Theatre
Plastic
The nature of responsibility and what it really means to be grownup are explored in Marius von Mayenburg’s slippery satire set in the home of Michael, Ulrike and their troubled teen, Vincent. The adults have made such a botch of marriage and parenting that it’s left to new cleaner Jessica to spot the problems and clean up the mess. Matthew Dunster’s production gets perfect performances in a play that constantly shows up the squirm-inducing gap between liberal pieties and what is really meant.
Theatre Royal: Ustinov Studio, Bath, to 25 March
Othello
Shakespeare’s rather unlovely play has two fine revivals under way at the moment. At the Globe’s Sam Wanamaker Playhouse (SE1, to 22 Apr), Ellen McDougall offers a production that puts the women centre stage and lets us hear them speak, while in the Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory season in Bristol, Richard Twyman gives us a sharply pertinent reading of the play in which Othello is a Muslim and Iago skilled at using “alternative facts” for his own gain. It’s a terrific evening with newcomers Abraham Popoola and Norah Lopez Holden both beguiling as the doomed lovers, and Mark Lockyer outstanding as an all-too-plausible Iago.
Tobacco Factory, Bristol, to 1 April
An Inspector Calls
Stephen Daldry’s staging of JB Priestley’s thriller was called “visionary” a quarter of a century ago when it played at the National, and remains in fine shape. It still speaks to us, too, at a time when the gap between rich and poor is widening. But this is entertainment not a lecture, and Daldry – aided here by Ian MacNeil’s clever, collapsing doll’s house design – always ensures a good time.
Playhouse Theatre, WC2, to 25 March
La Strada
Director Sally Cookson brings a bittersweet hue to this stage version of Fellini’s film about a young girl sold by her poverty-stricken mother to a travelling strongman. Just as Cookson’s recent Jane Eyre and Peter Pan took inspiration from the originals without being in thrall to them, this doesn’t attempt to replicate the movie but rather makes something new from it.
The Oxford Playhouse, 21 to 25 March
Low Level Panic
First seen at the Royal Court in 1988, Clare McIntyre’s play about three women sharing a house was very much of its era. Chelsea Walker’s smart revival keeps it in period but reminds that this is a play for all time, reflecting the anxieties of young women about men and their own self-worth.
Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, to 25 March
Dance
Rosalind
The excellent James Cousins Company explores feminism and identity in this contemporary portrait of Shakespeare’s Rosalind, from As You Like It.
The Place, WC1, 18 March; Brewhouse, Taunton, 22 March; touring to 5 May
English National Ballet
ENB scores a coup in becoming the first UK company to perform Pina Bausch’s Rite of Spring. Also in the programme are works by William Forsythe and Hans van Manen.
Sadler’s Wells, EC1, 23 March to 1 April
MK Ultra
Rosie Kay’s latest work promises a darkly intense tour of a bizarre world of cults, conspiracy theory and celebrity.
Birmingham Repertory Theatre, 18 March; Lincoln Performing Arts Centre, 23 March; touring to 18 May
