Cheap Flights - Fascinating Aida

TNT

They’ve said goodbye several times since they were formed in 1983, but Fascinating Aida are back in London and packing in the punters -

thanks not only to the loyal following they’ve built up over the decades but also to their current YouTube sensation which gives the show its name.

With around 8 million hits to date, they’re on to a winner and along with the fans who’ve grown grey over the years, they’re also attracting an appreciative younger audience ready to relish their particular brand of satirical musical cabaret.

Founder member Dillie Keane and Adele Anderson (who joined a year later) will both be 60 next year, but there’s no sign of them mellowing or slowing down. The considerably younger soprano Sarah-Louise Young now completes the anarchic trio and adds a new song of her own praising the benefits of one-night stands.

But Keane and Anderson remain the prime creators and nothing is sacred. From Dignitas to dogging, and from Tesco to surrogate pregnancy (thanks to an obliging orang-utan), their witty lyrics continue to amuse.

Keane still gets into uncomfortable contortions when playing the piano, and the trio go a cappella for the string of short, sharp verses which make up a mock Bulgarian song cycle.

They saved the sparkly gowns for after the interval, but this is intelligent, laugh-out-loud entertainment (with the occasional poignant touch) which is worth seeing no matter what the outfits.

Charing Cross Theatre The Arches Villiers Street WC2N 6NL (020 7907 7075) Until January 7 (£24.50-£29.50) charingcrosstheatre.co.uk

Nutcracker!

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Classical ballet not for you? Then give Matthew Bourne’s inventive reworking of the seasonal favourite a whirl.

Instead of the usual lavish house party he gives us a grim Dickensian orphanage where the meagre Christmas tree is whisked away – along with the hand-me-down presents – as soon as the visiting governors have departed.

All is not doom and gloom however, as, at midnight, orphan Clara’s Nutcracker doll turns into a handsome (if fickle) bare-chested youth who breaks down the walls and sweeps her off to the white winter wonderland of a frozen lake and the heady pink colour burst of Sweetieland.

Here a trio of athletic gobstoppers, a lascivious cherry-topped knickerbocker glory and a quintet of marshmallow girls make dance – and Tchaikovsky’s music – as fun and as accessible as a Busby Berkeley musical, but with added bite.

Sadler’s Wells Rosebery Avenue EC1R 4TN (0844 412 4300) Tube: Angel Until January 22 (£10 - £60) sadlerswells.com

The Ladykillers

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An elderly, law-abiding widow threatens to scupper the getaway plans of a gang of small time crooks in Graham Linehan’s stage reworking of the classic 1955 Ealing comedy film.

Masquerading as a string quintet lead by Peter Capaldi’s incompetent mastermind, Ben Miller’s knife-wielding gangster with a pathological fear of old ladies, Stephen Wight’s pill-popping spiv with a furniture polishing fetish, Clive Rowe’s several sandwiches short of a picnic ex-boxer, and (best of all) James Fleet’s cross-dressing conman plot a robbery whilst pretending to practise.

There are some clever touches (model cars carry out the heist climbing up the walls of the revolving set) and a handful of running gags (involving a swivelling blackboard, a ridiculously long scarf, and the sheer incompetence of the criminals) which make for an enjoyable evening’s entertainment of slapstick and farce, in which you never for one moment believe that Marcia Warren’s fanciful Mrs Wilberforce will come to any harm in her lopsided house overlooking Kings Cross.

Gielgud Shaftesbury Avenue W1D 6AR (0844 482 5130) Tube: Piccadilly Circus Until April 14 (£12.50-£55) TheLadyKillers.co.uk

Richard II

This is London

Artistic director Michael Grandage ends his critically acclaimed reign at the Donmar with Shakespeare’s history play about a king who relinquishes his crown. Both their successors may be worthy, but there the similarity ends. After almost a decade, Grandage leaves with a deservedly enhanced reputation and a string of high profile successes, whilst Richard II is a once powerful monarch who is ultimately left with no choice but to hand over the symbols of his royal office.
Initially seated contemplatively on his throne, framed by the tarnished gilded arches of Richard Kent’s Gothic, incense filled set, Eddie Redmayne’s slight but apparently assured Richard is soon revealed as too twitchy, too fragile and insecure a sovereign to rest easy on the throne. From his position of absolute power, a series of misjudged decision render him vulnerable to the growing strength of his cousin – and future King Henry IV – (Andrew Buchan’s contrastingly solid, misleadingly straightforward Bolingbroke).
Pippa Bennett-Warner is both touching and dignified as his devoted Queen, and, in Grandage’s swift, atmospheric production, there’s strong support from Ron Cook’s Duke of York, putting duty to his country before filial affection, and Michael Hadley’s dying Gaunt delivering the famous ‘sceptred isle’ speech with an intensity which pleads for England.

