The HighTide festival of new writing begins in Suffolk, the Celtic festival is in full swing at Clwyd Theatr Cymru in Wales and GIFT offers boundary-breaking work in Gateshead
*Scotland and Northern Ireland*
The rather exciting Headlong revival of The Seagull is at the Citizens in Glasgow and shouldn't be missed. The Mayfesto season at the Tron begins with Jenna Watt's Flâneurs, which explores why we are so often bystanders and not women and men of action. Behaviour at the Arches continues with Nic Green's Shadowlands, which considers waste, and Gob Squad's Andy Warhol-inspired, Kitchen.
The all-male Wuthering Heights, and Poke, about female domination, are at the Traverse in Edinburgh next week. Tomorrow at the Traverse, Scrapheap brings together over 50 artists from different disciplines to collaborate on making theatre. A Doll's House continues at the Lyceum. Hector MacMillan's 1973 play, The Sash, about sectarianism is revived by Rapture and is at The Adam Smith in Kirkcaldy tonight and tomorrow, before moving to the Kings in Edinburgh. The National Theatre of Scotland tours with The Day I Swapped my Dad for Two Goldfish, in Greenock and Livingston this week.
In Belfast, Graham Reid returns to the Protestant family he explored on TV in the 1980s. Love, Billy at the Lyric sees Billy returning to Belfast after an absence of 25 years. The 25th Annual Putnum County Spelling Bee continues at the Mac.
*North*
The Gateshead International Festival of Theatre is back for a third year and the lineup is mouthwatering. Third Angel, Get in the Back of the Van, Kindle, Alan Lyddiard, Brian Lobel and Tassos Stevens are amongst those presenting work and workshops, alongside a host of emerging companies and artists from the region. Terrific stuff. Propeller are at Newcastle's Theatre Royal with Twelfth Night and The Taming of the Shrew. Arc in Stockton offers an evening of mayhem in Arcade's Staggered, and obsession and addiction in Mess.
In Manchester, Cush Jumbo plays Nora in A Doll's House at the Royal Exchange, which also hosts Angela Clerkin's tale of murder, The Bear. Word of Warning continues with a micro-commission from Tam Hinton, Delicious Monster, and former Mighty Boosh member Stuart Silver's You Look Like Ants at Z Arts. Idle Motion go back in time to wartime Bletchley park in That is all You Need to Know at the Lowry.
Dan Bye's brilliant and touching performance lecture, The Price of Everything, is at the Theatre in the Mill in Bradford next Thursday and Friday. Sticks' devised piece, The Hoarder, is inspired by a true story and investigates materialism and loneliness. It's at the Stephen Joseph in Scarborough from Wednesday. That swashbuckling tale, The Count of Monte Cristo, is presented in a two person version at Harrogate Theatre, and it's the final weekend of Transform at West Yorkshire Playhouse. Richard Hurford is inspired by Laurence Sterne in iShandy at the Theatre Royal in York.
*Central and east*
The season of solo performances continues at Warwick Arts Centre with Sleepwalk Collective's unsettlingly voyeuristic exploration of dark desires, Amusements, Victoria Melody's show about underdogs, Major Tom, and Sue MacLaine's Still Life, about artists' muse Henrietta Moraes, in which the audience do the drawing. Pippa Nixon is truly enchanting as Rosalind in Maria Aberg's Glastonbury-themed As You Like for the RSC in Stratford. Charlotte Josephine's engaging story of a young woman trying to box her way to London 2012, Bitch Boxer, joins the wonderful revival of the Hired Man at the Curve in Leicester. Also in Leicester tonight and tomorrow is Kali's My Daughter's Trial in the Town Hall. The Chekhov adaptation, Sons without Fathers, continues at the Belgrade in Coventry.
Khaled Hosseini's bestseller, The Kite Runner, is adapted for the stage at Nottingham Playhouse and over at Lakeside Brendan Murray's Entertaining Angels considers the role of the church in contemporary village life. Lee Hall's outrageously funny tale of food and sex, Cooking with Elvis, is revived at Derby Theatre.
Dancer/theatre-maker Dan Canham's 30 Cecil Street was an evocative little gem, and his latest show, Ours was the Fen Country, explores a way of life under threat in East Anglia. This sets off on tour from the New Wolsey in Ipswich next Friday. Peterborough's new town transformation is the subject of Parkway Dreams, a musical play touring to Great Yarmouth, Cambridge and beyond this week. The annual High Tide Festival begins in Halesworth in Suffolk on Thursday. Highlights include Thomas Eccleshare's Pastoral, Luke Barnes' Bottleneck and work in development, including Jack Thorne's version of Alexander Masters' astonishing book: Stuart: a Life Backwards.
