Monday
The Damon Albarn and Moira Buffini musical wonder.land, inspired by Lewis Carroll, was seen in Manchester earlier this year and is now at the National Theatre in London. Camden People’s theatre hosts Licensed to Ill about hip-hop pranksters the Beastie Boys. It’s your last chance for the clever, improvised musical Showstopper! at London’s Apollo on Shaftesbury Avenue. Theresa Heskins always does a good festive show at the New Vic in Newcastle-under-Lyme, and this year it’s Robin Hood and Marian. Redcape’s tales of everyday heroism, Be Brave and Leave for the Unknown, is at Bishop Auckland Town Hall tonight before heading to Hartlepool Town Hall on Thursday and Alnwick Playhouse on Friday. It’s the final week of the Radar festival at the Bush, where highlights include Steve Waters’ A Vulnerable Place, about landscape and climate change, and a first glimpse of Solo, the new one from Curious Directive.
Tuesday
It’s the last chance for Land of Our fathers, Chris Urch’s play about a mining disaster, set just before Thatcher gained power. It’s at Clwyd Theatr Cymru in Mold from tonight. Walrus Theatre’s Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons, the Edinburgh hit about a world where everyone is forced to say less, is at Camden People’s theatre from tonight. Christopher Brett Bailey’s This Is How We Die is at the Nuffield Lancaster tonight. Also in Lancaster, you can catch 2 Magpies’ The Litvineko Project. Northern Broadsides’ tour of The Winter’s Tale finishes with dates at the Viaduct in Halifax. Simon Armitage’s contemporary rewrite of Homer, The Odyssey: Missing Presumed Dead, finishes its tour at the Northcott in Exeter. Maxine Peake’s Beryl, about cycling legend Beryl Burton, is at Birmingham Rep. At the Print Room in London, The Table of Delights is a family-friendly show combining theatre and food.
Wednesday
Kim Cattrall stars in Penelope Skinner’s Linda, directed by Michael Longhurst at the Royal Court from tonight. The Howard Barker double bill of Judith and The Twelfth Battle of Isonzo is at the Arcola, directed by Robyn Winfield-Smith, who did such a great job with Barker’s Lot and his God.
Thursday
Caryl Churchill’s new play, Here We Go, is about death and its directed by Dominic Cooke in the Lyttelton. There’s a double bill at the Nuffield in Lancaster tonight with two crazily enjoyable shows: Figs in Wigs’ Show Off and Jamie Wood’s Beating McEnroe. Carrie Cracknell and Lucy Guerin’s dance-theatre version of Macbeth starts previewing at the Young Vic. Deborah Bruce’s The Distance arrives at the Orange Tree in Richmond by way of Sheffield. Around the World in 80 Days is directed by Lucy Bailey at the St James in Victoria. Fuel Theatre and Uninvited Guests’ This Last Tempest takes up where Shakespeare left off and is at Contact in Manchester tonight and tomorrow. The Tobacco Factory in Bristol has had a string of seasonal hits and this year they’ve got a brand new version of George MacDonald’s Victorian fairy tale The Light Princess.
Friday and the weekend
Hot on the heels of the first, the second major London revival of Barrie Keeffe’s Barbarians begins at the Young Vic. Sally Cookson is the director who just keeps on delivering, and at Bristol Old Vic she and the company are devising a gender-bending Sleeping Beauty. Paul Kerryson’s revival of Oliverx! should be a knees up at the Curve in Leicester. David Ireland has scripted Sleeping Betty, which opens at the Tron in Glasgow tonight. Bootworks’ new show for children, The Many Doors of Frank Feelbad, can be seen at Warwick Arts Centre on Saturday and Sunday. From Saturday, you can follow the yellow brick road at Northern Stage in Newcastle, where The Wonderful Wizard of Oz gets underway in a new version by Caroline Bird. Annie Siddons’ version of Rapunzel, originally produced by Kneehigh, is at the Citizens in Glasgow. Over in Edinburgh, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is on stage at the Royal Lyceum.