Donmar

A Christmas Carol

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At the end of a hectic week of theatregoing, I wasn’t particularly looking forward to seeing yet another adaptation of Charles Dickens’ famous novella, but an evening in the company of Simon Callow proved to be a real pleasure.

With his rich voice, persuasive physical presence and, most of all, his love of Dickens’ work, Callow proves the perfect narrator of this cautionary Christmas tale.

There’s some unnecessarily distracting business with a pile of chairs but, that apart, Tom Cairns’ simple staging (inspired by Dickens’ own performing version) effectively conjures the joyful festivities of the Fezziwigs’ party, the grimy gloom of London streets and the cheerless abode where super stingy Ebenezer Scrooge encounters the ghost of Jacob Marley, his long dead business partner and fellow skinflint.

Callow brings each character to life – not just a curmudgeonly Scrooge begrudgingly granting Bob Cratchit a single day off, but also those who make the briefest of appearances: his kindly sister, the young woman who ditched him in his youth as his love of money grew greater than his affection for her, the little lad sent to buy a massive turkey when, transformed, he grabs his chance for a better future, and cheerful Tiny Tim whose life hangs precariously in the balance until Scrooge sees the error of his penny-pinching ways.

Arts Theatre, Great Newport Street, WC2H 7JB (020 7907 7092) artstheatrewestend.com Tube: Leicester Square Until 14th Jan (£15-£37.50)

Haunted Child

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It’s not a ghost that’s upsetting young Thomas in Joe Penhall’s superbly acted three-hander, but the unannounced reappearance of his father, an engineer who vanished without trace.

Now Douglas is back – but he’s a changed man, wild-haired, dishevelled and seduced by a bizarre esoteric cult which (as well as advocating downing a bucketful of salt water to “align the brain waves”) is after his money.

Sophie Okonedo imbues Julie with a troubled warmth as she tries to protect her little boy and win back her husband, a raw Ben Daniels invests Douglas’s extreme mid-life crisis with an evangelical intensity as he loses touch with reality, and Jack Boulter more than holds his own as their vulnerable son fascinated by his dad’s new ways. 

Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, SW1W 8AS Tube: Sloane Square until 14th Jan (£10-£28) royalcourttheatre.com

Dublin Carol

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Although it's set on Christmas Eve, Conor McPherson’s short, emotionally intense three-hander (the second offering in the Donmar’s current season showcasing the work of its Resident Assistant Directors) is far from festive.

Meagre decorations and an advent calendar barely soften the soullessness of the undertakers’ parlour where, in a trio of alcohol-fuelled encounters, middle-aged John is forced to confront the damage that his drinking and irresponsible behaviour have wrought over the years. Even now, between slugs of neat whisky, he refuses to admit that he’s still as drink dependent as he was, many years ago, when he cheated on his wife and abandoned his family.

His long estranged daughter (Pauline Hutton’s saddened but hopeful Mary) turns up, like Dickens’ Ghost of Christmas Past, begging him to visit her terminally ill mother before she dies. In the two framing scenes, John delivers advice and near monologues to his temporary assistant Mark (Rory Keenan), an aimless young man who might just end up going the same way.

In this intimate space, Abbey Wright’s revival captures the gloomy limitations of a life which, but for the kindness of Mark’s mortician uncle, could easily have ended in the gutter and Gary Lydon’s John - rumpled, sweaty and scared of the dying - makes one hope that, for him, the final glimmer of possible redemption proves more than a seasonal illusion.

Trafalgar Studios (2), Whitehall, SW1A 2DY Tube: Charing Cross till 31st Dec (£17.50 - £22)
donmarwarehouse.com

Pippin

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Stephen Schwartz (Wicked) and Roger O Hirson’s 1972 musical portrayal of Pippin (son of the Emperor Charlemagne) and his search for an extraordinary life originally ran for years on Broadway, but just a few weeks over here.

