WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHERE: National Theatre
WHEN: 26/8, press night 6/9 runs to 3/1/2018
Four-time Olivier Award winner Imelda Staunton last won for her starring role in Stephen Sondheim’s Gypsy but plays a very different part here.
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHERE: Park Theatre
WHEN: 19/8, press night 23/8 runs to 24/9
Playwright Joe Orton was murdered half a century ago and this production of one of his greatest hits Loot is the first of the comedy in its uncensored form.
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHERE: Upstairs At The Gatehouse
WHEN: 18/8, runs to 19/8
The words experimental Steps jukebox musical may be enough to strike fear into the heart of the average theatregoer but 5,6,7,8 is definitely more comedy than, ahem, Tragedy.
WORTH A LOOK?: **
WHERE: Almeida
WHEN: 12/8, press night 18/8 runs to 30/9
We’re at the first preview of this new play commissioned by the Almeida and Ben Whishaw plays Luke, a Silicon Valley billionaire, who is spoken to by God.
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHERE: Trafalgar Studios
WHEN: 29/7 runs through 18/11
Apologia means a formal defence of a position or action and it’s a well-chosen title for this thoughtful reflection on whether acting for the greater good can excuse parental neglect.
WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHERE: Old Vic
WHEN: 28/7, runs to 31/7
Queers is a series of eight monologues which marks 50 years since the Sexual Offences Act of 1967 began the decriminalisation process for homosexuality between men and celebrates the British gay experience over the last century.
WORTH A LOOK?: ***1/2
WHERE: National Theatre
WHEN: 21/7, runs to 28/9
Broadchurch star Olivia Colman won’t be the first female Doctor Who and plays a woman called Jenny here who is pregnant but worried about the risk an ultrasound might pose to her unborn child.
WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHERE: Apollo Theatre
WHEN: 13/7, press night 24/7, runs to 7/10
Director Benedict Andrews’ last Young Vic production starred Gillian Anderson and was his take on Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire. It was the smash hit of 2014, transferred to Broadway and his follow-up is no less deserving of such an honour.
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHERE: Park Theatre
WHEN: 3/7 (matinee), runs to 3/7
It’s Pride weekend in London and Sir Ian McKellen is reaching the end of a week-long series of shows during which he has raised an astonishing £250,000 for north London’s four-year-old Park Theatre, which receives no government funding.
WORTH A LOOK?: ***
WHERE: Barbican Theatre
WHEN: 30/6, runs to 18/8
Simon Russell Beale is one of the finest actors of his generation and therefore it’s curious that he should choose to return to the Royal Shakespeare Company after 20 years in something quite so overcooked.
