Theatre
1 Rotterdam
Alice has been living in Rotterdam for seven years, unable to tell her parents that she is gay and in a relationship with Fiona. But, just when she is on the brink of coming out to them, Fiona announces that she is transgender and from now on wants to be known as Adrian. This small, sparky play announces playwright Jon Brittain – best known for Margaret Thatcher Queen of Soho – as a significant talent.
Arts theatre, WC2, to 15 July
2 On the Town
The plot in Leonard Bernstein’s 1944 musical about three sailors making the most of 24 hours’ leave in New York during the second world war is so thin it’s barely visible. But Drew McOnie’s revival absolutely captures the exhilaration of being young and looking for love when time is short. McOnie’s production has an underlying sense of mortality about it: tomorrow these lads will go back to their ship and there is no certainty that they will survive; today they want to dance.
The Open Air theatre, NW1, to 1 July
3 An Octoroon
The revitalised Orange Tree has another hit on its hands with this teasing and often angry play about race. American playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins has taken Dion Boucicault’s once widely performed Victorian melodrama The Octoroon, about the relationship between a white man from the deep south and a woman with black ancestry, and thrown it up into the air. Directed in style by Ned Bennett, this is a sharply satiric and cartoonish take on attitudes to race and its representation.
Orange Tree theatre, Richmond upon Thames, to 1 July
4 La Strada
Its your last chance to see Sally Cookson’s reimagining of Fellini’s famed movie. It tells of how Gelsomina is sold by her mother to a travelling showman, and offers a bittersweet and touchingly poignant evening exploring the beauty in the harshness of everyday life. Cookson has developed into one of the great theatrical storytellers and this shy, unassuming show is a real pleasure.
The Other Palace, SW1, to 8 July
5 The Mentor
F Murray Abraham is the draw in Daniel Kehlmann’s play about a playwright who is invited to mentor a younger writer, Martin. His charge hero-worships the older man but that doesn’t stop the dinosaur from laying into his protege. Translated by Christopher Hampton, this is a piece that develops into an elegant examination of the function and value of art.
Vaudeville theatre, WC2, 24 June to 2 September
Dance
1 Les Ballets C de la B: Nicht Schlafen
Unclassifiable theatre maker Alain Platel returns with a darkly surreal dance inspired by Gustav Mahler, exploring the political turbulence of Europe in the early 20th century.
Sadler’s Wells, EC1, 30 June to 1 July
2 National Youth Dance Company
Thirty-nine young dancers perform Damien Jalet’s Tarantiseismic, a dynamic piece of dance-theatre that examines themes of abandon, ritual and control.
Plymouth University: The House, 25 June; touring to 20 July
3 8 Minutes
Alexander Whitley’s fascination with science deepens in this collaboration with solar scientists, which sees him explore the forces that drive our universe.
Sadler’s Wells, EC1, 27-28 June