In an attempt to make it appeal to a modern London audience, Mitch Sebastian’s revival yanks it into the 21st century and the world of video gaming where Matt Rawle’s charismatic Leading Player guides Harry Hepple’s attractively-voiced, if somewhat anaemic Pippin through the various levels of his journey.

But although it’s blasted by laser lighting and CGI, punctuated by recreations of Bob Fosse’s original sinuously angular choreography, and dressed in Lycra, the production fails to generate much interest in the fate of its laptop-addicted Pippin. Ironically, the highlight of this high concept reworking turns out to be his happy clappy granny (Louise Gold) dishing out words of wisdom and encouraging the audience to sing along in traditional seasonal style.

Menier Chocolate Factory , 53 Southwark Street, SE1 1RU Tube: London Bridge Until 25th February (£33.50 & Meal Deals available £40.00) menierchocolatefactory.com

The Comedy of Errors

It’s more a case of “Two Men, Two Guvnors” in this busy interpretation of Shakespeare’s comedy of doubly muddled identity.

Lenny Henry may have been a late starter when it comes to the Bard, but he’s on great form as the increasingly irate and perplexed Antipholus of Syracuse who (despite a West African accent) is continually mistaken for his long lost twin brother when he arrives in Ephesus.

Lucian Msamati is equally good value as his beleaguered and superstitious servant Dromio (who also lost his twin in the same shipwreck) whilst Claudie Blakley and Michelle Terry turn the wife and sister-in-law of Antipholus of Ephesus into teetering, miniskirted Essex girls.

Bunny Christie’s impressive design twists and rotates to conjure a multifaceted and often sleazy city as well as an airborne sea rescue, and Dominic Cooke’s lively production rarely blows off course.

Olivier at the National, South Bank, SE1 9PX (020 7452 3000) Tube: Waterloo Until April 1 2012 (£12-£45) nationaltheatre.org.uk

Burlesque

Blacklisted Johnny Reno may have talent but his career isn’t going anywhere unless he names names in Adam Meggido and Roy Smiles’ new musical, set in early 50’s America during the McCarthyite era.

Whether Jon-Paul Hevey’s Johnny will opt to preserve his moral integrity or to clear his name for the sake of his pregnant fiancée and the future of his comic double act (with Chris Hollands' alcoholic Rags Ryan) is potentially the stuff of serious drama, counterpointed here by its burlesque setting in the failing Palace Theatre.

The plot takes a while to find focus, but with pastiche vaudeville numbers, a lecherous theatre owner, and stripping showgirls filling the tiny stage (plus nifty lyrics which combine entertainment with political comment) this enjoyable show – with just a bit of trimming- deserves a longer life.

Jermyn Street Theatre SW1Y 6ST (020 7287 2875)Tube: Piccadilly Circus Until December 18 (£20)ticketweb.co.uk

Yerma

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Poor innocent Yerma. Newly wed and isolated in a rural community far from home, she’s eager to consummate her marriage to Juan and anticipating the patter of tiny feet a few months down the line.

But days turn into weeks, weeks to seasons and seasons to years and still hubbie spends more time sleeping with his sheep than he does with his wife, hiding the shameful secret of a youthful unspoken passion for the hunky butcher (Ross Anderson).

Played out on Ruth Sutcliffe’s appropriately arid set of rusty sand and corrugated walls, Anthony Weigh’s new version strips down Federico Garcia Lorca’s 1934 tragedy to half a dozen characters, cutting out the chorus and leaving it to Alison O’Donnell’s Maria (an earth mother in the making who pees in a bucket and adds a delightfully natural comic note) to convey the social pressure to reproduce.

And as Ty Glaser’s wide-eyed Yerma – not much more than a child herself – becomes increasingly desperate for the baby that would transform her into a woman, Natalie Abrahami’s atmospheric production demands sympathy for this unfulfilled young wife, baffled by her husband’s behaviour and, tragically, unable to change his callous indifference to her emotional needs.

Gate, Pembridge Road W11 3HQ (020 7229 0706) Tube: Notting Hill Gate Until December 17 (£20, matinees £10) gatetheatre.co.uk

Matilda

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Deliciously adapted from Roald Dahl’s 1988 children’s story, the Royal Shakespeare Company’s irresistible production (directed by Matthew Warchus) is a treat for any time of year.

