Volpone, Stratford-upon-Avon
The critic Harold Hobson once described Ben Jonson’s 17th-century comedy about the lust for gold as having “the teeming life of worms in a rotting corpse”. It’s a brilliant description of a play that is full of memorable characters including the rich Volpone, known as the Fox, who together with his servant Mosca feigns terminal illness in order to dupe others into showering him with extravagant gifts in the hope that they may benefit from his will. The wonderful Henry Goodman follows in the footsteps of Donald Wolfit and Richard Griffiths to play the title role in a revival directed by Trevor Nunn. Expect an evening that’ll remind you that our love for gold and wealth is timeless.
Swan, to 12 Sep
LG
Camelot: The Shining City, Sheffield
Slung Low is one of the country’s most cherishable companies, creating shows that are accessible and adventurous in equal measure. Last year, it created a free outdoor performance in Leeds called The White Whale, and the year before it was a significant force behind the brilliant community show Blood And Chocolate in York. Now it moves a bit further south to work with Crucible’s Sheffield People’s Theatre to create an epic reworking of the King Arthur myth. With a cast numbering 150, this ambitious project not only takes place on the main stage but out in the square in front of the theatre, before leading the audience into the city streets for the final battle for the heart and soul of Camelot.
Crucible Theatre, Thu to 18 Jul
LG
Silent, London
Silent, a one-man play written and performed by Pat Kinevane, has been praised around the world and finally gets its London premiere thanks to a rare visit by the Irish new-writing company Fishamble. Kinevane’s monologue traces the descent of one man, Tino McGoldrick – named for his granny’s obsession with Rudolph Valentino – into alcoholism, homelessness and mental illness on the streets of Dublin. Add to this the tale of his brother’s death due to homophobia and it all sounds pretty grim, but Kinevane presents all this with black humour using cabaret and flamenco, recalling scenes from his tough life like a black-and-white film.
Soho Theatre, W1, Tue to 25 Jul
MC
Orson’s Shadow, London
It’s rare in these days of heavy-handed PR and stars’ entourages that we get to hear of backstage barneys between actors on set or in the theatre. But the brouhaha that attended the clash between two acting titans – Orson Welles and Laurence Olivier, the former directing the latter, at the behest of famed critic Kenneth Tynan – was no great secret and provides the material for Austin Pendleton’s play Orson’s Shadow. That two such huge egos would spar while rehearsing Eugène Ionesco’s Rhinoceros at the Royal Court in 1960 is hardly surprising, and it could hardly have helped that Olivier’s increasingly ill wife Vivien Leigh (Gina Bellman) turned up, too. Crucially, Olivier also married his co-star, Joan Plowright, a mere year later.
Southwark Playhouse, SE1, to 25 Jul
MC
She Stoops To Conquer, Bath
Just as many theatres are thinking of taking a summer break, the Theatre Royal in Bath takes things up a notch with the start of its summer season. This year’s highlight will undoubtedly be Terry Johnson’s stage version of Mrs Henderson Presents with Janie Dee (15 Aug to 5 Sep), but first out of the blocks is Lindsay Posner’s revival of She Stoops To Conquer. Apparently, Oliver Goldsmith was so worried that the audience wouldn’t find his play – about a young toff who mistakes a country residence for a local inn – remotely funny that a claque was organised to lead the laughter at the 1773 Covent Garden premiere. He needn’t have bothered: the first-nighters found it hilarious and audiences have laughed at this comedy of mistaken identity ever since. Anita Dobson and Michael Pennington head the fantastically strong cast here.
Theatre Royal, to 18 Jul
LG
Oliver Twist, Lancaster
Williamson Park doesn’t exactly bring to mind Dickensian London, but with past walkabout shows the Duke’s Theatre has made it pass for Neverland, Middle-earth and ancient Greece with great success. This is the biggest outdoor promenade show in the country and one of the most celebrated, with more than 500,000 people seeing this annual summer event since it became a tradition back in 1987 (the very first cast included a young Andy Serkis). Here, Coronation Street writer Debbie Oates retells Dickens’s story of the boy who escapes the workhouse and falls in with a gang of child pickpockets led by the Artful Dodger and run by Fagin. Joe Sumsion’s production is sure to have audiences asking for more.
Williamson Park, Sat to 15 Aug
LG
