Monday
The TEAM’s RoosevElvis continues to delight at the Royal Court. Gary McNair’s coming-of-age story Donald Robertson Is Not a Stand Up Comedian is at Shoreditch Town Hall in London from tonight until Friday. The 10th-anniversary celebrations for Belarus Free Theatre continue with the world premiere of Time of Women at the Young Vic tonight and tomorrow, followed by King Lear on Wednesday and Thursday, and Being Harold Pinter on Friday and Saturday. It’s your last chance to see Kate Fleetwood’s mighty Medea at London’s Almeida. Emma Rice’s Kneehigh staging of Rebecca takes up residence at the Royal and Derngate in Northampton for the week. Kiln use headphone technology to explore how the brain works in A Journey Round My Skull, which goes out on tour from Farnham Maltings tonight, with dates this week at the Fire Station Windsor and the Marlborough in Brighton. It’s one night only at the Barbican in Plymouth for Rachel Mars’s The Lady’s Not for Walking Like an Egyptian, in which Margaret Thatcher’s speeches are set to 1980s top 10 hits.
Tuesday
James Fritz’s tale of teenagers in the digital world, Four Minutes Twelve Seconds, is at Trafalgar Studios in London. Pamela Carter’s Lines is definitely worth your time at The Yard in Hackney Wick, as is Rita Kalnejais’ First Love Is the Revolution at Soho theatre. Rhum and Clay’s very fine 64 Squares is a tense game of chess at London’s New Diorama. Meanwhile in north London, Grounded gets a fine revival by Deafinitely Theatre, using both English and British Sign Language, at the Park theatre. Hannah Silva is in action at the Albany in Deptford tonight and tomorrow in Schlock!, which draws on both Kathy Acker and Fifty Shades of Grey. Cathal Cleary’s revival of Enda Walsh’s Disco Pigs, originally seen at the Young Vic, is at Hertford theatre. Barney Norris’s elegy for a passing way of life, Eventide, is at the Tobacco Factory in Bristol until Saturday. I’ve seen versions of Score and Cloudcuckoolanders, which are both at Camden People’s theatre tonight and tomorrow, and are interesting, emerging young works.
Wednesday
The Radar festival begins at the Bush, west London, and this week it includes Christopher Brett Bailey’s cult hit This Is How We Die, Arinze Kene’s Misty and Simon Mole’s No More Worries. Also in west London, Beasty Baby is a sheer delight for the very young (and their parents) at the Polka theatre. The new circus-based show from Ockham’s Razor, Tipping Point, is at the Lowry in Salford until Saturday. Selina Thompson talks about her relationship to her hair in Dark and Lovely at Birmingham Rep from tonight. The gorgeous and gaudy Figs in Wigs Show Off is at Colchester Arts Centre tonight. Chris Urch’s underground drama Land of Our Fathers, set in a Welsh mine, is at Venue Cymru in Llandudno until Friday and at Aberystwyth Arts Centre on Saturday.
Thursday
Joel Horwood and Arthur Darvill’s musical version of I Want My Hat Back opens for the over-threes in the NT’s Temporary Space. Paddy Campbell’s hit, Day of the Flymo, is back at Live in Newcastle. Red Cape’s new show, Be Brave and Leave for the Unknown, inspired by the true stories of ordinary people in extraordinary situations, is on tour and stops off at Seaton Delaval Arts Centre tonight and the Queens Hall in Hexham on Friday and Saturday.
Friday and the weekend
The Just Like a Woman season of performances kicks off at Chelsea theatre as part of Sacred. Great lineups include the Famous Lauren Barri Holstein, Dickie Beau, Lois Weaver, Lucy Hutson, Roana Cade and Eilidh MacAskill. On Friday, Derby theatre hosts Chris Thorpe’s Confirmation, one of the best shows of last year, before it moves to Cast in Doncaster on Saturday night. Chris Goode’s Men in the Cities plays tonight and tomorrow at the Tobacco Factory in Bristol. On Saturday night, Tim Etchell’s A Broadcast/Looping Pieces, an improvised text and performance, joins Forced Entertainment’s The Notebook at BAC for just one night. Saturday also sees Jammy Voo at Derby theatre with the crazily enjoyable Hitchcock-inspired Birdhouse. Happy 10th birthday to the influential Miniaturists, who celebrate on Sunday at the Arcola with Miniaturists 54, featuring short works from Stephen Jeffreys, Owen McCafferty, James Fritz and more. You don’t have to leave the house for Live from Television Centre, which will be broadcast on Sunday night on BBC 4 and features work from Gecko, Touretteshero, Richard Dedomenici and Common Wealth.