Cleo Demetriou’s Matilda (one of four youngsters sharing the title role) is a cheeky, book-loving, moral-minded prankster who, aged five, reads Dostoevsky for fun and pits her wits and telekinetic powers against Bertie Carvel’s sadistic headmistress (all puffed up pouter pigeon bosom and hairy legs) and her vulgar family (ballroom fanatic mum and Paul Kaye’s dodgy car salesman dad).

Tim Minchin’s music and witty lyrics, Dennis Kelly’s astute script and Peter Darling’s inventively athletic choreography combine with a touch of magic and a clutch of talented kids to ensure a happy ending and a great night out.

Cambridge Theatre, Earlham Street, London, WC2H 9HU
Tube: Covent Garden
Until October 21 2012
£20-£59.50

matildathemusical.com

Orpheus in the Underworld

Offenbach gets an appropriately disrespectful update from impressionist and recent Strictly Come Dancing competitor Rory Bremner.

He relocates the satirical 1858 operetta from Napoleon III’s Paris to the present day to mock the celebrity life style of the rich, famous and politically powerful. His Eurydice is a brazen WAG, married to a wealthy violinist whose star - and financial fortunes - are on the wane. In an unashamedly ludicrous plot, god of Hades Pluto (in the guise of a personal trainer) tricks her into joining him in hell and reluctant spouse Orpheus (who’s actually very glad to be rid of her) is persuaded by the character of Public Opinion (kitted out in a tabloid newsprint suit) to claim her back and save his reputation.

Simon Holdsworth’s clever set then whisks us to a swanky champagne bar where the gods are hanging out and hung-over and looking for a bit of excitement. Cue a trip to Hades where Brendan Collins’ adulterous Jupiter turns into a fly in fetish gear.

There’s nothing subtle about this co-production between Scottish Opera and Northern Ireland Opera, and some of the dialogue is woefully unfunny. But the lyrics are often witty and, with little more to accompany them than a single piano, an enthusiastic cast certainly makes opera both accessible and fun, with Daire Halpin’s flush-faced, fox-hunting Diana and Ross McInroy’s gross, disgraced banker particularly impressive.

Young Vic, The Cut, SE1 8LZ Tube Southwark / Waterloo Until December 10 (£22.50) youngvic.org

The Kitchen Sink

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Staged in the round, with the sandy shale of the Withernsea beach encroaching on the kitchen, Tom Wells’ touching new play is the first full length production at the Bush’s new home.

This is a gentle domestic comedy of an ordinary, if quirky, family going about everyday life with all the joys and frustrations that involves.

Mum’s a positive-thinking dinnerlady who likes to experiment with her cooking (courgette muffins, anyone?), dad’s a milkman with a milk float that’s falling apart and a business which (thanks to the local supermarket) is rapidly going the same way. Meanwhile daughter Sophie is working towards her black belt in ju-jitsu and their gay son Billy, an avid Dolly Parton fan, is desperate (or at least he thinks he is) to get into a London art school.

Funds may be limited, and dreams can be dashed at any age, yet there’s a lot of love circulating through this Yorkshire household – and gawky trainee plumber Pete (Andy Rush) adds a touch more. Nothing earth-shattering happens, but Tamara Harvey’s affectionate production is well-acted, often very funny and manages to spring an unexpectedly watery surprise.

Bush Theatre, Uxbridge Road, W12 8LJ Tube Shepherds Bush Until December 17 (£15-£20)
bushtheatre.co.uk

Juno and the Paycock

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Fortune smiles, briefly, on the impoverished Boyle household in Sean O’Casey’s 1924 tragicomedy of working class life, set during the Irish Civil War when young men are dying for conflicting causes and principles fail to put food on the table.

Designer Bob Crowley’s capacious, rather too elegant Dublin tenement threatens to dwarf the drunken antics of Ciarán Hinds’ strutting, workshy paterfamilias and his feckless sidekick Joxer as his wife (Sinéad Cusack’s worn down Juno) battles to keep her family together. But, in this solid co-production with Ireland’s Abbey Theatre, it’s impossible not to feel for Ronan Raftery’s Johnny, their twice-injured son who’s lost both a limb and his peace of mind.

Lyttelton at the National, South Bank, SE1 9PX Tube: Waterloo Until February 26 (£12-£45)
nationaltheatre.org.uk

The Riots

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Quick off the mark as ever, the Tricycle continues its tradition of analysing problematic topical issues with a swift two hour investigation into the how and why of the riots which briefly blitzed London and other areas in August.

