Choice: Theatre

Frozen, Birmingham Rep Theatre (0121-236 4455) 7.30pm

Frozen, Birmingham Rep Theatre (0121-236 4455) 7.30pm

"I don't see any point writing plays about people having cups of tea." Where other writers have ploughed a straight furrow, the staggeringly prolific Bryony Lavery has displayed astonishing diversity. Her vivid theatrical imagination has led to comedies for the National Theatre of Brent, as well as the heart-rending Nothing Compares to You. More Light was a beautiful metaphor about the power of art, set in an Egyptian tomb, while Her Aching Heart was a gloriously funny Georgette Heyer-inspired lesbian bodice-ripper. Goliath was a grippingly realised dramatisation of the Nineties riots, with a cast of 17 all played by Nichola McAuliffe. Frozen is similarly preoccupied by huge acts of courage, the unfashionably moving subject of the triumph of ordinary people. Conversely, you have to be pretty extraordinary to persuade actors like Anita Dobson (above), Tom Georgeson and Josie Lawrence to do new work outside London, but that's who you'll find here. David Benedict