Three Days in May, Trafalgar Studios 1, London
2011-11-07 00:00:01.0
The lone warrior points the way in a riveting history lesson
Collaborators, Cottesloe, London
Three Days in May, Trafalgar Studios, London
Britannicus, Wilton's, London
2011-11-06 00:00:01.0
Bulgakov and 'The Boss' play cat and mouse in Moscow. Meanwhile, the course of the war is being decided in London...
The Sleeping Beauty, Royal Opera House, London
Manon, Royal Opera House, London
2011-11-06 00:00:01.0
With fizzing invention, this limitless masterpiece springs its thrills once again
Iphigenia, Theatre Royal, Bath
2011-11-04 00:00:01.0
The story of Iphigenia is one of slaughtered innocence and unbearable cruelty. Too unbearable, in fact, for the Greek dramatist Euripides, who decided to change it. According to legend, Iphigenia is sacrificed to the gods by her father, Agamemnon, before he leads the Greek forces into battle at Troy. In Euripides's version, she is saved by the goddess Diana as the sacrificial knife is about to fall.
Collaborators, National Theatre: Cottesloe, London
2011-11-03 00:00:01.0
From Beaumont and Fletcher to Kaufman and Hart, there have been many cases of playwrights working in tandem. But Stalin and Bulgakov? Surely some mistake. The General Secretary of the Communist Party and the era's greatest (if often slyly so) dissident dramatist sound unlikely co-authors. That, however, is the scenario we are asked to envisage in the savagely funny, darkly fantastical play that screenwriter John Hodge has concocted for his stage debut.
Wilco, Roundhouse, London
2011-11-03 00:00:01.0
The masters of reinvention are still inspiring a whole lot of love
A Walk in the Woods, Tricycle Theatre, London
2011-11-03 00:00:01.0
There's a sense in which Lee Blessing's A Walk in the Woods is the ultimate park bench play – the customary two casual strangers replaced by a pair of nuclear arms negotiators (one from the US, the other from the Soviet Union) who meet for regular private conversations away from the official Geneva talks. The political climate has changed dramatically since the piece – inspired by an actual "walk in the woods" in the early 1980s when negotiators drafted their own breakthrough plan, soon to be rejected by both governments – was first seen in 1987. It's no longer a superpower stand-off that causes dread but our failure to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons in small unstable regimes and, potentially, sub-national groups. Does this mean that the play is now looking dated?
27, Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh
2011-11-02 00:00:01.0
Abi Morgan’s superior study of hearts and minds restores the faith
A Round-Heeled Woman, Riverside Studios, London
2011-11-02 00:00:01.0
"Of course I'm alone. What? You think I'd do this in front of an audience?" Jane Juska is in the early stages of phone sex when the curtain comes up. Looking out into the stalls she reacts in mortification, mumbles "I'll call you back...!" and so begins the confessional journey of a 66-year-old woman, who after 30 years of celibacy, embarks on a series of sexual misadventures.
Some Like It Hip Hop, Peacock Theatre, London
2011-11-01 00:00:01.0
This is glorious. Some Like It Hip Hop, the new show from streetdance company ZooNation, is a fizzing tale of love, gender politics, lost daughters and heroic librarians. The music and dancing are superb: everything in this show has wit, heart and magnificent energy.
The Last of the Duchess, Hampstead Theatre, London
2011-10-31 00:00:01.0
If the mere thought of Madonna's reportedly flattering biopic is enough to induce severe Wallis Simpson fatigue, please don't let this put you off The Last of the Duchess, the delectably funny and haunting new play by Nicholas Wright.
Fabulous Beast, Sadler's Wells, London
2011-10-28 00:00:01.0
Michael Keegan-Dolan's Fabulous Beast dance company is best known for its sense of drama. His versions of Giselle and Irish mythology turned them into lurid contemporary stories, confrontations between huge personalities. Rian, his new collaboration with the musician Liam Ó Maonlaí, has no plot. Musicians and dancers get together, with a joyful sense of community.
The Queen of Spades, Grand Theatre, Leeds
2011-10-28 00:00:01.0
Like other publicly funded enterprises, Opera North is feeling the pinch, and has had to cut back on the current season. But it retains its characteristic spirit of adventure, and is mounting three fresh productions of works new to its repertoire, as well as pressing on with its semi-staged Ring Cycle.
13, National Theatre: Olivier, London
2011-10-28 00:00:01.0
Mike Bartlett's ambitious new epic, 13, is set in a not-so-alternative present-day world of street protests and economic misery where Londoners repeatedly awaken from identical nightmares of disaster and a female Tory Prime Minister (Geraldine James) ponders supporting a US-led invasion of Iran.
The Sleeping Beauty, Royal Opera House, London
2011-10-27 00:00:03.0
The Sleeping Beauty is definitely the ballerina’s ballet; the hero doesn’t show up until half-way through. Even so, Steven McRae was the star of this Royal Ballet revival, from his soaring jumps to his wonder as the fairy world opens up before him.
