Some Other Mother | Two's Company Festival | Let The Right One In | Bracken Moor | Sweet Bird Of Youth | Pulse Festival
*Two's Company festival, Harrogate*
In an attempt to adapt in a challenging climate, regional theatres are booking smaller-scale productions, hoping to deliver more intimate experiences for their audiences. That's very much the idea behind the Two's Company festival, now in its third year, which offers a chance to see either one-on-one work or shows created for small audiences. There are some crackers this year, including the atmospheric and tender My Heart Is Hitchhiking Down Peach Street (Fri) and the mind-boggling and dizzying The Great Spavaldos (Fri to 8 Jun), in which you launch yourself into thin air. There are also new shows from Hannah Jane Walker and Chris Thorpe.
*Harrogate Theatre, Thu to 8 Jun*
LG
*Some Other Mother, Kirkcaldy & Edinburgh*
AJ Taudevin is being hailed as one of the future stars of Scottish theatre, and this play, inspired by her work with Glasgow's asylum seekers, is clearly close to her heart. Set at the top of a Glasgow tower block, it tells the story of 10-year-old Star, who is trying to keep things together as she and her increasingly fragile mother wait to hear the result of their asylum application. Offering a child's eye view of the world as Star falls back on the fantastical and the poetic in her quest for survival, the show comes with a terrific cast and a great team, including Kieran Hurley (who wrote Hitch and Beats) and director Catrin Evans.
*Adam Smith Theatre, Kirkcaldy, Thu; Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Fri; then touring*
LG
*Let The Right One In, Dundee*
It's all change for National Theatre Scotland, with Vicky Featherstone now at the Royal Court in London and this adaptation of the cult Scandinavian novel possibly marking the final NTS production from John Tiffany, who gave the company its biggest hit, Black Watch. Tiffany's career has really taken off with the huge success of the multiple Tony award-winning Once in New York, and you'd think it likely that Jack Thorne's adaptation of this wonderful modern fairytale – about the unlikely friendship between a bullied boy and a vampire who moves in next door – will be looking for a further life. Even if vampires are not for you, this should be an intelligent look at bullying, otherness and what happens when you let someone in.
*Dundee Rep, Wed to 29 Jun*
*LG*
*Bracken Moor, London*
Shared Experience and director Polly Teale team up once again with the Tricycle for the world premiere of Alexi Kaye Campbell's Bracken Moor, set in Yorkshire during the 30s depression. Unsettling and suspenseful, it highlights the plight of the workers as victims of a system powered by profit and industrialisation. At its heart are two wealthy families who come together after years apart, and during the reunion a buried tragedy is revealed. Among the cast are Joseph Timms, Simon Shepherd and Sarah Woodward. Author Kaye Campbell won an Olivier award for his debut The Pride, which went on to Broadway, where it starred Ben Whishaw, Andrea Riseborough and Hugh Dancy. mark cook
*Tricycle Theatre, NW6, Thu to 20 Jul*
MC
*Sweet Bird Of Youth, London*
Kim Cattrall can't seem to keep away from the British stage, having already starred in Antony And Cleopatra, Whose Life Is It Anyway? and Private Lives, among others. Now the former Sex And The City sex symbol tackles Tennessee Williams and the suitably diva-esque role of Alexandra Del Lago in the febrile 1959 drama of lost youth and fading stars. With her comeback film bombing, the ex-Hollywood legend seeks solace in drink, drugs and a gigolo called Chance Wayne (aptly named as he's a chancer with an opportunistic eye), hitching a ride on her fame while also trying to win back his childhood sweetheart. He's played by Seth Numrich, a star on Broadway in War Horse. That play was directed, as is this production, by the award-winning Marianne Elliott, whose credits include The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time.
*Old Vic, SE1, Sat to 31 Aug*
MC
*Pulse festival, Ipswich*
An essential date on the theatrical calendar, this annual event offers an opportunity to see some small-scale shows that have already proved their worth, as well as a chance to get a first glimpse of Edinburgh-bound work. Look out this weekend for family shows such as The Wrong Crowd's lovely fairytale, The Girl with Iron Claws (Sun), and Talking Birds' The Whale (Sun). Some of the country's most innovative companies are on the Pulse programme, including Action Hero, Made In China and Chris Goode, and you can see new shows from rising stars including Francesca Millican-Slater, Daniel Bye and Victoria Melody.