Triggered by the shooting of Mark Duggan in Tottenham, North London, what started as a peaceful vigil of friends and family exploded into a free-for-all of arson and theft.

Footage of the fires and looting form the backdrop against which one father tells how he and his two young sons managed to escape from his flat above CarpetRight before the building was scorched to an empty shell. Comparisons are drawn between MPs who fiddled their expenses and the rampaging opportunists who walked away with televisions and designer trainers.

From the spoken evidence of politicians and policemen, community leaders and culprits, victims and bystanders, writer Gillian Slovo has put together a forceful, even-handed verbatim account of the events leading up to those four days of rampage and unrest, which also gives voice to the various explanations offered by authority figures and those involved.

Anger, frustration, racial and social injustice, cuts and grievances are all mentioned – as is the failure of the police to contain an escalating situation.

There are no definitive answers, but what comes across loud and clear in Nicolas Kent’s fluent production is that the underlying issues need to be addressed before the simmering disaffection kicks off into violence once again.

Tricycle, Kilburn High Road, NW6 7JR Tube: Kilburn Until December 10 (£13) www.tricycle.co.uk

Hamlet

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You’d think the title role was enough for anyone to tackle, but Michael Sheen, all wild hair and scruffy stubble, steals his father’s greatcoat from the grave and is possessed by his ghost in Ian Rickson’s high-concept production.

Elsinore is a secure psychiatric institution (a prison of buzzers and clanging metal doors, entered via convoluted corridors) where Sally Dexter’s nervy, clingy Gertrude fusses round the man in charge (James Clyde’s sharp-suited Claudius) as he slips her her medication.

Vinette Robinson’s touching Ophelia dispenses pills, not herbs, as she, too, loses track of reality and, although not all the directorial innovations pay off, Sheen’s volatile Hamlet is mesmerizing in his madness.

Young Vic, The Cut, SE1 8LZ (Tube: Southwark / Waterloo) Until January 21 (£10 - £29.50) youngvic.org

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After a fast-paced first half, Mike Bartlett’s timely and topical new play side-lines most of the characters he’s created in favour of a tripartite debate which leaves them stranded till the closing scenes.

Set in a dystopian London of shared nightmares and widespread dissatisfaction, where Geraldine James’ tough Conservative PM is deciding whether to go to war against Iran, it questions the alternative power of social networking as Trystan Gravelle’s scruffy John, missing presumed dead, returns Christ-like to unite thousands of demonstrators in the belief of belief itself.

Played out on a bleak, black set, Thea Sharrock’s well-acted production (with particularly strong performances from Adam James as a brash lawyer and Danny Webb as an influential atheist academic) ably orchestrates the overlapping early scenes, but ultimately Bartlett’s ambition outstrips his final achievement.

Olivier at the National, South Bank, SE1 9PX (020 7452 3000) Tube: Waterloo Until January 8
£12 - £30 as part of the Travelex season nationaltheatre.org.uk

Three Days in May

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Ben Brown’s historically-based new play goes behind the scenes at Downing Street.

There in May 1940, the coalition War Cabinet (headed by a newly elected Winston Churchill) weighs up the pros and cons of involving Mussolini in brokering a peace settlement with Germany.

France is on the verge of surrender, British troops are stranded at Dunkirk and though both Labour leader (Clement Atlee) and deputy back Churchill’s proposal to fight on alone, his fellow Conservatives (Robert Demeger’s sombre ex-Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and Foreign Secretary, Lord Halifax) are in favour of appeasement.

The deliberations of these politicians - just five elder statesmen seated round a table and holding the fate of millions in their hands– makes for static theatre, especially as the outcome is history.

But it’s engrossing nonetheless, thanks in no small measure to Warren Clarke’s convincing portrayal of the stubborn, cigar-smoking Churchill, all too aware of the enormous responsibility resting on his shoulders as he subtly out-manoeuvres Jeremy Clyde’s elegant Halifax to decide the future of Europe.

Trafalgar Studios 1, Whitehall, SW1A 2DY (0844 871 7632) Tube: Charing Cross Until March 3 2012 (£22.50-£45) atgtickets.com/trafalgarstudios

Salt, Root and Roe

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The Donmar’s second season showcasing the work of its Resident Assistant Directors gets off to a touching start with Tim Price’s sympathetic account of family ties on the coast of Pembrokeshire in Wales.

