Monday
There are two more weeks for Alistair Beaton’s satire Fracked! at the Minerva in Chichester. In London, don’t miss Unreachable at the Royal Court, Into the Woods at the Menier Chocolate Factory and Faith Healer at the Donmar. And head to The Hobbit at Williamson Park in Lancaster and The Mighty Waltzer at the Royal Exchange in Manchester. (Also, Mark Storor fans take note that the Royal Exchange hosts his community play Little Sister at the beginning of August – which if I wasn’t in Edinburgh I’d be racing to see.) This week is one of your last chances to see Richard III at the Almeida; it closes 6 August. Young Chekhov and The Deep Blue Sea should both keep you happy at the National Theatre.
Tuesday
It’s also your last chance to catch two mighty shows: Charlene James’s Cuttin’ It, a devastating piece about female genital mutilation, that finishes its tour at the Yard in London, and Emma Rice’s beautiful The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk, which is at Kneehigh’s Asylum tent at the Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall until Sunday. Little Bulb are in action at Battersea Arts Centre, opening the London venue’s new outdoor theatre space with Extravaganza Macabre, featuring a scheming villain, two luckless lovers and a clairvoyant maid. Ferment festival is underway at Bristol Old Vic, featuring established companies such as Theatre Ad Infinitum along with emerging talent; it’s well worth taking a punt. Two Gentlemen of Verona continues until Sunday at the Bodleian Library’s Old Schools Quad in Oxford.
Wednesday
The Making Mischief festival begins at the studio at the Other Place in Stratford-upon-Avon, with Fraser Grace’s Always Orange and Somalia Seaton’s Fall of the Kingdom, Rise of the Foot Soldier. They will be joined in early August by Alice Birch’s Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again before it heads to Edinburgh.
Thursday
I loved Simon Stone’s version of The Wild Duck at the Barbican in London in 2014. Now he turns his attention to Federico García Lorca’s Yerma, which is at the Young Vic from tonight and relocates the story to contemporary London. It stars Billie Piper. The Watermill’s Watership Down was lovely, so let’s hope the Newbury venue can deliver again with the Gershwin musical Crazy for You. The future of British politics is the timely subject of Powder Keg’s Morale Is High (Since We Gave Up Hope), which predicts the future between now and the 2020 UK election – it’s at the Bureau Centre for the Arts in Blackburn tonight and Fuel Café in Withington on Saturday. Diary of a Madman previews at the Gate before heading to the Traverse in Edinburgh.
Friday and the weekend
The National Theatre’s outdoor programme of free events is sorely missed, but today sees the return of its river stage in the first of five weekends of dance, music and performance in partnership with Latitude, Mayfest and others – this weekend east London alternative cabaret the Glory fills the stage. The Rivals joins the rep at the Theatre by the Lake in Keswick, which also includes Rona Munro’s excellent Iron and Anne Carson’s version of Elektra.
