Monday
The 15th birthday of Scratch is celebrated at Battersea Arts Centre, south London, until Thursday with new work being tried out every night under the title Freshly Scratched. It’s your last chance for Polina Kalinina’s youthfully exuberant Romeo and Juliet at the Tobacco Factory, Bristol, and you will have to get your skates on, too, for the fine revival of Laura Wade’s Posh at Salisbury Playhouse, both until Saturday. The Mughal India drama Dara also comes to the end of its run on Saturday at the National Theatre in London. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole is a quaint musical pleasure at the Curve in Leicester, also ending Saturday. Amy Mason’s Mass at Bristol Old Vic until Thursday asks “How do we deal with tragedy in a secular society?” Oh What a Lovely War is at the Belgrade in Coventry until Saturday.
Tuesday
Christopher Brett Bailey’s powerful and overwhelming This is How We Die is at the Bike Shed in Exeter until Saturday. The latest from Tamasha, Blood, a story of love and opposing desires, premieres at the Belgrade in Coventry, and runs until 11 April. National Theatre of Scotland collaborate on Take the Rubbish Out, Sasha, a Russian tale of changing times which is part of the A Play, a Pie and a Pint season at the Traverse, Edinburgh, until Saturday. Over in Glasgow, the highly praised revival of David Hare’s The Absence of War is at the Citizens, Glasgow until Saturday. Shared Experience swim into Clwyd Theatr, Mold, until Saturday with the fairytale-inspired Mermaid. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time tours into the Theatre Royal in Nottingham, also until Saturday.
Wednesday
Geoffrey Howe’s verbal assassination of Margaret Thatcher is revisited in the comedy revenge drama Dead Sheep at the Park theatre, north London, until 9 May. Ira Brand tries out new material in Break Yourself at Oval House, south London, until Saturday. Luca Rutherford hopes to change the way you live by talking about Learning How to Die, tonight only, at ARC in Stockton. Caroline Horton’s Penelope Retold reimagines military homecoming at Birmingham Rep tonight and tomorrow, and at the Lowry in Salford on Friday. Kai Fischer’s Last Dream (on Earth) at the Tron, Glasgow, until Saturday, considers impossible journeys on land, sea and in space. Cirque Eloize’s Cirkopolis is at the Edinburgh festival theatre, also until Saturday. Tom Adams’s Howl at the Moon visits the dark side of the moon using theatre, music, dance and comedy. It’s at South Street, Reading, tonight.
Thursday
The multimedia sci-fi thriller Pioneer, from Curious Directive, stops off at the Traverse in Edinburgh until Saturday. Another Edinburgh hit, Verity Standen’s terrific Hug, goes into the Southbank Centre, London, until Sunday. Three nights only for the intelligent civil liberties musical, Failed States, at the St James theatre, London, until Saturday.
Friday
Samantha Ellis’s Operation Magic Carpet, about knowing where you came from and where you are going, starts at the Polka theatre, south London, today. Lorne Campbell’s revival of Cyrano de Bergerac opens at the Royal and Derngate in Northampton. The spoken-word comic-book adventure My Father and Other Superheroes, written and performed by Nick Makoha, is at Greentop Circus in Sheffield at 2pm on Saturday.