Iola and Anest are septuagenarian twins, born seconds apart (or, as their long dead father would have it, found in a lobster pot) and, it seems, determined to die together now that Iola’s dementia has reached the point where she no longer wants to live.

In a mix of the poetic and the mundane,whimsical family folklore is interspersed with scenes of the messy practicalities of dealing with a loved one who is losing her mind.

Hamish Pirie’s sensitive, often funny production shows the complex emotions surrounding an all too common situation, here given added poignancy by the closeness of the twins, umbilically bound till the end.

Anna Calder-Marshall (Iola) and Anna Carteret (Anest) shine lovingly as the devoted old ladies, the former delightful on a good day, violently aggressive when things get bad, the latter starting to show occasional ominous signs of deterioration, too.

Imogen Stubbs is also affecting as Anest’s daughter, arriving on a mercy dash from Bristol but beset by problems of her own (including an unseen phobic husband whose neuroses feed her own obsessive compulsive disorder) even before Iola brews her mobile in the teapot.

There’s nice work, too, from Roger Evans as Gareth, local policeman and old friend trying to bring some supportive sanity into a household where things are going from bad to worse.

Trafalgar Studios (2), Whitehall, SW1A 2DY (0844 871 7632) Until December 3 Tube: Charing Cross (£17.50 - £22) atgtickets.com

Inadmissible Evidence

This is London

If you've ever wondered what might have happened to John Osborne's angry young man, Jimmy Porter, when he reached middle age, look no further than his 1964 portrait of Bill Maitland, a dyspeptic solicitor in meltdown who has no respect for anyone, least of all himself, and relies on a diet of booze, pills and insults to get him through the working day.
It's a monster gift of a part and Douglas Hodge is superb. Raddled, rude, yet still, somehow, able to pull the much younger birds who work at his office (its depressing clutter realistically captured in Soutra Gilmour’s murky design) he relentlessly picks on his junior (Al Weaver), has, with the knowledge of his wife, a devoted longterm mistress and treats the divorcing women he represents with a curt crassness which surely heralds the imminent collapse of his firm.
Osborne sometimes seems to have forgotten that he was writing a play as Maitland's rants become longer and more disconnected. But, as his mediocre life implodes in a nightmare of his own making, and colleagues, family and clients desert him, Hodge's tormented performance holds Jamie Lloyd's well acted production together with a mix of self-loathing, self-pity and vicious wit.
Donmar to 26th Nov

Backbeat

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There’s much more to Stephen Jeffrey and Iain Softley’s adaptation (of the latter’s 1994 film) than just a string of cover songs.

Set in the early 60’s – when Pete Best was on drums and the Fab Four were still five, rock’n’rolling in a sleazy Hamburg nightclub whilst bedding down in a local cinema.

The play centres on the conflicting triangular relationship between Andrew Knott’s acerbically witty and jealous John Lennon, his art school friend Stuart Sutcliffe (a talented artist but limited bass player) and Astrid Kirchherr, the young German photographer whose love seduced Stu away from the world of music.

Played out against a background of grainy projections, David Leveaux’s production proves unexpectedly involving, with Nick Blood torn and troubled as the Beatle who didn’t live long enough to witness the global phenomenon his Liverpudlian bandmates were destined to become.

Duke of York’s, St Martin’s Lane, WC2N 4BG (0844 871 7623) Tube: Charing Cross / Leicester Square Until March 24 (£15-£57.50) backbeatlondon.com

Death and the Maiden

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Thandie Newton’s transfer from screen to stage is reasonably competent rather than revelatory in Argentine-Chilean Ariel Dorfman’s tense, post-Pinochet three-hander from 1991.

Convinced that a random visitor is the Schubert-loving doctor who raped and tortured her 15 years earlier, her damaged, fragile Paulina is determined to extort her own personal revenge.

There’s decent support from Tom Goodman-Hill as her devoted husband (a human rights lawyer desperately trying to persuade her to seek a confession through official channels) and from Anthony Calf’s trussed up Roberto who, even at gunpoint, denies being her former tormentor.

But although Dorfman’s psychological thriller raises important and pertinent issues about the nature and possibility of justice, Jeremy Herrin’s revival, despite being engrossingly ambiguous, rarely plumbs its emotional potential.

Harold Pinter, Panton Street, SW1Y 4DN (0844 871 7622) Tube: Piccadilly Circus Until January 21 (£10-£49.50) deathandthemaidentheplay.com

A British Subject

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Nichola McAuliffe is surprisingly coy about the identity of the protagonists in her well-intentioned docu-drama.

