The Rubenstein Kiss, Nottingham
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were sent to the electric chair in 1953 after being found guilty of passing US atomic secrets to the Russians. They protested their innocence, but their political allegiances and Jewishness made them easy scapegoats in a hysterical cold war climate. James Phillips’s play is inspired by the Rosenbergs as it tells the story of a devoted couple in a close-knit Jewish family who fall under the shadow of suspicion. It also marks the regional premiere of the award-winning play, which was first seen at Hampstead Theatre in 2005 and is the second production in the Playhouse’s conspiracy-themed season. This has already included 1984 and will feature Webster’s Jacobean revenge tragedy The Duchess Of Malfi (30 Oct to 14 Nov).
Nottingham Playhouse, Fri to 17 Oct
LG
Teddy Ferrara, London
There are echoes of Oleanna (by David Mamet, whom playwright Christopher Shinn has been compared to) in Teddy Ferrara, which is set amid US campus politics. Here, though, there’s a homosexual slant: the piece is based on the suicide of gay student Tyler Clementi in 2010 after a roommate broadcast footage of him with another man. At the centre is Gabe (played by Luke Newberry), chair of the LGBT Students Group, and Drew, the editor of the university newspaper; both are ambitious chaps whose lives are disrupted by the arrival of the eponymous freshman. Dominic Cooke helms his first production since leaving the Royal Court, where he directed Shinn’s Now Or Later starring Eddie Redmayne.
Donmar Warehouse, WC2, Thu to 5 Dec
MC
Monsieur Popular, Bath
Bath’s Ustinov Studio has been a little powerhouse under artistic director Laurence Boswell and produced some great shows, including Florian Zeller’s The Father. Boswell has tended to go for themed seasons and his latest takes us into the world of French farce. Boswell himself will direct Kenneth McLeish’s translation of Georges Feydeau’s The One That Got Away (12 Nov to 19 Dec), and the season begins with Jeremy Sams’s new version of Eugène Labiche’s story about a philanderer who befriends his lovers’ husbands. But, when he decides to settle down, he finds his friends are not prepared to let him go easily.
Theatre Royal: Ustinov Studio, Thu to 7 Nov
LG
The Seagull, Chichester
Anna Chancellor plays Irina Arkadina and Samuel West plays her lover, the writer Trigorin, in The Seagull, the first play in Chichester’s Young Chekhov season, which also includes both Ivanov and Platonov; the latter starring James McArdle as the debt-ridden school master. All three plays, which can be seen on different evenings or gorged on in all-day marathons, come in new versions by David Hare and will be directed by Jonathan Kent. Platonov and Ivanov – about a landowner who takes risks in his business and personal life – are less well known than The Seagull or Chekhov’s more mature plays. But Hare and Kent will likely make a good case for them, and the up-to-the-hilt casting of all three will ensure that they are a box-office draw.
Chichester Festival Theatre, Mon to 14 Nov
LG
The Father, London
It’s not so often that contemporary French plays make it big in this country; you have to think back to 1996 when Yasmina Reza’s Art began its eight-year run. Florian Zeller’s The Father started out at the Ustinov Studio in Bath and then went to the Tricycle Theatre. Following France’s top theatre award (a Molière) and rave reviews here (“Quietly devastating”; “As playful as it is painful”), it now arrives in the West End. A play about dementia that is not depressing, the seemingly shifting events are seen through the eyes of the dapper and witty Andre, 80, played by Kenneth Cranham, whose daughter (Claire Skinner) has the job of coping with his decline. It’s a must-see.
Wyndham’s Theatre, WC2, Wed to 21 Nov
MC
Dublin Theatre Festival
Dublin’s festival remains the one to beat, with a mix of international and home-grown talent. It’s particularly good at showcasing work that looks beyond traditional theatre and, while there are classic shows such as Gate Theatre’s revival of A View From The Bridge (to 10 Oct) or the Irish premiere of Conor McPherson’s The Night Alive (Gaiety Theatre, to 4 Oct), there is also work from younger theatre makers including Dead Centre, which premieres Chekhov’s First Play (Samuel Beckett Theatre, to 4 Oct). There are plays from France, Denmark and Portugal too, plus Belgian company tg STAN’s take on the Avignon festival hit Clôture De L’Amour (Samuel Beckett Theatre, Mon & Tue), about a couple whose relationship is breaking down.
Various venues, to 11 Oct
LG
