Theatre
1 Touch
Vicky Jones’s filthily enjoyable play is about Welsh girl Dee, who comes to London in search of herself and sexual satisfaction. In the mould of Fleabag (which Jones directed), this is a highly entertaining 90 minutes as Dee has a series of sexual encounters with men and women, ranging from a teenage intern to a man with a hairbrush fetish. It may not be subtle but it’s completely honest. Dee is presented as a wine-guzzling, sex-hungry thirtysomething woman who keeps her eyes wide shut to some of the more boring realities of life.
Soho theatre, W1, to 26 August
2 Every Brilliant Thing
What are the things that make life worth living? Duncan Macmillan’s play is built around lists, which sounds a tad dull. But it’s not. This one-man show is one of the most heart-warming and yet unsentimental pieces that you will ever see about depression. The lists are reminders of life-enhancing pleasures, such as staying up past bedtime, water fights and the smell of old books, and audience participation is used subtly.
Summerhall, Edinburgh, 21-27 August
3 Real Magic
This show is both unbearable to watch and yet compulsively watchable; a kind of exquisite torture. Richard Lowden, Claire Marshall and Jerry Killick take part in what initially looks like a tacky TV gameshow in which the blindfolded contestants must guess a word that someone else has thought of. Inevitably they fail. Over and over again. It’s an endlessly mutating metaphor for humanity’s wilful stupidity, blind optimism and inability to change.
The Studio, Edinburgh, 22-27 August
4 Jane Eyre
Sally Cookson’s devised version of Charlotte Brontë’s novel is a breath of fresh air from the opening moment when Jane is born and somebody announces, “It’s a girl!” It is indeed a story about what it is to be a young, poor, plain woman adrift in a world that values money and beauty but Cookson throws off the Victorian bonnets and corsets to create a story that is full of psychological complexity. A postmodern account of a classic.
Grand Opera House, Belfast, 21-26 August
5 The Shape of the Pain
Using sound, light and video to make the audience feel as if they are inside pain, this play explores Rachel Bagshaw’s experience of living with complex regional pain syndrome. Written by Chris Thorpe, the big questions raised in this very smart piece of theatre are whether we can ever understand and feel someone else’s pain. It’s remarkable, disconcerting and compelling.
Summerhall, Edinburgh, to 26 August
Dance
1 Nederlands Dans Theater
NDT’s dancers are among the world’s sleekest and most versatile performers. This programme includes work by Paul Lightfoot and Sol León, who’ve put their own spin on the imagistic, surreal choreography of NDT’s founder, Jiří Kylián.
Edinburgh Playhouse, 21-23 August
2 Sacrifice
The experimental Iceland Dance Company take over the RFH with a fusion of art installation, music and dance, themed around religion and ritual.
Royal Festival Hall, SE1, 18-20 August
3 Rain
Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker’s limpid setting of Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians remains one of the finest examples of the choreographer’s vision.
Edinburgh Playhouse, 25-27 August