*South*
Murray Lachlan Young's comedy written in verse, The Incomers, is at the Marine in Lyme Regis, Dorchester Arts Centre and the Acorn Penzance this week and at the Bikeshed in Exeter tonight and tomorrow. Also at the Bikeshed from next Tuesday, is another play using poetry, Lucifer Saved, by Peter Oswald, a story of a man lost and found. Exeter's Northcott Theatre plays host to Roger McGough's excellent new version of The Misanthrope before it moves to Brighton's Theatre Royal next week.
Head to Bristol Old Vic for the Handspring collaboration on A Midsummer Night's Dream. Victoria Melody brings her Basset Hound to the studio for Major Tom, a story of underdogs. So Circus stop off at Circomedia next Friday with Backgammon for Beginners, which mixes storytelling and acrobatics. At the Tobacco Factory you can catch an enjoyable Two Gentlemen of Verona and The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, which looks at labour conditions in Chinese electronic factories and will make you look at your Apple products in a different way. Also check out the Bristol Old Vic graduating directors' season at the Alma Tavern. Some great plays including Edward Gant's Amazing Feats of Loneliness by Anthony Neilson this weekend, followed by Philip Ridley's extraordinary Tender Napalm from Tuesday.
Richard Eyre directs The Pajama Game at the Minerva in Chichester. In Southampton, Chris Dunkley's Smallholding, a comedy about the good life and rehabilitation, is at the Nuffield. The delightful and steely fairytale, The Girl with Iron Claws, stops off at the Point at Eastleigh at the end of the week. Vamos's mask theatre show, Finding Joy, is at the North Wall in Oxford. Laura Mugridge enchants with her oddly affecting myth, The Watery Journey of Nereus Pike, at the Gulbenkian in Canterbury. Molière's The Miser continues at the Watermill in Newbury. The fine revival of Rutherford and Son stops off at the Theatre Royal in Winchester.
*Wales*
The wonderful and heartbreaking Something Very Far Away is at the Sherman in Cardiff as part of the ongoing Family Festival. Strictly it's a kids' show for the over-eights, but if you are interested in theatre for any age, it's worth seeing. Also in Cardiff is National Theatre Wales's Praxis Makes Perfect, a collaboration between Neon Neon, playwright Tim Price and director Wils Wilson. which takes the form of an immersive gig. It's at a secret location and is touring throughout the summer. NoFitState's lovely circus show Bianco stops off at the Wales Millennium Centre from Wednesday. Dennis Kelly's brilliant, slippery Love and Money tours to Aberystwyth Arts Centre and Halliwell Carmarthen this week. Also in Carmarthen, a last chance for Tir Sir Gar, a wonderful heartfelt examination of land, identity and family. The Celtic Festival continues at Clwyd Theatr Cymru in Mold. There's a chance to catch Dogstar's The Tailor of Inverness this weekend. Other shows also include Tim Price's family drama, Salt, Root and Roe, which was a big hit in London. Dirty Protest are also in action with Matthew Bulgo's Last Christmas, about a student returning home for the festive season, and at Picnic Plays, outdoor readings of new Welsh works.
*London*
Katie Mitchell's multimedia take on Strindberg, Fraulein Julie, is at the Barbican. Forest Fringe enter their second week of residency at the Gate, this week curated by Dickie Beau. The Yard return for a summer season entitled The Generation Game. Dead Centre's Souvenir and 3Fates' To Close Your Eyes is to Travel kick off the festivities. Hofesh Shechter returns to Sadlers Wells with Uprising and The Art of Not Looking Back from tomorrow through Monday.
There's music to murder by in The Bloody Ballad at Soho Theatre and just time to catch Hedlong's thrilling The Seagull at Watford Palace this weekend. The Globe season begins with The Tempest.
The musical about Alan Turing, The Universal Machine, continues at the New Diorama. Bola Agbaje's satire on British-Nigerian life, The Burial, premieres at the Albany. Travels with my Aunt starts at the Menier, and Ostrovsky's Larisa and the Merchants, in a new version by Samuel Adamson, is at the Arcola. The Play that Goes Wrong is a backstage comedy at Trafalgar Studios.
It's your last chance to catch NoFitState's Bianco at the Roundhouse and Upswing's What Happens in Winter goes to Jacksons Lane. Little Bulb's Orpheus at BAC is a delight, while Beautiful Thing at the Arts is a reminder that homophobia is still with us. Mister Holgado offers a spooky family treat at the Unicorn, but for grownup chills check out the Ghost Hunter at the Old Red Lion and The Weir at the Donmar. Reported by guardian.co.uk 3 days ago.
