When she broke through the glass ceiling and became chancellor, Reeves found her office had its own latrine. Rosie Holt reveals why she turned the story into a play called Churchill’s Urinal

From Stewart Lee in his wolf costume to Werner Herzog’s big steak sizzle-up, artists are now under huge duress to ‘chase the algorithm’ and reach audiences. Many of them are hitting burnout – and hitting back

He was a genius of improvised music, a performer who abandoned composition – and wondered why anyone would buy his records. Comedian Stewart Lee celebrates the eccentric life of his great inspiration

Morphing from shock-jock lupine to hand-wringing liberal, Lee lambasts the comedy of cruelty in scathing, slapstick style

Benefitting from a Scottish cast and a rewritten Porter’s speech by Lee, Wils Wilson’s production gets at the demonic drive of people desperate for power but hopeless in office

You can spend the next few weeks under the duvet and in front of the telly, or enjoy world-class art, theatre, music, film and standup – here’s an event for each of the next 31 days

Phil Wang makes a heroic return, Ian McKellen stars in a balletic Hamlet and Sophie Duker is gleefully carefree. Here are our picks of the festival’s comedy, theatre and dance