Monday
Nikolai Foster’s fine revival of Jonathan Harvey’s Beautiful Thing is at the Curve in Leicester. A teenage vampire needs feeding in the creepy Cuddles at the Barbican in Plymouth as part of the Plymouth fringe. There is lots of work from emerging artists: I’ve heard good things about Bea Roberts’s Infinity Pool. The clever pub-based drama Early Doors is at Harrogate theatre this week as part of the 2’s Company festival of intimate theatre experiences.
Tuesday
Odd Comic and Emilia Weber and Claire Healey provide this week’s double bill at the Yard. Circus Geeks: Beta Testing checks into the Udderbelly festival on London’s South Bank. Greyscale’s enormously affecting Gods are Fallen and All Safety Gone continues at Camden People’s Theatre. The Place is in residence at Battersea Arts Centre in London all this week with a raft of really great sounding shows including Lost Dog’s Paradise Lost (Lies Unopened Beside Me), Igor & Moreno’s Idiot-Syncrasy, Robert Clark’s Promises of Happiness and, on Saturday, a scratch from Inua Ellams and Tony Adigun. Also at BAC from tonight: Like Mother, Like Daughter asks what the most important thing is that a mother can pass on to her daughters. Oh, What a Lovely War finishes its epic tour at the New Wimbledon theatre. It’s your last chance too for Jonathan Miller’s revival of King Lear for Northern Broadsides, which plays its final dates at the New Vic in Newcastle under Lyme. Cora Bissett and Yusra Warsama’s examination of FGM in Rites is at the Traverse in Edinburgh. Geoff Thompson’s boxing monologue, The Pyramid Texts, is at Birmingham Rep. Nick Payne’s Constellations is at Bristol Old Vic. Believe me, Every Brilliant Thing will be brilliant at the Dukes in Lancaster tonight.
Wednesday
Duncton Wood is a new British musical by Mark Carroll and James Peries at the Union in London. Another unknown quantity, but looking interesting, is Shelter Me, a circus-inspired piece about social networks at Theatre Delicatessen in London. James Dacre’s robust, candlelit King John moves into Salisbury Cathedral as part of the Salisbury festival. Wot? No Fish!! is all pleasure in Danny Braverman’s excavation of his family heritage and it’s at the Sherman in Cardiff for the rest of the week. Chris Thorpe’s Confirmation shouldn’t be missed at the Royal Exchange Studio in Manchester.
Thursday
The story of Jane Avril, star of the Moulin Rouge, immortalised in Toulouse-Lautrec’s posters, is told in Nicola McCartney’s Crazy Jane at the Tron in Glasgow from tonight in a production by Birds of Paradise. At the Orange Tree in Richmond, Adam Barnard considers why time always runs out in Buckets. Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore is staged by the Ninagawa Company at the Barbican in London. The Pulse festival begins in Ipswich with Idle Motion’s That is all You Need to Know. Other highlights over the next few days include Action Hero’s Wrecking Ball, Christopher Brett Bailey’s This Is How We Die and much more. A great place to see emerging artists turning into butterflies.
Friday
Robert Icke’s new version of Oresteia is in preview at the Almeida in north London. The circus show Bromance brings male friendship and competitiveness to Oxford Playhouse tonight and tomorrow. Also tonight and tomorrow, a chance to see Greg Wohead’s darkly unsettling The Ted Bundy Project at Chapter Arts in Cardiff. Eggs Collective crack up one last time with Get a Round at Derby theatre on Saturday night.
