In Fog And Falling Snow, York
In 2013, York Theatre Royal produced a terrific community production called Blood And Chocolate, which took place in various locations around the city. Now it continues its love affair with the National Railway Museum, which gave the company its smash-hit production of The Railway Children (returning to York, 31 Jul to 5 Sep) with this 200-strong community production led by professional actors, exploring the building of the great east coast railway network. George Costigan, who has appeared several times at the Theatre Royal, returns to take the role of George Hudson, who was determined to build the lines and pressed onwards even when there was danger ahead. But in the end, will the cost be far higher than Hudson ever imagined?
National Railway Museum, Fri to 11 Jul
LG
The Effect, Sheffield
Can we tell the difference between what we truly feel and what is just a side-effect? Tristan is confident that he can. He’s a guinea pig, along with Connie, on a paid medical trial of antidepressants. They have both been selected because they aren’t depressed, and when they meet on the trial they fall head over heels in love. But could that just be the drugs changing their brain chemistry? Lucy Prebble had a massive hit with Enron and she followed it up with this no-less-knotty four-hander, which asks whether it is better to treat depression with medication or be open to the possibility that it is a manifestation of our struggle in the world.
Crucible Studio, Thu to 18 Jul
LG
Hoard Festival, Newcastle-under-Lyme
In 2009 a man called Terry Herbert discovered a hoard of gold in a farmer’s field. Now known as the Staffordshire hoard, it was the largest collection of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver ever found. The New Vic’s artistic director Theresa Heskins celebrates the find and what it meant for those involved in the Hoard festival, a series of new commissions that belie the notion that regional theatres can’t create daring work in new forms. Created in affiliation with the National Theatre Studio, the season includes a documentary play, Unearthed (Sat to Fri), about the finding of the hoard; a series of five-minute monologues by roving storytellers; and new pieces from rising young artists Caroline Horton (Tue to 4 Jul) and Francesca Millican-Slater (15-25 Jul).
New Vic Theatre, Tue to 25 Jul
LG
An Oak Tree, London
The act of going onstage with no knowledge of the script is a recurring nightmare for most actors, but in Tim Crouch’s An Oak Tree a different thesp will be doing just that at each performance. His 70-minute two-hander is being revived for its 10th anniversary and Crouch, best known for unconventional works that involve the audience, once again takes on one of the roles, as a stage hypnotist who has killed a 12-year-old girl in a car accident. Each night, an hour before the show, he will talk the new actor through their role as the girl’s grief-stricken father. An ingenious and affecting piece that explores the transforming nature of grief, and of theatre itself.
National Theatre: Temporary Theatre, SE1, Tue to 11 Jul
MC
BE Festival, Birmingham
There’s something pleasing about the way that the annual BE festival turns a theatre space upside down. With daytime debates and workshops, evening performances and, in the intervals, a shared meal served to audiences and artists on the main stage, this is a Euro-focused festival that reimagines what might happen in an old-style regional theatre. This year’s theme is democracy and will be explored both through debate and via the work on the stage. The Arab spring is dealt with in Mouvma! from Collectif Corps Citoyen (Fri); our relationship to violence is considered by Théâtre du Balèti (Thu); and Atávico (Wed), from Spain, looks at dictatorship.
Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Tue to 27 Jun
LG
Greenwich+Docklands International Festival
The Greenwich+Docklands international festival is a veritable explosion of alfresco performances, many of them free. This year the focus is on increasingly popular immersive theatre, with the festival opening on Friday with Kori Kori, a procession of street theatre through Greenwich. One of the highlights is the world premiere of The Four Fridas (1 to 4 Jul), celebrating the life of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo and involving aerial action, pyrotechnics, dance, music and video. A special GDIF commission, 451 (27 Jun) at Bethnal Green Gardens takes Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 – in which books were banned and burned – as its inspiration. For a big artistic hit, Greenwich Fair (27 & 28 Jun) at the Old Royal Naval College offers work by companies from around Europe in the biggest street-theatre event in the capital.
Various venues, Fri to 5 Jul
MC
