Another big week ahead, particularly with A Good Night Out in the Valleys opening at the Brentwood Miners' Institute in Gwent tonight, the first show in the National Theatre of Wales inaugural season. Masses of more good stuff to come from that direction, and booking opens on Monday for Mike Pearson's production of The Persians at the Ministry of Defence's training village in the Brecon Beacons in August. It will be a hot ticket for those not heading for Edinburgh so get in quick.
The other three big openings of the week are revivals of Oh What a Lovely War at Northern Stage in Newcastle (then on tour), Simon Russell Beale and Fiona Shaw in London Assurance at the Olivier, and the premiere of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Love Never Dies.
There are also loads of previously seen shows that are coming back this week: Debbie Tucker Green's Random christens the Royal Court's pop-up space in the Elephant and Castle shopping centre before going on tour, the footie drama And Did Those Feet returns to the Octagon in Bolton, and Sound and Fury's Kursk is at Bristol Old Vic before heading back to the Young Vic. Naomi Wallace's The Fever Chart, seen at Theatre Royal York last year, goes into Trafalgar Studios and the fabulous Australian circus, Circa, is taking over the Barbican in London and shouldn't be missed.
Other revivals include real-life husband and wife John Godber and Jane Thornton starring in Godber's mid-90s hit April in Paris at Hull Truck, Tom Murphy's The Sanctuary Lamp at the Arcola, and Shared Experience is setting off on tour at Salisbury Playhouse with The Glass Menagerie. Talawa is reviving Mustapha Matura's 1976 comedy Rum and Coca-Cola at West Yorkshire Playhouse. Philip Ridley's Moonfleece, first seen in the NT Connections season, gets its first professional production at Rich Mix in London's East End and then that, too, is touring.
You've still time to catch Theatre Delicatessen's revival of Mercury Fur at Picton Place. I also recommend DC Moore's Honest at the Mailcoach pub round the corner from the Royal and Derngate in Northampton. This could be Moore's year: Honest confirms the promise of Alaska at the Royal Court in 2007 and he has a new play, The Empire, about Afghanistan, premiering in Sloane Square next month, as well as another, Town, as part of Northampton's Hometown season later in the year.
Glasgow is looking good with the National Theatre of Scotland premiering plays for young people in a season at the Tron that includes Douglas Maxwell's The Miracle Man and New Territories is under way which this week features Into the New, a four-day festival of performances and discussions featuring Ron Athey, Nic Green and Anne Bean, among others, exploring how we might change performance and perform change. The Beauty Queen of Leenane is a hit for the Royal Lyceum in Edinburgh.
In London, the Unicorn is premiering Carl Miller's adaptation of Siobhan Dowd's wonderful children's thriller, The London Eye Mystery and Lone Twin's The Catastrophe Trilogy is in the Pit. I'm going to see all three parts tomorrow, in a day that also includes a walk with the company to the Watts Memorial in Postman's Park. Let me know what I've left out – what's hot and what's not.
