1 Hug
Polyphonic singing has the ability to make it feel as if you are being massaged by sound, and Verity Standen uses it to brilliant effect in this intimate piece. A small blindfolded audience sit in a room as choristers enter and perform. But things take a more startling turn as each member of the audience is hugged by one of the singers, who holds them tight for more than 20 minutes while continuing to sing. The music seems to seep into every corner of your body in a unique and moving experience.
Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol, Mon to Thu; touring to 10 Sep
2 Cuttin’ It
If you ever doubted that female genital mutilation regularly takes place in the UK, Charlene James’s devastating two-hander will make you think again. Two schoolgirls born in Somalia but living in England strike up a tentative friendship. Both bear scars that cannot be seen and their lives soon become more closely entwined. Beautiful performances, smart design and vivid writing make this an unforgettable evening.
Crucible Studio, Sheffield, Wed to 23 Jul
3 The Truth
The third play from the talented French playwright Florian Zeller to hit these shores in less than two years, this is a ruthless and very funny account of the treacheries of the human heart and the self-deceptions of two adulterous couples. It owes a debt to Harold Pinter’s Betrayal, but offers its own distinctive take on the lies we tell each other and spin to ourselves.
Wyndham’s Theatre, WC2, to 3 Sep
4 Faith Healer
Lyndsey Turner delivers a damply compelling version of Brian Friel’s brilliantly slippery 1979 play, which takes the form of a series of monologues that tell the same story from differing perspectives. It’s a play that requires top-notch performances and it gets them here. Stephen Dillane is mesmerising as Frank, the faith healer who appears to be both occasional miracle-worker and full-time conman. Gina McKee is heartbreaking as Frank’s anguished wife and Ron Cook, as his manager, captures the chipper spirit of the down-at-heel showman.
Donmar Warehouse, WC2, to 20 Aug
5 Funny Girl
Hurrah! Sheridan Smith is back on stage and is once again socking it to audiences in her own inimitable style as Fanny Brice. In Jule Styne and Bob Merrill’s bio-musical, Brice is a despised no-hoper who rises to become a Ziegfeld star, and Smith makes her a bewitching character. It’s by no means a great musical but this revival has undeniable fizz.
