In The Red And Brown Water *** & The Brothers Size **** - TNT

Young American playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney scored a huge critical hit last year with The Brothers Size – a simply staged three-hander played out within the confines of a chalk circle and with an unobtrusive musician tucked away in a corner. Now Bijan Sheibani’s powerful production is back with a completely new cast but the same intensity that made it so memorable first time round.
Tunji Kasim and Daniel Francis are first rate as the two black Louisiana brothers – work-shy ex-jailbird Oshoosi Size and the older Ogun, an industrious car mechanic who once loved the unseen Oya. But it’s the relationship between the siblings – and the unsettling presence of Oshoosi’s former cellmate Elegba – which forms the core of this small scale drama, influenced by Yoruba mythology, in which the characters speak not only the colloquial, sometimes poetic dialogue, but also their own stage directions.
Though both plays are completely self-contained, Ogun (now a stuttering Javone Prince) and Elegba (cheeky John MacMillan) also appear in In the Red and Brown Water, a far more ambitious undertaking which focuses on Oya.
Walter Meierjohann’s production floods the main stage with several inches of water and the audience sits round like poolside watchers. The slosh and swish of water seems in some ways a strange accompaniment to the story of a girl who could run like the wind, but it adds poignancy (when her running shoes float, abandoned on the dark surface) and a dangerous sensuality (to a late night party).
Ony Uhiara is excellent as the athletic but barren Oya, Ashley Walters (formerly of So Solid Crew) is on convincingly swaggering form as Shango, the young man she can’t resist, and once again McCraney shows that his is a distinctive voice well worth listening to.
Young Vic, The Cut – The Brothers Size – Maria Theatre, £17.50. In the Red And Brown Water – Main Stage, £22.50. Until November 8.

The Norman Conquests ***** - TNT

Forget 1066 and the battle of Hastings, the conquests going on in Alan Ayckbourn’s clever and immensely enjoyable trilogy which dates from 1973 are of a far more intimate nature. Set in a Sussex country house over the course of a single sunny weekend, they can be seen singly or in any order, but much of the fun – and the sadness - comes from seeing events unfold from different perspectives. Table Manners takes place in the dining room, Living Together in the sitting room and Round and Round the Garden speaks for itself. Some of the action overlaps, some is consecutive, but at the centre of it all is assistant librarian Norman’s doomed plan to spend a clandestine weekend away with Annie – who just happens to be the sister of his workaholic wife, Ruth.
Single Annie can’t leave their unseen, bedridden mother unattended, so has summoned her brother Reg and sister-in-law Sarah to hold the fort in her absence - without, of course, explaining the exact nature of her intended break. And then there’s Tom (Ben Miles) the hesitant, irredeemably slow on the uptake, local vet who’s been subjecting Annie’s cat to all sorts of indignities just so that he can pop over to see her.
Things rapidly start to unravel as jealousies flare, marital irritability escalates, and siblings squabble. Ayckbourn is a brilliant observer of human foibles and Matthew Warchus’s excellent, superbly acted revival, played out in the round in a reconfigured auditorium, proves a triple treat. Stephen Mangan’s infuriating, woolly-hatted Norman (legless on dandelion wine but somehow managing to attract all the women), Jessica Hynes’ sad Annie in her shapeless clothes, Amanda Root’s bossy, interfering Sarah and, best of all, Paul Ritter’s nerdy estate agent Reg with his homemade games ( and peerless comic timing) make this an event to savour.

Old Vic, The Cut, SE1 (0870-060 6628). Until December 20. £10-£45 (concessions available)

Flamenco Flamen'ka ** - TNT

Two brothers fall in love with the same woman and the result is tragedy in this dance drama based on The Intruder, a short story by the Argentinean writer Jorge Luis Borges.
The set – an alcoved Spanish square – is attractive, but the tale of prostitute Juliana and the jealous siblings proves disappointingly banal with its mix and match choice of music which breaks the atmosphere created by flashing knives, ferociously stamping heels and smouldering sexual resentment.
Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood directs a production which was originally conceived by Karen Ruimy, but lets her get away with a handful of averagely sung songs and (when she steps outside her role as the madam of the bordello) some irredeemably dire dialogue.
The show takes itself far too seriously to sustain such a flimsily developed and muddled storyline, and it’s left to Francisco Hidalgo and Manuel Gutierrez Cabello, almost driven apart by their shameful desire, to demonstrate just how dangerously seductive flamenco - and brotherly love - can be.

Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue W1 (0870-040 0081). November 15. £21- £50.50

Mine **** - TNT

Having it all proves unexpectedly problematic for an unnamed Man and Woman with the ideal home, glamorous careers and more money than they need when they eventually take home the baby they’ve been awaiting for a long, long time. Unable to have children themselves, they’ve finally reached the top of the list to foster with a view to adoption.
Life should be perfect, but the tiny mite comes with baggage – a mother who drinks, takes drugs and sells herself to pay for her habit. But she also has a heartfelt determination to prove that she can turn things round and win her baby back.
Polly Teale’s new play, which she directs herself, incorporates Shared Experience theatre company’s trademark integration of physicality and text to contrast two very different lifestyles, revealing the cracks and insecurities beneath apparent perfection as well as the guilt which can be born from the best intentions.
Well-acted and atmospheric, her production (played out against fluid video projections, watery as a womb) gives added poignancy to an emotionally complex, if not unfamiliar, situation in which the answers are not always clear cut.

Hampstead, Eton Ave, NW3. 020 7722 9301. October 25. £25-£15

Girl with a Pearl Earring *** - TNT

Though occasionally lovely to look at, this undistinguished adaptation of novelist Tracy Chevalier’s fictional account of the inspiration behind Vermeer’s enigmatic painting is a slow-moving affair which never really justifies its transition from page to stage. Told in flashback – and with each character briefly given the opportunity to address the audience directly - it follows the arrival of new servant girl, Griet, in a household full of children but short of money. She immediately captivates the men and alienates the women, and ends up sitting, secretly, for the Delft artist.
Niall Buggy overplays Vermeer’s crudely lascivious patron, whilst Sara Kestelman gives a subtly commanding performance as his shrewdly practical mother-in-law. Kimberley Nixon invests Griet with a sweet innocence (in contrast to Scarlett Johansson’s latent sensuality in the screen version).
But ultimately it’s hard to summon much enthusiasm when the piercing of a young girl’s ear (no matter how symbolic) is the climax of an otherwise prosaic evening.

Theatre Royal Haymarket, Haymarket, SW1 (0845-481 1870 (with booking fee). Until October 18. £17.50 -£45.00 (some day seats at £20))

Radio Golf *** - TNT

August Wilson died in 2005, so this will be the last in his series of ten plays charting the African American experience over each decade of the 20th century, and the sixth to receive its British premiere at this address. It takes us to 1997 and into the new office of Harmond Wilks (a Pittsburgh realtor who aims to be the first black mayor of Pittsburgh) and his businesspartner Roosevelt Hicks (a smooth operating bank Vice President whose love of golf is boosted by the belief that the best place to come to a business understanding is on the course). Smart, educated, wealthy, these two highfliers have made it in a white-dominated world and are at the fore of a multimillion pound project to redevelop the run down Hills District (where Wilson himself was brought up).
Wilson is suspicious of the cost of this success, and whilst (despite his ambition) Danny Sapani’s Harmond listens to his conscience, Roger Griffiths’ Roosevelt has no qualms about trampling over his roots if there’s money to be made. Far more sympathetic is the portrayal of the disadvantaged blacks who seem to treat the office as a local drop-in centre - Joseph Marcell’s deliciously cheeky Elder Joseph Barlow whose refusal to abandon his ramshackle, repossessed house jeopardises the rejuvenation plans, and Ray Shell’s shady Sterling, who never had his old schoolmate Harmond’s advantages but nevertheless sees the basic truth with the clear eye of common sense.
These two characters do much to galvanise a slow-starting, somewhat longwinded evening. But if Wilson’s exposition is sometimes awkward, his message still deserves to be heard.

Tricycle, Kilburn High Rd, NW6 (020-7328 1000). Until November 1. £10-£20

Riflemind ** - TNT

There’s nothing wrong with most of the acting in this collaboration with Sydney Theatre Company, but Andrew Upton’s portrayal of a once successful rock band contemplating a comeback takes an awfully long time to make much impact.
It’s hard to care whether clean living composer and ex frontman John (John Hannah) or his yoga-obsessed wife (Susan Prior) will lapse into a destructive drink and drugs lifestyle when the other former members arrive for a weekend of jamming, recrimination, and argument about a mooted world tour.
Director Philip Seymour Hoffman does his best to inject atmosphere into a predictable scenario, and things improve after the interval, but even Paul Hilton (excellent as heroin-addicted bassist Phil) can’t salvage this attempt to resurrect and relive the past.

