens on 6 July at the Noel Coward Theatre with tickets on sale from Feb 5 according to What's On Stage.

But there is more.