*Scotland and Northern Ireland*
The rather exciting Headlong revival of The Seagull is at the Citizens in Glasgow and shouldn't be missed. The Mayfesto season at the Tron begins with Jenna Watt's Flâneurs, which explores why we are so often bystanders and not women and men of action. Behaviour at the Arches continues with Nic Green's Shadowlands, which considers waste, and Gob Squad's Andy Warhol-inspired, Kitchen.
The all-male Wuthering Heights, and Poke, about female domination, are at the Traverse in Edinburgh next week. Tomorrow at the Traverse, Scrapheap brings together over 50 artists from different disciplines to collaborate on making theatre. A Doll's House continues at the Lyceum. Hector MacMillan's 1973 play, The Sash, about sectarianism is revived by Rapture and is at The Adam Smith in Kirkcaldy tonight and tomorrow, before moving to the Kings in Edinburgh. The National Theatre of Scotland tours with The Day I Swapped my Dad for Two Goldfish, in Greenock and Livingston this week.
In Belfast, Graham Reid returns to the Protestant family he explored on TV in the 1980s. Love, Billy at the Lyric sees Billy returning to Belfast after an absence of 25 years. The 25th Annual Putnum County Spelling Bee continues at the Mac.
*North*
The Gateshead International Festival of Theatre is back for a third year and the lineup is mouthwatering. Third Angel, Get in the Back of the Van, Kindle, Alan Lyddiard, Brian Lobel and Tassos Stevens are amongst those presenting work and workshops, alongside a host of emerging companies and artists from the region. Terrific stuff. Propeller are at Newcastle's Theatre Royal with Twelfth Night and The Taming of the Shrew. Arc in Stockton offers an evening of mayhem in Arcade's Staggered, and obsession and addiction in Mess.
In Manchester, Cush Jumbo plays Nora in A Doll's House at the Royal Exchange, which also hosts Angela Clerkin's tale of murder, The Bear. Word of Warning continues with a micro-commission from Tam Hinton, Delicious Monster, and former Mighty Boosh member Stuart Silver's You Look Like Ants at Z Arts. Idle Motion go back in time to wartime Bletchley park in That is all You Need to Know at the Lowry.
Dan Bye's brilliant and touching performance lecture, The Price of Everything, is at the Theatre in the Mill in Bradford next Thursday and Friday. Sticks' devised piece, The Hoarder, is inspired by a true story and investigates materialism and loneliness. It's at the Stephen Joseph in Scarborough from Wednesday. That swashbuckling tale, The Count of Monte Cristo, is presented in a two person version at Harrogate Theatre, and it's the final weekend of Transform at West Yorkshire Playhouse. Richard Hurford is inspired by Laurence Sterne in iShandy at the Theatre Royal in York.
*Central and east*
The season of solo performances continues at Warwick Arts Centre with Sleepwalk Collective's unsettlingly voyeuristic exploration of dark desires, Amusements, Victoria Melody's show about underdogs, Major Tom, and Sue MacLaine's Still Life, about artists' muse Henrietta Moraes, in which the audience do the drawing. Pippa Nixon is truly enchanting as Rosalind in Maria Aberg's Glastonbury-themed As You Like for the RSC in Stratford. Charlotte Josephine's engaging story of a young woman trying to box her way to London 2012, Bitch Boxer, joins the wonderful revival of the Hired Man at the Curve in Leicester. Also in Leicester tonight and tomorrow is Kali's My Daughter's Trial in the Town Hall. The Chekhov adaptation, Sons without Fathers, continues at the Belgrade in Coventry.
Khaled Hosseini's bestseller, The Kite Runner, is adapted for the stage at Nottingham Playhouse and over at Lakeside Brendan Murray's Entertaining Angels considers the role of the church in contemporary village life. Lee Hall's outrageously funny tale of food and sex, Cooking with Elvis, is revived at Derby Theatre.
Dancer/theatre-maker Dan Canham's 30 Cecil Street was an evocative little gem, and his latest show, Ours was the Fen Country, explores a way of life under threat in East Anglia. This sets off on tour from the New Wolsey in Ipswich next Friday. Peterborough's new town transformation is the subject of Parkway Dreams, a musical play touring to Great Yarmouth, Cambridge and beyond this week. The annual High Tide Festival begins in Halesworth in Suffolk on Thursday. Highlights include Thomas Eccleshare's Pastoral, Luke Barnes' Bottleneck and work in development, including Jack Thorne's version of Alexander Masters' astonishing book: Stuart: a Life Backwards.
