Constellations, London
Nick Payne’s 70-minute play Constellations, appropriately, continues to conquer the universe. Crammed with ideas about the possibilities of a couple’s relationship, the multiverse, choice, destiny and quantum physics, the piece comes to the Trafalgar Studios after a UK tour. It started out upstairs at the Royal Court in 2012 with Rafe Spall and Sally Hawkins, transferred to the West End and won the Evening Standard best play award; and earlier this year a suitably stellar casting saw Jake Gyllenhaal and Ruth Wilson play the pair on Broadway. Now Sherlock’s not-so-secret admirer Louise Brealey gets it on under the stars with Joe Armstrong.
Trafalgar Studios, SW1, to 1 Aug
MC
Flare15, Manchester
Manchester theatre is on a roll, and over the coming week there are extraordinary levels of activity all over the city. Some of the most interesting shows take place under the auspices of Flare15, an international festival focusing on new work and emerging artists. Georgian company New Collective will not be present, having had visa trouble, but its work will be presented by director Mareike Wenzel via video and Skype (Contact, Mon to Fri). There is plenty that will be live, though, including Jamal Harewood’s shattering The Privileged (Contact, Wed to 18 Jul), work in progress from Andy Smith (Z-Arts, Fri), and shows from companies including Sleepwalk Collective.
Various venues, Mon to 18 Jul
LG
Mack & Mabel, Chichester
Jonathan Church’s previous musical hits include a revival of Singin’ In The Rain, and now Chichester Festival Theatre’s artistic director turns his attention to Jerry Herman’s 1974 Broadway flop, which closed after just two months despite receiving eight Tony nominations and having a terrific score. Michael Ball returns to Chichester after his triumph there in Sweeney Todd to play Mack Sennett, a silent movie-maker who is so struck by Mabel, the girl delivering the studio lunch sandwiches, that he puts her in the movies. But neither their personal nor professional relationship is easy. There’s a wistful quality to this show that is told in flashback and which captures all the highs and lows of making films in the silent era.
Chichester Festival Theatre, Mon to 5 Sep
LG
Green Day’s American Idiot, London
Punk music rarely makes it to the theatre stage but the US group Green Day’s musical, American Idiot, has its West End debut at the Arts Theatre this week. Based on the band’s 2004 rock opera concept album of the same name (around 15m copies sold), it’s written by frontman Billie Joe Armstrong (the story is in collaboration with the director Michael Mayer) and tells of three boyhood friends seeking to find meaning in the post-9/11 world. Having premiered in Berkeley in the group’s native California, before moving on to Broadway – earning two Tony awards (lighting and design) plus a Grammy – it plays here with the one-time X Factor contender Amelia Lily in the cast. Hit songs include the title track plus Boulevard Of Broken Dreams and Wake Me Up When September Ends.
Arts Theatre, WC2, Fri to 27 Sep
MC
Hetty Feather, Bristol
There’s lots to love about Hetty Feather, Sally Cookson’s imaginative staging of Jacqueline Wilson’s novel about a red-haired heroine who escapes the foundling hospital where she has been abandoned, then goes in search of both her mother and a better life than that of a servant girl. The production, West End-bound again for the summer, has all Cookson’s hallmarks of invention, musical accompaniment and underscoring, and an ability to get under the skin of a character. While previous versions may have seemed too long – and the circus elements something of an add-on – this is a still a terrific family production that cleverly explores the pain of abandonment and the determination to make your own life.
Bristol Old Vic, Fri to 19 Jul; touring to 3 Apr
LG
A Little History Of The World, Newbury
The art historian EH Gombrich is best known for his influential 1950 book The Story Of Art. But prior to that, in 1936, he wrote a book that took readers on a journey from the big bang to the present in the company of characters Ernst, Ilse and Otto. Written with the daughter of some friends in mind, and inspired by the idea that few concepts were too complicated to be explained to a child, Gombrich’s book was an immediate success; though the Nazis didn’t like its pacifist tone and banned it. Toby Hulse’s stage version takes us over battlefields and to art galleries, and explains groundbreaking scientific discoveries and failures, in a production that heads to Reading Rep (29 Jul to 15 Aug) following its run at the Watermill.
The Watermill, Tue to 25 Jul
LG
