I'm already in Edinburgh, where tickets are selling speedily, but I'm aware that not everyone is in Scotland. So what should you see elsewhere? If you're in London, then you should definitely try and bag yourself a ticket for Jez Butterworth's Jerusalem, which has been extended until 22 August. While you're contacting the Royal Court box office, get your Enron tickets for mid-September too. It's directed by Rupert Goold, whose Time and the Conways finishes soon at the National. I was at the NT the other night and there were plenty of tickets available on the day for both Time and the Conways and Marianne Elliott's affecting revival of that most difficult of plays, All's Well That Ends Well. Just outside the National this week, Basque company Markeline are performing Carbon Club in International Theatre Square 2. I haven't seen them, but I'd say it's worth a punt.
Some people may be complaining that cheap tickets are leading to a decline in audience behaviour, but I'm in favour of lower prices and broader audiences. There are some terrific offers online if you look for them, so now is definitely the time to see those musicals you never got around to: La Cage aux Folles, Billy Elliot and Hairspray are the pick of the bunch. Don't dismiss long West End runners such as The Woman in Black either – it is a really canny little show.
Simon Stephens's Pornography is another must-see, a bold piece of summer programming at the Tricycle. A Streetcar Named Desire is sold out, but the Donmar sells day tickets if you are prepared to get up early and queue. The intimate experience that is The Caravan can be found outside the Roundhouse until 23 August. I caught up with Arcadia on Monday. It's a terrific play, but I thought the production was all head and no heart and it left me curiously unmoved.
The Pirates of Penzance is a hit at the Stephen Joseph in Scarborough, and there is also a revival of Lee Hall's Spoonface Steinberg, the play that caused truck drivers to pull into laybys to weep when it was broadcast on Radio 4 (or so legend has it).
Theatre-by-the-Lake in Keswick is on to a winner with Rick Thomas's Shakespeare conspiracy play, For All Time. Apparently, the theatre's Dream is rather nice too. A summer outing to Stratford might be worth your while. The Winter's Tale, directed by David Farr, is the pick of the Shakespeare productions there. Man of the Moment is a hit for the Royal and Derngate in Northampton and Peter Gill's latest play, Another Door Closed, opens at the Ustinov in Bath. Jason and the Argonauts is nearing the end of its run in Williamson Park in Lancaster and the excellent The Railway Children continues in York. If you see something terrific, do let us all know.
