Monday
The wonderful Rosalie Craig plays Rosalind in Polly Findlay’s revival of As You Like It at the Olivier. Steve Marmion directs Rita Kalnejais’ play about love and lust, First Love is the Revolution, at Soho theatre. I’ve not seen it, but clearly the Young Chekhov season at Chichester festival theatre is a must-see. Green Ginger’s family show Outpost is at the Bike Shed in Exeter, where the Trikes festival takes place all week across the city with shows for children including Tortoise and Hare, in which young audiences get to cook a meal. The National Railway Museum in York hosts this year’s Takeover festival, programmed and run entirely by under-25s, and featuring work for all ages, including a time-travelling journey, a musical excursion and more.
Tuesday
George Brant’s impressive Grounded, about an American female fighter pilot, is being revived at the Park theatre in London by the excellent Deafinitely Theatre in a production that incorporates British sign language. At the Yard, Lines – written by Pamela Carter and directed by Jay Miller – explores what it means to be a hero in times of war and peace. Fellswoop head into the New Diorama with Ghost Opera, a two-hander with a string quartet about the things that haunt us. It’s your last chance this week to see The Night Alive at the Lyric in Belfast. The Frequency festival in Lincoln includes Michael Pinchbeck’s The Man who Flew into Space from his Apartment, Tuesday only. Alfred Hickling loved Northern Broadsides’ revival of The Winter’s Tale, and you can catch it at the Everyman in Cheltenham from tonight. Kneehigh’s Dead Dog in a Suitcase goes into Warwick Arts Centre. Ans and Louise Van den Eede’s whimsical Where the World is Going, That’s Where We’re Going is at the Drum in Plymouth from tonight.
Wednesday
The Spill festival of performance begins at the Barbican with Karen Finley’s Written in the Sand, created at a time when treatments for Aids were ineffective. Barney Norris’s Arcola hit, Eventide, is out on tour, and you can catch it from tonight at the North Wall in Oxford. Jon Brittain’s new play Rotterdam considers gender and sexuality at Theatre 503. William Congreve’s Love for Love is revived at the Swan in Stratford-upon-Avon by the RSC. Laura Wade’s stage version of Sarah Waters’ Tipping the Velvet moves to the Royal Lyceum in Edinburgh. Dirty Protest’s Parallel Lines, about truth, power and class, sets out on tour at Pontardawe Arts Centre, before heading to Aberystwyth Arts Centre and the Galeri, Caernarfon, later in the week.
Thursday
There’s more from Spill,with work all afternoon and evening at Toynbee Studios, including intimate one-on-one shows from Ria Hartley and Dorothy’s Shoes. Most performances continue into and over the weekend, and there’s new work from Sarah Jane Norman, the Pacitti Company, FK Alexander and more. The Suspense festival of puppetry begins tonight and includes some seriously interesting examples of an undervalued art. It’s definitely not just for children, so check out the programme, which includes debauched cabaret, epics on a miniature scale and more. Alistair McDowell’s creepy and disorientating Pomona, brilliantly directed by Ned Bennett, heads into the Royal Exchange in Manchester. Deborah Bruce’s comedy of motherhood and expectations, The Distance, gets its regional premiere at Sheffield Crucible studio. Chris Goode’s Weaklings – not seen by me but admired by many – heads into the Axis Arts Centre in Crewe. Daniel Bye’s terrifically thoughtful Error 404, a piece for the over-eights is at Northern Stage in Newcastle, and the fabulous Beasty Baby for three- to six-year-olds is at the Polka in London.
Friday and the weekend
Fiona Buffini revives Webster’s bloody and glittering Jacobean revenge drama The Duchess of Malfi at Nottingham Playhouse. It’s your last chance today and tomorrow for Circus City in Bristol, and there’s more circus in Folkestone at the Quarterhouse on Friday and Saturday with Circus Mayhem, an evening of absurdity and slapstick. On Friday, head to the Palace in Paignton, where the brilliantly nurturing Doorstep Arts are hosting a scratch platform, discussion and a headline performance of Homeward Bound, a show about holding on to your dreams. The fine, learning-disabled-led company Lung Ha are at the Traverse in Edinburgh with Linda McLean’s Thingummy Bob, about remembering and forgetting. There is a terrific double bill at Camden People’s theatre tonight and tomorrow, with Leo Burtin’s The Midnight Soup playing the early slot and the immensely playful and empowering Don Quijote at 9pm. There’s nothing spooky about Every Brilliant Thing, which plays the Civic in Barnsley on Saturday night.