Trafalgar Studios, Whitehall, SW1 (0870-060 6632). Until January 3. Tickets £25-£45

The Girlfriend Experience **** TNT

You wouldn’t normally expect to see the cast wearing headphones in an otherwise naturalistic play, but playwright Alecky Blythe uses the “recorded delivery” technique to let us eavesdrop on a form of prostitution which rarely hits the headlines. From hours of audio material, she has selected a sequence of minor episodes, and the taped words of the women whose world she was allowed to enter are played to the actors who replicate them on stage, complete with all the pauses and repetitions of everyday speech.

I’m not sure that (once the production is rehearsed and ready) this way of working adds much to the experience, but you soon forget the method and ignore the headsets as Tessa (a Gothic ex-dominatrix) and her three co-workers lounge around in her Bournemouth flat, waiting for the next punter to ring the basement doorbell for forty quid’s worth of massage and hand relief, or fork out an extra twenty for half an hour and the full works.

What comes across most in this warm and witty portrayal is the very ordinariness of these self-employed, suburban women who offer a kiss and a cuddle along with gratification, before going home in the evening to take care of an ailing father, a teenage daughter or a husband. Verging on (or well into) middle age, with big boobs and bodies that could at best be described as “comfortable,” they still long for real romance whilst maintaining that what they do is just a job like working in a supermarket.
Debbie Chazen, Beatie Edney, Lu Corfield and Esther Coles give brave, sympathetic performances in their black lingerie and Alex Lowe, always glimpsed through a doorway, manages to invest their clients – the creepy, the sad, the obnoxious and the simply horny – with considerable individuality.

Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, Sloane Square, SW1 (020-7565 5000). October 11. £15 (£10 on Monday)

Ivanov **** - TNT

From Christopher Oram’s subtly atmospheric set to the bitter wit of Tom Stoppard’s colloquial new version, Michael Grandage’s production of Chekhov’s tragi-comedy proves a resounding success. The eponymous landowner at the centre of this comparatively rarely revived early play is a callous, self-loathing and selfish creation whom Kenneth Branagh endows with all the despair of a man on the verge of financial and emotional meltdown, too obsessed with his failing farm and the attentions of a pretty young neighbour to behave halfway decently towards the dying wife (Gina McKee) he no longer loves.
But this is also an ensemble piece in which Lorcan Cranitch’s scheming estate manager, Kevin R.McNally’s affable Lebedev and Malcolm Sinclair’s cynical old uncle make a vodka-fuelled contrast to Tom Hiddleston’s principled but unattractively priggish young doctor.

Wyndhams, Charing Cross Rd, WC2 (0844-482 5120). Until November 29. £10-£32.50

in-i ** - TNT

Combining the talents of a world famous French actress and an equally respected performer from the world of ballet might sound like the foundation for a fascinating collaboration, but the result proves patchy.

As part of the European Culture Season, Juliette Binoche and Akram Khan have put together several short scenes using words and movement to investigate the nature of love. They begin with Binoche recounting how, as a teenager, she spotted a man at the cinema and stalked him until they became lovers. There’s an amusing (but over-extended) segment in which passion gives way to the practicalities of living together and the state of the toilet seat becomes a matter of contention.

But there’s more tempestuousness than humour, and the choreography often verges on the violent as the colours of the flat encroaching wall, designed by Anish Kapoor, mutate. Khan delivers his spoken lines with intensity, and one can’t help but admire the agility and stamina of the forty-something Binoche as she throws herself into the dance moves. But, even at just over an hour long, this experiment becomes repetitive and the uneasy mix of tone never goes deep enough to enlighten.

Lyttelton at the National, South Bank, SE1 (020-7452 3000). Until October 20. £10-£41

Now Or Later **** TNT

Prince Harry caused a ruckus several years back by sporting a swastika at a fancy-dress party. Christopher Shinn’s timely play imagines what might happen if the gay son of the Democrat President-elect made a similar (but in this case calculated) faux pas by dressing up as Muhammad and refusing to apologise.
Set in the anonymity of a Southern hotel room, Dominic Cooke’s convincing production is both intelligent and thought provoking as it explores issues of freedom of speech and intolerance. Eddie Redmayne exudes damaged sensitivity as the Ivy League student, determined to preserve his private autonomy, and Matthew Marsh is calculatingly effective as it becomes clear the principles that helped him get to power now lie somewhere between hypocrisy and compromise.

Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Sq, SW1 (020-7565 5000). Until November 1. £10-£25

LOUISE KINGSLEY