Seven days on stage

Out and about with a pout ... Katherine Jenkins and Darcey Bussell kicked off a month-long tour at Salford's Lowry this week. The pair have joined forces for the sharp-suited, razzle-dazzle show Viva la Diva. Alfred Hickling found this song-and-dance act 'a camp tribute to anyone who ever wore more diamonds and fur than strictly necessary'. Photograph: Tristram Kenton

There were more diamonds on display at the Royal Opera House, where the Royal Ballet is presenting Balanchine's 1967 triptych Jewels - three plotless pieces named after gems. The production's sumptuous use of colour gave Judith Mackrell goosebumps, although she warned that 'Audiences may ... be divided between those who love the period gaudiness of the costumes and those who find them kitsch.' Photograph: Tristram Kenton

Those looking for grit rather than glitz could head to London's National Theatre for Women of Troy, Katie Mitchell's intense take on the Euripides tragedy set after the fall of the ancient city. Michael Billington admired the production's 'feverish energy and technical skill' but admitted that it left his 'emotions untouched'. On the arts blog, Lyn Gardner called for more auteurs to follow Mitchell's lead and put their distinctive stamp on classic plays. Photograph: Tristram Kenton

Lucy Briers (daughter of Richard) delivers a one-woman monologue in Some Kind of Bliss at London's Trafalgar Studios. She plays a Daily Mail journalist who has a life-changing experience on her way to interview Lulu. Lyn Gardner admires Briers but found this production 'thin stuff'. Photograph: Tristram Kenton

The world tour of Trevor Nunn's twin RSC productions, King Lear and The Seagull, has brought Ian McKellen and company to London. Michael Billington dished out four stars to Lear, calling McKellen 'mesmerising'. Photograph: Tristram Kenton

But Billington still isn't convinced by Nunn's Seagull, starring McKellen and Frances Barber, which he found 'strong at the margins, fallible at the centre and, at three hours 20 minutes, desperately long'. Photograph: Tristram Kenton

Meanwhile, another pair of plays are presented at London's Young Vic. South Africa's Isango / Portobello company is putting on radical versions of Mozart's Magic Flute and Dickens's A Christmas Carol, which stars Pauline Malefane (above right) as Scrooge. Michael Billington found the cultural shift of both productions reinvigorating. Photograph: Tristram Kenton