Monday
What do we value and have we got our priorities right? Those are the questions posed in Shôn Dale-Jones’s unmissable The Duke which is at the Royal Court all week. The terrific Trouble in Mind at the Ustinov in Bath includes another sizzler of a performance from Tanya Moodie as a black actor in 1950s America who starts to speak her mind. It’s your last chance for A Pacifist’s Guide to the War on Cancer at the National Theatre’s Dorfman stage. Sinbad the Sailor is Theatre Royal Stratford East’s panto for those who want to set sail. James Bridie’s Dr Angelus gets its first English production in 70 years at the Finborough.
Tuesday
The Donmar’s Shakespeare Trilogy at King’s Cross theatre is astonishing and deeply moving. Hair at Manchester’s Hope Mill is a great night out. Johnny McKnight’s panto extravaganza The Snaw Queen opens at the Tron in Glasgow. Luke Sheppard, who directed In the Heights, is at the helm for the Tony award-winning Peter and the Starcatcher at the Royal and Derngate in Northampton.
Wednesday
Baz Luhrmann’s first movie becomes musical theatre as Strictly Ballroom gets its UK premiere at West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds with the superb Drew McOnie directing and choreographing. Travelling Light’s Boing! is delightful dance theatre for the under-sixes at the Unicorn, London. Patricide is considered by Franco-Uruguayan playwright Sergio Blanco in Thebes Land at the Arcola, Dalston. It’s your last chance for Andy Smith’s The Preston Bill which stops off tonight only at the Old Fire Station in Carlisle. Xavier de Sousa explores what it means to be a migrant in the UK in Post at Ovalhouse, south London, from tonight. The Beastie Boys are celebrated in Licensed to Ill at Southwark Playhouse from tonight.
Thursday
The People Show are at Toynbee Studios, east London, over the next three days with performances, films and conversations celebrating the company’s 50th anniversary. It should be fascinating, anarchic and huge fun and will include the premiere of The People Show 132: The Story of Us. The Gulbenkian in Canterbury hosts Lost Dog’s excellent one-man staging of Paradise Lost (Lies Unopened Beside Me). Alexander Wright of Belt Up and the Flanagan Collective directs an immersive version of The Great Gatsby at Moor Theatre Delicatessen in Sheffield.
Friday and the weekend
Roald Dahl’s The Witches, originally seen last year in Leicester, opens at West Yorkshire Playhouse. Sally Cookson’s Cinderella: a Fairytale is a total delight and its back at the Tobacco Factory in Bristol. Up the road at Bristol Old Vic, Vivienne Franzmann’s The Snow Queen reimagines Hans Christian Andersen. Little Red and the Big Bad Wolf is the Christmas offering from Action Transport at the Unity in Liverpool. Saddle up for Black Beauty, the family show at the Traverse in Edinburgh. Peter Pan begins at the Northcott in Exeter. Little Bulb’s The Night That Autumn turned to Winter is at Battersea Arts Centre from Saturday and it’s a delight for the under-sevens. Also on Saturday, Sweet Charity is revived at the Royal Exchange in Manchester.
