Showstopper! The Improvised Musical, London
A huge amount of work goes into creating a musical: it is often said that they are not so much written as rewritten. But even after years of labour, disaster can strike, as many famous flops have shown. So imagine putting together an all-singing, all-dancing show on the spot. That’s what Showstopper! The Improvised Musical offers, as a troupe of quick-witted performers think on their dancing feet and come up with a plot(ish) and numbers, all from suggestions provided by the audience. Previous examples have included Emotional Baggage, a Sondheim-esque romance set at Heathrow, and Sweeney Cod, involving an ambitious chippy owner. Whatever they come up with, it’s got to be better than I Can’t Sing!
Apollo Theatre, W1, Thu to 29 Nov
MC
The Odyssey: Missing Presumed Dead, Liverpool
Poet Simon Armitage and director Nick Bagnall teamed up on 2014’s The Last Days Of Troy, and they come together for another ancient Greece-themed piece, although this one is set very much in the present. Returning to the confluence point of east and west, which has been a source of conflict both in the ancient and modern world, the show begins in Istanbul where a high-ranking government minister has been sent on a delicate diplomatic mission. But following a brawl in a bar, he becomes Europe’s most wanted man, and on an odyssey through a borderless Europe he has to defeat contemporary versions of the monsters that delayed Odysseus’s return home after the Trojan war. The show will tour after this Liverpool premiere.
Everyman Theatre, Fri to 17 Oct; touring to 28 Nov
LG
Fake It ‘Til You Make It, London
Bryony Kimmings has always taken an offbeat approach to her subjects. Her show Sex Idiot was inspired by a search for past boyfriends after getting chlamydia, whilst in Credible Likeable Superstar Role Model she teamed up with her niece to confront the sexualisation of childhood. Her latest, Fake It ’Til You Make It, sold out at the fringe and sees her perform with her fiance and co-writer Tim Grayburn. The idea came about when, six months into their relationship, she discovered antidepressants in his bag. Such secrecy is not surprising: depression is the biggest cause of suicide in men under 50 and often goes undiagnosed. Expect an entertaining but realistic assessment of this taboo.
Soho Theatre, W1, Tue to 17 Oct
MC
Jane Wenham: The Witch Of Walkern, Watford
Out Of Joint, Eastern Angles, the Arcola and Watford Palace have come together to produce this latest production from Rebecca Lenkiewicz. Probably best known for her suffragette drama Her Naked Skin, she is also the author of many knotty plays exploring women’s experience with real vigour. This one is inspired by true events in Hertfordshire in 1712, and sees witch fever gripping a village following the death of a child. Lenkiewicz’s play explores some of the factors – including economics – that contributed to the witch hunt and examines the age-old desire to find scapegoats when communities face challenges.
Palace Theatre, Wed to 3 Oct
LG
Iliad, Llaneli
Christopher Logue’s epic poem War Music was begun in 1959 and still unfinished on his death in 2011. Inspired by Homer’s great story of the Trojan war, it was an attempt to revitalise narrative poetry in the English language and has been hailed as a work of genius. There have been attempts to stage it in the US, but none as ambitious as this collaboration between Mike Pearson and Mike Brookes. The ancient and modern worlds are set on a collision course in a promenade piece that includes a troupe of teenage gods (played by local youngsters), a moving set and a professional cast of Welsh actors. It can be seen in two-hour segments, or watched in marathon all-day (26 Sep) or overnight (3 Oct) performances.
The Ffwrnes, Sun to 3 Oct
LG
The Whipping Man, Plymouth
It’s 150 years since the end of the American civil war and some say that the reverberations are still being felt in contemporary US society, where the consequences of slavery remain apparent and racial prejudice is a trigger for continuing tensions. So playwright Matthew Lopez’s drama set in 1865 should have a particular resonance, as it harks back to the final days of the war and sees Caleb, the seriously wounded son of a slave-owning Jewish family, limping back to his looted family mansion in Virginia. But the house is not deserted. A three-hander looking at hypocrisies, obligations and shifts in power, Lopez’s play has received more than 40 revivals worldwide since 2006, proof that it is clearly speaking to the present through its evocation of the past.
Theatre Royal: The Drum, to 3 Oct
LG
