Scotland and Northern Ireland
Caryl Churchill's remarkable play Far Away, set in a world constantly at war, is revived by Dominic Hill at the Citizens in Glasgow, alongside a much lesser-known work, Seagulls. Fox Attack, a new play from China, is at Oran Mor. Head to the Tron for The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, which then heads to Eden Court in Inverness. Worth seeing at the Traverse in Edinburgh over the next week: the early Beckett novella, First Love, Flann O'Brien's The Poor Mouth and Peter Arnott's Why Do You Stand There in the Rain? which had too short a run at Edinburgh last year and which deals with the 1932 march on Washington by second world war veterans. Calum's Road is back out on tour and this week can be the Theatre Royal in Dumfries, and Perth and Brunton Theatres. Full details here. Ellie Harrison's solo show, Etiquette of Grief, is at the Nairn Theatre near Inverness on Saturday.
David Ireland's comedy about love and loss, Can't Forget About You, joins Graham Reid's Love, Billy which is in its final couple of days at the Lyric in Belfast.
North
The world's greatest detective returns in Sherlock Holmes – The Best Kept Secret which is at West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds. Alan Bennett's The History Boys is revived at the Sheffield Crucible. In the Crucible studio the myths that it's grim up north are dispelled in A Wondrous Place, four new plays from Luke Barnes, Alison Carr, Matt Hartley and Sarah McDonald Hughes. Philip Meeks's Murder, Marple and Me about Margaret Rutherford is at Harrogate Theatre. Daniel Bye's The Price of Everything and The News at 9.15 are at Hull Truck. The Misanthrope at York Theatre Royal until Saturday is followed by Rutherford and Son. Both worth your time. Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory's Two Gentlemen of Verona breezes into the Stephen Joseph in Scarborough. Mikron Theatre's Beyond the Veil, a comedy musical about murder and bees goes out on tour this weekend from Marsden Mechanics Hall and plays allotments all week. Check out the website here.
Theatre by the Lake begins its summer season with Nicholas Wright's excellent Vincent in Brixton, about Van Gogh's 1872 stay in SW2, and Philip King's second world war farce, See How they Run. Alistair McDowall's Brilliant Adventures moves to Live Theatre in Newcastle. Liverpool Playhouse gets a first glimpse of Nikolai Foster's fine revival of Jonathan Harvey's still important and necessary, Beautiful Thing. Michael Pinchbeck's The Middle and Shelia Ghelani's Rat, Rose, Bird should make a terrific double bill at Z Arts in Manchester as part of Word of Warning. Ockham's Razor's Thoreau inspired Not Until We Are Lost is very lovely at the Lowry. Pam Gems's Piaf is at the Octagon in Bolton.
Central and East
The Theatre Royal in Nottingham hosts Propeller's Twelfth Night and The Taming of the Shrew from Wednesday. Meanwhile at Lakeside the Wheee! festival caters for young audiences with shows including Frozen Charlotte's Paperbelle and Puppet State's modern classic, The Man Who Planted Trees. There's a fantastic programme for children in Leicester too where the Curve and other venues play host to the Spark Festival. Lee Hall's funny and moving The Pitman Painters goes into Derby Theatre. Hairspray will put a smile on your face at Birmingham Hippodrome. Victoria Melody goes barking mad in Major Tom at the Parabola in Cheltenham tomorrow night. Pirates of the Carabina's circus show, Flown, brings chaos and acrobatics to Warwick Arts Centre. Brian Friel's beautiful Dancing at Lughnasa begins at the Royal and Derngate in Northampton.
Next Thursday, the Pulse festival begins in Ipswich and gives a good indication of the health of British theatre. There's some terrific work on offer including pieces from Kindle, Hannah Nicklin, Annie Siddons and more. Check out the programme here. The History Boys continues at the Mercury in Colchester and the love story, Our Share of Tomorrow, stops off at the Garage in Norwich, the Maltings in Ely and Lakeside in Colchester. Info here. You're not too late for the Norfolk and Norwich festival which this weekend includes Travelling Light's Varmints, Circa's Beyond and the 12-hour version of Life and Times. I'll be in Norwich this weekend for the latter.
