Monday
The Crystal, a new venue in east London, hosts The Enlightenment Café: New Atlantis which promises immersive theatre about climate change set in a world where Miami has been abandoned to the sea. In the London International Mime festival I can thoroughly recommend Mat Ricardo’s artful and mystique-shattering juggling piece, Showman, at the Southbank Centre until Wednesday. A transfer from the Ustinov in Bath, Bad Jews examines Jewish identity through humour at the St James theatre.
Tuesday
Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag is performed by Maddie Rice at the Tobacco Factory in Bristol – it’s a crackingly entertaining but also ultimately affecting tale of a young woman adrift. Filter’s latest reimagining of Shakespeare, Macbeth, starts a run at the Citizens theatre in Glasgow. Dara, Tanya Ronder’s adaptation of Shahid Nadeem’s play about two brothers fighting for the right to succeed their emperor father in Mughal India, begins in the Lyttelton. Women working in the Silvertown munitions factory during the first world war are the subject of Out of the Cage, which starts at the Park theatre.
Wednesday
Ferment Fortnight begins at Bristol Old Vic with work this week from FellSwoop, The Wardrobe Ensemble and plenty more. Invisible City, a story of loneliness and longing, is at Chapter Arts in Cardiff tonight and tomorrow. A PowerPoint presentation and not much else is needed for Chris Dobrowolski’s much-admired story of communism and consumerism All Roads Lead to Rome, at South Street Arts in Reading tonight only. Theatre Re premiere their new show, Blind Man’s Song, inspired by René Magritte’s paintings, at Jackson’s Lane. Tom Stoppard’s latest, The Hard Problem, starts previewing in the Dorfman at the National. Tried out downstairs at the Hampstead theatre, Peter Souter’s romantic comedy Hello/Goodbye is now on the main stage.
Thursday
The Money, Kaleider’s psychologically slippery, revealing and sometimes toe-curling show in which the audience have to decide how to spend a real pot of cash, is great fun and it’s at Exeter Guildhall tonight and tomorrow. Highly recommended. Amelia Bullmore’s story of female friendship, Di and Viv and Rose, with Tamzin Outhwaite, Samantha Spiro and Jenna Russell, takes up residence at the Vaudeville. I haven’t seen the one-woman comedy Happy Birthday Without You at the Tricycle but it includes cake. More theatre should include cake.
Friday and the weekend
What happened when Caliban and Ariel were left alone on an island at the end of The Tempest? The wonderful Uninvited Guests investigate in This Last Tempest at the Unity theatre in Liverpool tonight and tomorrow. Top young French circus talent takes to the stage at the Southbank Centre tonight through Sunday with Oktobre (France), a mad tea party featuring an acrobat, a trapeze artist and a neurotic magician. Laura Mugridge’s The Watery Journey of Nereus Pike will be a treat at South Street in Reading on Saturday. The annual Devoted and Disgruntled takes place at York Hall in east London on Saturday. It’s much more than just a talking shop: if you are interested in theatre, it’s essential.
