The Merchant Of Venice
Acting alongside his daughter Phoebe, Jonathan Pryce is the real draw in this revival of Jonathan Munby’s 2015 Globe production of the problematic play. A performance of electrifying complexity, which mixes vulnerability with indignation and a large dose of domestic tyranny, Pryce’s Shylock is one that will linger in the memory.
Liverpool Playhouse, Sat to 16 Jul
Needles And Opium
Originally devised as a solo show, theatrical conjuror Robert Lepage returns to a piece made early in his career. Staged in a tilting cube and reconceived for two performers, it stitches together stories of artists abroad with the idea of love as a drug. Lepage draws on his own lovelorn state, but at the piece’s heart are the stories of jazz luminary Miles Davis’s visit to Paris in 1949, which led to a love affair and heroin habit, and Jean Cocteau’s equally traumatising trip to the US in the same year, and his addiction to opium.
Barbican Theatre, EC2, to 16 Jul
KlangHaus: On Air
This collaboration between art-rock band the Neutrinos and visual artist Sal Pittman popped up in the music section of the 2014 Edinburgh fringe. But it’s theatre in every sense, applying the techniques of immersive performance to the live gig to make something unique. Part of the appeal in Edinburgh was the way the show fed off the atmosphere of the disused animal hospital where it was staged. The experience will be different in the foyer spaces of the Southbank Centre, but it is unlikely to be any less of a sensory surprise.
Southbank Centre, SE1, Sat to 29 Jul
Our Ladies Of Perpetual Succour
Lee Hall has always had the popular touch, creating shows such as Spoonface Steinberg and Billy Elliot that capture the voices of the young and overlooked. His adaptation of Alan Warner’s cult 1998 novel The Sopranos, about a group of schoolgirls on a choir trip to Edinburgh, is another case in point. The musical arrangements, from choral to pop, give real emotional ballast to a tale of raging hormones, risky encounters, alcoholic excess and singing until your heart bursts.
Palace Theatre, Kilmarnock, Sat; Theatre Royal, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tue to 16 Jul; touring to 1 Oct
The Flying Lovers Of Vitebsk
Emma Rice’s melancholic and exuberant swansong for Kneehigh considers the lives of Marc and Bella Chagall, whose love affair took place against some of the most momentous events of the 20th century, from the Russian revolution to the Holocaust.
Nuffield Theatre, Southampton, Sat; Lost Gardens Of Heligan, nr Saint Austell, Thu to 28 Jul
