There's a glut of new shows opening this week – and do remember the web broadcast of Forced Entertainment's extraordinary Speak Bitterness tomorrow night. The company will also be at Bristol's Arnolfini at the end of the week for Spectacular.
I've just noticed that Back to Back's Small Metal Objects will be in Bristol in a currently undisclosed location in May, and is jointly produced by Arnolfini and Bristol Old Vic. It's an amazing piece, well worth travelling for, and I suspect tickets will be in short supply, so book soon.
Getting back to this week ... Mark Ravenhill's Over There, about two brothers separated by the Berlin Wall, is at the Royal Court; Stovepipe by Adam Brace takes place in a secret location in Shepherd's Bush; Burnt by the Sun is the new one by Peter Flannery at the National; and the Little Angel's adult puppet season continues with Fabrik: the Legend of M Rabinowitz.
Enda Walsh's New Electric Ballroom, which can be seen as a companion piece to The Walworth Farce, comes to the Riverside; Howard Barker's wonderful post-English Civil War play Victory is revived at the Arcola and there is a presidential musical, Obama On My Mind, at the Hen and Chickens.
I'm heading for Curve in Leicester to see As You Like It, Tim Supple's first Shakespeare since his highly acclaimed Indian Dream. You could go to Manchester to see Matthew Dunster's production of Macbeth. Kathryn Hunter's interesting if not entirely successful Othello is at Liverpool Playhouse, and it's worth a trip to the Tobacco Factory for Julius Caesar.
I've had lots of conversations with people about Rupert Goold's Lear at the Young Vic; pretty well everyone agrees that although the production is sometimes batty, it is completely engrossing. Michael Billington has been raving about The Tempest, but don't worry if you can't get to Stratford because it's heading out on tour.
Michael will be going to see Catherine Johnson's new play Suspension, while I'll be heading to Southampton for Edward Gant's Amazing Feats of Loneliness by Anthony Neilson at the Nuffield. There's an earlier incarnation of Neilson's play at the Drum in Plymouth, where Chris Goode's Edward Lear play, King Pelican, is in previews at the end of the week. Finally, Dundee Rep has a revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Enjoy – and do let me know what you are seeing, where and why.
