Monday
What is it like for women in prison? Open Clasp provide the answer with the affecting Key Change, which starts a 10-date tour at Weymouth College theatre. Melly Still’s RSC staging of Cymbeline goes into the Barbican in London. Lucy Bailey, who did such a bloody, brilliant Titus Andronicus at Shakespeare’s Globe, directs Patrick Barlow’s version of Milton’s Comus, a Masque of Chastity at the same venue’s Sam Wanamaker Playhouse in London.
Tuesday
Kandinsky are at the New Diorama in London with Still Ill, a new piece exploring a little understood condition, functional neurological disorder. Ockham’s Razor play with metal poles to create a thoughtful and engaging circus piece, Tipping Point, at the Great Hall at Lancaster Arts. Red Cape’s Be Brave and Leave for the Unknown, inspired by tales of everyday heroism, is at the Corn Exchange in Newbury and on tour. Rob Drummond’s tale of sacrifice, Grain in the Blood, is at the Traverse in Edinburgh. Paper Birds’ thoughtful show Mobile, which is set in a caravan and considers social mobility, is at the Drum in Plymouth this week. At Hope Mill in Manchester, Parallel is a dark comedy about homelessness.
Wednesday
Drone, Baby, Drones, at the Arcola in London, comprises the world premieres of two plays, David Greig’s The Kid and Ron Hutchinson’s This Tuesday, and investigates the long-term implications of drone warfare. Frantic Assembly’s heartbreaking family drama Things I Know to be True is at the Playhouse in Liverpool. At London’s Soho theatre, Adrian Edmondson stars in a stage version of William Leith’s Bits of Me are Falling Apart. The Red Shed, Mark Thomas’s story of memory, hope, survival and the miner’s strike, is at West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds. Gecko’s Institute has real visual swagger, and is at the Nuffield in Southampton from tonight. Jamal Harewood’s disturbing The Privileged plays one night only at Warwick Arts Centre as part of the Emerge festival, and you can catch Breach’s Tank, a very clever show about language and communication, at the same venue on Thursday.
Thursday
David Greig’s acclaimed version of The Suppliant Women is at Northern Stage in Newcastle. With Portraits in Motion, at Home in Manchester, Volker Gerling shows the photos he took of people when he walked across Germany. It is brilliant and unexpectedly affecting.
Friday and the weekend
Andy Field’s Lookout, commissioned by Contact in Manchester but staged offsite, is a one-to-one encounter between an adult audience member and a child performer, both imagining the future. Also in Manchester, Action Hero’s Wrecking Ball is well worth your time in the Royal Exchange Studio. The Bush in west London had a hit with Marco Ramirez’s boxing drama The Royale and that show is now back but staged at the nearby Tabernacle, which is used as a venue for amateur boxing matches. It should deliver an even greater knockout punch in its new home.