*South*
Murray Lachlan Young's comedy written in verse, The Incomers, is at the Marine in Lyme Regis, Dorchester Arts Centre and the Acorn Penzance this week and at the Bikeshed in Exeter tonight and tomorrow. Also at the Bikeshed from next Tuesday, is another play using poetry, Lucifer Saved, by Peter Oswald, a story of a man lost and found. Exeter's Northcott Theatre plays host to Roger McGough's excellent new version of The Misanthrope before it moves to Brighton's Theatre Royal next week.
Head to Bristol Old Vic for the Handspring collaboration on A Midsummer Night's Dream. Victoria Melody brings her Basset Hound to the studio for Major Tom, a story of underdogs. So Circus stop off at Circomedia next Friday with Backgammon for Beginners, which mixes storytelling and acrobatics. At the Tobacco Factory you can catch an enjoyable Two Gentlemen of Verona and The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, which looks at labour conditions in Chinese electronic factories and will make you look at your Apple products in a different way. Also check out the Bristol Old Vic graduating directors' season at the Alma Tavern. Some great plays including Edward Gant's Amazing Feats of Loneliness by Anthony Neilson this weekend, followed by Philip Ridley's extraordinary Tender Napalm from Tuesday.
Richard Eyre directs The Pajama Game at the Minerva in Chichester. In Southampton, Chris Dunkley's Smallholding, a comedy about the good life and rehabilitation, is at the Nuffield. The delightful and steely fairytale, The Girl with Iron Claws, stops off at the Point at Eastleigh at the end of the week. Vamos's mask theatre show, Finding Joy, is at the North Wall in Oxford. Laura Mugridge enchants with her oddly affecting myth, The Watery Journey of Nereus Pike, at the Gulbenkian in Canterbury. Molière's The Miser continues at the Watermill in Newbury. The fine revival of Rutherford and Son stops off at the Theatre Royal in Winchester.
*Wales*
The wonderful and heartbreaking Something Very Far Away is at the Sherman in Cardiff as part of the ongoing Family Festival. Strictly it's a kids' show for the over-eights, but if you are interested in theatre for any age, it's worth seeing. Also in Cardiff is National Theatre Wales's Praxis Makes Perfect, a collaboration between Neon Neon, playwright Tim Price and director Wils Wilson. which takes the form of an immersive gig. It's at a secret location and is touring throughout the summer. NoFitState's lovely circus show Bianco stops off at the Wales Millennium Centre from Wednesday. Dennis Kelly's brilliant, slippery Love and Money tours to Aberystwyth Arts Centre and Halliwell Carmarthen this week. Also in Carmarthen, a last chance for Tir Sir Gar, a wonderful heartfelt examination of land, identity and family. The Celtic Festival continues at Clwyd Theatr Cymru in Mold. There's a chance to catch Dogstar's The Tailor of Inverness this weekend. Other shows also include Tim Price's family drama, Salt, Root and Roe, which was a big hit in London. Dirty Protest are also in action with Matthew Bulgo's Last Christmas, about a student returning home for the festive season, and at Picnic Plays, outdoor readings of new Welsh works.
*London*
Katie Mitchell's multimedia take on Strindberg, Fraulein Julie, is at the Barbican. Forest Fringe enter their second week of residency at the Gate, this week curated by Dickie Beau. The Yard return for a summer season entitled The Generation Game. Dead Centre's Souvenir and 3Fates' To Close Your Eyes is to Travel kick off the festivities. Hofesh Shechter returns to Sadlers Wells with Uprising and The Art of Not Looking Back from tomorrow through Monday.
There's music to murder by in The Bloody Ballad at Soho Theatre and just time to catch Hedlong's thrilling The Seagull at Watford Palace this weekend. The Globe season begins with The Tempest.
The musical about Alan Turing, The Universal Machine, continues at the New Diorama. Bola Agbaje's satire on British-Nigerian life, The Burial, premieres at the Albany. Travels with my Aunt starts at the Menier, and Ostrovsky's Larisa and the Merchants, in a new version by Samuel Adamson, is at the Arcola. The Play that Goes Wrong is a backstage comedy at Trafalgar Studios.
It's your last chance to catch NoFitState's Bianco at the Roundhouse and Upswing's What Happens in Winter goes to Jacksons Lane. Little Bulb's Orpheus at BAC is a delight, while Beautiful Thing at the Arts is a reminder that homophobia is still with us. Mister Holgado offers a spooky family treat at the Unicorn, but for grownup chills check out the Ghost Hunter at the Old Red Lion and The Weir at the Donmar. Reported by guardian.co.uk 3 days ago.