The Rolling Stone, London
In this context, Rolling Stone has nothing to do with the ageing rock group or the famed US musical journal. Instead, it is the name of a Kampala tabloid newspaper that used to publish the names, addresses and even photos of gay people. It is still illegal to be gay in Uganda – until 2014 it was punishable by death but now carries a mere life sentence – and it is against this turbulent backdrop that Chris Urch’s play (his second after Land Of My Fathers) places Dembe, a Ugandan with a virulently anti-gay pastor brother, and Sam, a Northern Irish doctor, as they try to conceal their relationship from friends and family.
Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, Thu to 20 Feb
MC
Partus, Sheffield
Partus is Latin for childbirth and that’s the subject of this piece from Third Angel, a company that has performed in schools, swimming pools, car parks, even a public toilet, and one that is particularly good at excavating the minutiae of daily life. Described as a partially verbatim show, the piece concentrates on the joys and disappointments of the moment of birth, and is inspired by conversations with mothers, fathers, midwives and obstetricians. It’s likely to be a small and truthful show from a big-hearted and intelligent company, taking an approach that eschews stereotypical high drama. LG
Crucible Studio, Fri to 20 Jan
LG
Holy Mackerel! Ipswich & Woodbridge
The Newlyn fishing riots took place in May 1896, when Cornish fishermen who observed the Sabbath became enraged by their East Anglian counterparts, after they descended on the sleepy port to spread their nets on Sundays, and cleaned up financially as a result. The story is here turned into one of Eastern Angles’ famed spoofs, with a script by Harry Long that attempts to offer a cross between an Ealing comedy and Horrible Histories. It’s a production that should net the company many more fans for their distinct brand of madcap entertainment. The show also tours to Peterborough later in the month (Key Theatre, 26 to 30 Jan).
Sir John Mills Theatre, Ipswich, Sat; Seckford Theatre, Woodbridge, Tue to 23 Jan
LG
The Girls, Salford
When the husband of Rylstone & District Women’s Institute member Angela Baker died from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 1998, she and her friends set out to raise funds for a sofa in the local hospital waiting room. It would never have crossed anyone’s mind that the story would be later turned into a hugely successful film and stage show. But the tale of the women who disrobed for a charity calendar was seized upon by Tim Firth, who co-wrote the 2003 film Calendar Girls and adapted his script for the stage five years later. Firth now offers it up in a third incarnation, as a musical co-written with Take That’s Gary Barlow. The show premiered on home territory in Leeds late last year and now opens at the Lowry in Salford. Still, this heart-warming story – which has already proven its box-office value in previous forms – also has its eyes clearly set on London’s West End.
LG
London International Mime Festival
The London international mime festival kicks off this week, with 18 companies performing across the duration. One of the highlights will be Ockham Razor’s Tipping Point (Platform Theatre, N1, Mon to 23 Jan), in which the company teeter and climb on a forest of five-metre metal poles to a surround-sound musical landscape. At the Barbican (EC2, 27 to 31 Jan), Circa’s The Return combines Monteverdi’s Return Of Ulysses and Primo Levi’s The Truce in a fusion of contemporary circus and opera; while in the Southbank Centre, Xavier Bobès conjures a history of 20th-century Spain in Things Easily Forgotten (Foyer Spaces, 21 to 24 Jan).
MC
Rehearsal For Murder, London
The long-running success of The Mousetrap in the West End is a reminder of how much audiences love a thriller. Bill Kenwright, who has had touring success with Agatha Christie productions himself, will surely be hoping to clean up with the launch of the Classic Thriller theatre company, whose debut production is an adaptation of a piece written by Richard Levinson and William Link, creators of Murder, She Wrote and Columbo. Of course TV thrillers are very different, and the fact that stage shows such as Sleuth are so few and far between is proof of how hard it is to make the murder mystery work onstage. The fact that this one is set behind the scenes at a theatre, where a leading lady was found dead a year previously, may add to its appeal.
Theatre Royal, Windsor, Tue to 16 Jan
LG