Wales
Say it With Flowers may not be a great play but it has the popular touch at the Sherman in Cardiff this weekend. Also at the Sherman: Gogol's Diary of a Madman in a production by Living Pictures which later in the week moves to the Torch at Milford Haven. Next Friday, the double bill of Luke Barnes's Chapel Street and Charlotte Josephine's Bitch Boxer is at Aberystwyth Arts Centre. Vamos Theatre's mask show, Finding Joy, is at the Galeri in Caernarfon on Wednesday and Thursday. The Winslow Boy continues at Clwyd Theatre Cymru as does Vox Motus' Slick (until Saturday) and Thickskin's terrific The Static.
South
Beginning in Cornwall, head to the Acorn in Penzance for Theatre Témoin's strongly visual and physical The Fantastist, which explores one woman's experience of bipolar disorder. Chris Goode's immersive non-fiction storytelling show, The Forest and the Field, is at TR2 in Plymouth from Tuesday, although it's at the Arnolfini in Bristol tonight and tomorrow as part of Mayfest. The darkly interesting dance-theatre piece for families and children, Varmints, stops off on Tuesday at the Northcott in Exeter. Also in Exeter this week: Desert at Exeter's Bike Shed about Bradley Manning, accused on leaking classified documents to Wikileaks.
Loads more shows worth recommending in Mayfest this weekend, including the remarkable Bigmouth, the Clod Ensemble's Zero, Belarus Free Theatre's Trash Cuisine and Jane Packman's A Thousand Shards of Glass. Bristol Old Vic hosts two terrific family shows: Shona Reppe's clever and witty The Curious Scrapbook of Josephine Bean and Laura Mugridge's The Watery Journey of Nereus Pike. Amanda Whittington's latest is The Dug Out at the Tobacco Factory, about a legendary Bristol night club. The Misanthrope heads into the Theatre Royal in Bath.
This week in Oxford you can see Headlong's brilliant The Seagull at Oxford Playhouse before it moves to Richmond Theatre next week. The Shop of Little Horrors at the North Wall in Oxford has nothing to do with the musical of similar name but is a new gruesome puppet piece from Pickled Image. The Watermill near Newbury hosts The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The Salisbury International Arts Festival begins today.
It's a last gasp for the Brighton International Festival but there are still shows to see this weekend including Lola Arias' reconstruction of her parents' lives, My Life After, the unsettling headphones show, Ring, and the Globe's King Lear. But the Brighton Fringe is still going strong: Bitch Boxer, Chapel Street, Bianco and Diary of Welshcake should all reward.
London
Cheers all round as the utterly exhilarating circus show, Knee Deep, arrives in London on Tuesday at Riverside Studios. There's a very different kind of exhilaration with Headlong's The Seagull which flies into Richmond Theatre. Do anything to get yourself a ticket for Not I which is at the Royal Court until Saturday. If not, try The Victorian in the Wall which I haven't seen, but seems widely admired. After some cancelled previews, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is underway at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Something Very Far Away will give real pleasure for the kids but also for you at the Unicorn.
You would be a fool to miss Rob Drummond's Bullet Catch at the NT which is layered both emotionally and in its clever form, and in the Lyttelton you can catch a first sight of Strange Interlude directed by the brilliant Simon Godwin with Anne-Marie Duff in the lead. Declan Greene's Australian high school drama, Moth, joins Disgraced at the Bush. David Mamet's Race considers relations between black and white at Hampstead. Yellow Face looks at race from another viewpoint. At the new Park Theatre. Scottish independence is the subject of The Blood Is Strong at the Finborough.
Playing With Grownups asks whether women can have it all at Theatre 503. The Bear and Cuddles are both of interest at Oval House. Howard Brenton's new version of Strindberg's Dances of Death previews at the Gate. Definitely not a good advert for marriage. The Sacred season at Chelsea Theatre continues with Stacey Makishi's domestic drama The Falsettos in which the Mob meet ET and Grace Surman and Cathy Butterworth's sculptural double act, Two Four One One. Circus Maximus hots up as the finals approach in the Udderbelly. The amazing spoken-word show, Tongue Fu, takes over the London Wonderground on Wednesday. Mess is well worth a look at BAC where Sleepwalk Collective's unsettling Amusements is also available.
Have a good weekend and share what you are seeing.