*New Wolsey Theatre, Sat to 8 Jun*
LG Reported by guardian.co.uk 7 hours ago.
*Two's Company festival, Harrogate*
In an attempt to adapt in a challenging climate, regional theatres are booking smaller-scale productions, hoping to deliver more intimate experiences for their audiences. That's very much the idea behind the Two's Company festival, now in its third year, which offers a chance to see either one-on-one work or shows created for small audiences. There are some crackers this year, including the atmospheric and tender My Heart Is Hitchhiking Down Peach Street (Fri) and the mind-boggling and dizzying The Great Spavaldos (Fri to 8 Jun), in which you launch yourself into thin air. There are also new shows from Hannah Jane Walker and Chris Thorpe.
*Harrogate Theatre, Thu to 8 Jun*
LG
*Some Other Mother, Kirkcaldy & Edinburgh*
AJ Taudevin is being hailed as one of the future stars of Scottish theatre, and this play, inspired by her work with Glasgow's asylum seekers, is clearly close to her heart. Set at the top of a Glasgow tower block, it tells the story of 10-year-old Star, who is trying to keep things together as she and her increasingly fragile mother wait to hear the result of their asylum application. Offering a child's eye view of the world as Star falls back on the fantastical and the poetic in her quest for survival, the show comes with a terrific cast and a great team, including Kieran Hurley (who wrote Hitch and Beats) and director Catrin Evans.
*Adam Smith Theatre, Kirkcaldy, Thu; Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Fri; then touring*
LG
*Let The Right One In, Dundee*
It's all change for National Theatre Scotland, with Vicky Featherstone now at the Royal Court in London and this adaptation of the cult Scandinavian novel possibly marking the final NTS production from John Tiffany, who gave the company its biggest hit, Black Watch. Tiffany's career has really taken off with the huge success of the multiple Tony award-winning Once in New York, and you'd think it likely that Jack Thorne's adaptation of this wonderful modern fairytale – about the unlikely friendship between a bullied boy and a vampire who moves in next door – will be looking for a further life. Even if vampires are not for you, this should be an intelligent look at bullying, otherness and what happens when you let someone in.
*Dundee Rep, Wed to 29 Jun*
*LG*
*Bracken Moor, London*
Shared Experience and director Polly Teale team up once again with the Tricycle for the world premiere of Alexi Kaye Campbell's Bracken Moor, set in Yorkshire during the 30s depression. Unsettling and suspenseful, it highlights the plight of the workers as victims of a system powered by profit and industrialisation. At its heart are two wealthy families who come together after years apart, and during the reunion a buried tragedy is revealed. Among the cast are Joseph Timms, Simon Shepherd and Sarah Woodward. Author Kaye Campbell won an Olivier award for his debut The Pride, which went on to Broadway, where it starred Ben Whishaw, Andrea Riseborough and Hugh Dancy. mark cook
*Tricycle Theatre, NW6, Thu to 20 Jul*
MC
*Sweet Bird Of Youth, London*
Kim Cattrall can't seem to keep away from the British stage, having already starred in Antony And Cleopatra, Whose Life Is It Anyway? and Private Lives, among others. Now the former Sex And The City sex symbol tackles Tennessee Williams and the suitably diva-esque role of Alexandra Del Lago in the febrile 1959 drama of lost youth and fading stars. With her comeback film bombing, the ex-Hollywood legend seeks solace in drink, drugs and a gigolo called Chance Wayne (aptly named as he's a chancer with an opportunistic eye), hitching a ride on her fame while also trying to win back his childhood sweetheart. He's played by Seth Numrich, a star on Broadway in War Horse. That play was directed, as is this production, by the award-winning Marianne Elliott, whose credits include The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time.
*Old Vic, SE1, Sat to 31 Aug*
MC
*Pulse festival, Ipswich*
An essential date on the theatrical calendar, this annual event offers an opportunity to see some small-scale shows that have already proved their worth, as well as a chance to get a first glimpse of Edinburgh-bound work. Look out this weekend for family shows such as The Wrong Crowd's lovely fairytale, The Girl with Iron Claws (Sun), and Talking Birds' The Whale (Sun). Some of the country's most innovative companies are on the Pulse programme, including Action Hero, Made In China and Chris Goode, and you can see new shows from rising stars including Francesca Millican-Slater, Daniel Bye and Victoria Melody.
*New Wolsey Theatre, Sat to 8 Jun*
LG Reported by guardian.co.uk 7 hours ago.