Monday
It might not be the best time for clowns but don’t let that put you off Pickled Image’s Coulrophobia at the Tobacco Factory in Bristol. It’s about two clowns fighting their way out of a surreal cardboard world. The quietly wonderful circus show, Tipping Point, made by Ockham’s Razor, is at the Northcott in Exeter. Murder Ballad at the Arts theatre, London, isn’t flawless but is an intriguing and intimate take on the rock musical.
Tuesday
Simon Russell Beale plays Prospero, but will he be upstaged by the technology used to create the magical island in Greg Doran’s The Tempest for the RSC in Stratford? Clara Brennan’s likable and politically committed Spine is at the Royal Exchange Studio in Manchester for the rest of the week. It’s your last chance at the Traverse in Edinburgh for Rob Drummond’s tale of sacrifice, Grain in the Blood. At the Yard in Hackney Wick, Jay Miller directs Removal Men, a story about detention officers in an immigration removal centre.
Wednesday
Mind the Gap is an excellent company making work with learning-disabled artists and their latest show, Daughters of Fortune: Mia, is at the Arena in Wolverhampton, one of the few venues smart and brave enough to programme this work. Comus at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, London, is an oddity, a 17th-century masque, written by John Milton but it has many virtues in Lucy Bailey’s staging.
Thursday
Real Magic is the latest from Forced Entertainment at the brilliant new Attenborough Arts Centre in Brighton. Ontroerend Goed’s Edinburgh hit, World Without Us, imagining a world from which people have entirely disappeared, begins a long run at the Drum in Plymouth. Alice Childless’s Trouble in Mind stars Tanya Moodie and Joseph Marcell at the Ustinov in Bath. There’s a new one from Shelagh Stephenson at Live in Newcastle – it’s called Harriet Martineau Dreams of Dancing and is inspired by the life and work of the 19th-century feminist and anti-slavery campaigner. Rani Moorthy’s Whose Sari Now? considers the different meanings of that length of cloth at West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds. The role that men play in the changing landscape of Brexit Britain is explored in Manpower at the Lowry, Salford Quays, the latest from Two Destination Language whose Near Gone was so good.
Friday and the weekend
The Compass festival opens in Leeds tonight and has a terrific line-up including Rosana Cade with Walking: Holding, Deborah Pearson’s History, History, History , Lone Twin’s brilliant Spiral and much more. Cardboard Citizens’ Cathy, a response to Ken Loach’s Cathy Come Home, is at the Mercury in Colchester. On Saturday, Hope Mill in Manchester revives Hair, and Living Spit’s comedy version of Frankenstein goes into the Tropicana in Weston-super-Mare. On Sunday, Slung Low’s the Hub in Holbeck, Leeds plays host to Buglight’s The House Behind the Lines about the lives of first world war sex workers.
