I know of one acid test in the theatre. It is literally an acid test. When a performance is over, what remains? Fun can be forgotten, but powerful emotion also disappears and good arguments lose their thread. When emotion and argument are harnessed to a wish from the audience to see more clearly into itself – then something in the mind burns. The event scorches on to the memory an outline, a taste, a trace, a smell – a picture. It is the play’s central image that remains, its silhouette, and if the elements are highly blended this silhouette will be its meaning, this shape will be the essence of what it has to say. When years later I think of a striking theatrical experience I find a kernel engraved on my memory: two tramps under a tree, an old woman dragging a cart, a sergeant dancing, three people on a sofa in hell – or occasionally a trace deeper than any imagery.

The peace activist gunned down in front of the venue he helped found in the West Bank reminds us of the true value of the arts

Juliano Mer-Khamis: the man who died for theatre

Last year, Belarus Free Theatre performed Being Harold Pinter as part of the Hong Kong Arts Festival. It was a thought provoking and incredibly strong performance. The company are seen as dissidents in their own country and their work as challenging the state. These two videos are of Natalia Koliada, one of the founders of the company and are really worth watching for so many reasons, but especially the power of theatre to challange wrong and fight for right. Introduced by Jude Law