Nell Gwynn, London
Quantum Of Solace and St Trinian’s star Gemma Arterton returns to the West End after her role in the Made In Dagenham musical last year – a performance that earned her an Olivier award nomination. Here, she takes over from Gugu Mbatha-Raw (star of the film Belle) as Nell Gwynn in the play of the same name, which previously had a sold-out run at Shakespeare’s Globe in the autumn. Jessica Swale’s bawdy comedy with political and feminist themes is set amid the colourful reign of Charles II, which followed the rather staid Puritan era, and charts Gwynn’s rise from her cockney roots to Britain’s most celebrated actress (and a mistress of the king). But will her wit and wiles be enough to protect her from the vicissitudes of the royal court?
Apollo Theatre, W1, Thu to 30 Apr
MC
Endgame, Glasgow
Coronation Street’s David Neilson and Chris Gascoyne are on board for Dominic Hill’s revival of Beckett’s dark comedy. It’s one that is more seldom seen than Godot, but which, like that play, features towards its end a mysterious small boy. A co-production with Manchester’s Home, where it will head next month (25 Feb to 12 Mar), the play invites us to enter the kingdom of the blind and paralysed Hamm (perhaps shades of Hamlet in the name and the character’s tendency to soliloquise), where he rules over his attendant – and possible son – Clov, and his parents Nagg and Nell. They live in dustbins. It is a play of ritual cruelties. With a real sense of impending doom, it’s an intricate theatrical chess game, one that suggests that in life we are all players involved in a game of attrition against an unseen opponent.
Citizens Theatre, Thu to 20 Feb
LG
Manipulate Festival, Edinburgh, Aberdeen & Norwich
This visual theatre festival is bringing great shows to Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Norwich, not least the European premiere of Birdheart by Saskia Lane and Julian Crouch (Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Wed; Norwich Puppet Theatre, Fri). Using shadows and object manipulation, it examines the urge to take flight. Ludens Ensemble’s Macbeth: Without Words (Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Tue) uses video mapping and a DJ to retell the Scottish play; Blind Summit brings its brilliant The Table (Lemon Tree, Aberdeen, Sat; Traverse, Edinburgh, Wed); and there is new work by Al Seed and Judith Milligan, and Laura Cameron Lewis and Shona Reppe.
LG
Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Mold
Rising star and Donmar Warehouse associate Robert Hastie has a busy year ahead. He begins it by directing Tennessee Williams’s 1955 play set on a Mississippi plantation. As its owner, Big Daddy, celebrates his 65th birthday, the marriage between his son Brick and the beautiful and frustrated Maggie reaches boiling point. One of Williams’s personal favourites – the play he believed “came closest to being a work of art and a work of craft” – this is a piece with some very juicy roles, but one that requires nuanced performances; as an actor-turned-director, Hastie should be able to get the best from it. The production will travel to both Cardiff’s New Theatre (8 to 12 Mar) and the Grand Theatre, Swansea (15 to 19 Mar).
Clwyd Theatr Cymru, Thu to 5 Mar
LG
Queer Contact Festival, Manchester
This eighth lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender festival kicks off with performances of Eilidh MacAskill’s very funny and very naughty Stud (Thu to 6 Feb), which pokes fun at stereotypes and overt masculinity. Elsewhere the festival showcases Kate Bornstein’s autobiographical performance On Men, Women And The Rest Of Us (Fri), which traverses gender binaries, and continues with a workshop from the brilliant playwright and poet Jackie Kay (11 Feb); two performances of Jo Clifford’s tender The Gospel According To Jesus, Queen Of Heaven (St Chrysostom’s Church, 14 Feb); and new work from Debs Gatenby, Jamie Fletcher, Laurie Brown and more. Furthermore, there is queer cabaret and poetry, as well as a sci-fi reimagining of Greek myth with Icarus At The Edge Of Time.
LG
The End Of Longing, London
The so-called and much-hyped Friends “reunion” on US TV on 21 February will be minus one important cast member. Matthew Perry, the actor who played Chandler Bing in the long-running sitcom, will be in London, starring in his own debut play. This is not Perry’s first foray on to the West End stage; he was in David Mamet’s Sexual Perversity In Chicago in 2003, directed by Lindsay Posner. Posner takes the helm again here for a dark comedy that finds a group of single friends entering their 40s and on a night out at an LA bar, which sets into motion a journey forcing them to confront the bleaker side of their relationships. Among the cast is Lloyd Owen, last seen at the Adelphi Theatre in the title role of musical The Bodyguard.