Even the programme doesn’t make clear the extent of her involvement in the campaign to free a British man held on death row in Pakistan. We’re well into her short play before it becomes clear that the Daily Mirror journalist pursuing a story is, in fact, her real life husband Don MacKay and that she’s actually playing herself, his actress wife, on stage.

In 1988, then then 18 year old Mirza Tahir Hussain was accused of killing a taxi driver shortly after he arrived in Pakistan on a visit. His plea of self-defence was over-ruled and, by the time MacKay was sent to interview him, he had spent 18 long years in jail and, not for the first time, the date for his execution under Sharia law had been set.

McAuliffe paints a bleak picture of a young man growing old in prison, contrasting his polite, accepting demeanour with scenes back home between her and her husband. A loving, bickering couple (neither of whose careers are where they want them to be) their day to day concerns are thrown into trivial relief compared with their frustration with tabloid preference for celebrity stories and the reality of Hussain’s situation in Rawalpindi.

With its mix of comic scenes and serious concerns, the changes in tone occasionally jar, but their campaign for justice – which even involved Prince Charles – makes for involving theatre, and McAuliffe (who also plays a range of minor characters), David Rintoul (as a determined MacKay posing as an English teacher from Leeds to gain access) and Kulvinder Ghir’s condemned Hussain (his deliberate movements a result of half a life spent behind bars) act out this now resolved drama with conviction.

Arts Theatre, Great Newport Street, WC2H 7JB (020 7907 7092) Tube: Leicester Square Until November 26 (£20-£37.50) artstheatrewestend.com

Fanta Orange

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What might have been an unlikely no-strings fling turns into something much more far-reaching in Sally Woodcock’s first full length play, set in present day Kenya and inspired by a real-life Amnesty International report.

Twenty something researcher Ronnie (Jessica Ellerby) is English, brainy, blonde, beautiful and idealistic, with a private income to boot. Yet for some inexplicable reason she swiftly submits to the persistent chat-up lines of Jay Villiers’ Roger, a 45 year-old white farmer whose attentions she initially repels. No sooner have they fallen into bed together than she’s planning to move in with him and there’s talk of marriage.

But both of them are being somewhat economical with the truth, especially Roger who sees no need to clarify that the baby his house girl, Regina, is expecting is his – not the result of the brutal gang rape by British soldiers which left her HIV-Positive.

The plot twists don’t always convince, but the writing, which raises issues of hypocrisy, prejudice and misguided good intentions, is both lively and sympathetic. The performances are always watchable – with Kehinde Fadipe’s displaced Regina, keeper of secrets and condemned through no fault of her own, speaking to us with dignity from beyond the grave.

Finborough, Finborough Road, SW10 9ED (0844 847 1652) Tube: Earl’s Court Until November 26 (£11- £15) ticketweb.co.uk

The Last of the Duchess

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Nicholas Wright’s new drama with a genteel bite is the sort of well-written play which sends you rushing to Wikipedia to get the dirt on just about everyone involved.

The belatedly published book on which it’s based was written (in 1980) by Lady Caroline Blackwood, a wealthy alcoholic aristocrat who was married first to the painter Lucian Freud, then to a composer and finally to a poet.

Socialite, muse and author in her own right, she attempted to interview the by then reclusive and widowed Wallis Simpson for a Sunday paper profile. Finding her attempts consistently foiled, Blackwood (Anna Chancellor) then turned her attention to the steely lawyer, Maître Suzanne Blum (herself not much younger than the ailing octogenarian Duchess) who guarded her client with a protective ferocity and viewed the woman responsible for the abdication through decidedly blinkered, rose-tinted glasses.

The play could do with a bit more substance, but to compensate Wright drops in snippets of tantalising biographical detail and Richard Eyre’s elegant production boasts performances to relish.

Sheila Hancock’s snobbish, controlling Blum (who, Blackwood believes, is selling off the Duchess’s jewels for her own gain), John Heffernan’s Michael Bloch (her fey and rather charming assistant) and Angela Thorne’s Diana Mosley – neighbour, former intimate of the exiled royals, and here a hard-of-hearing hoot, despite her obnoxious pro-Nazi sympathies.

Until November 26 Hampstead, Eton Avenue, NW3 3EU ( 020 7722 9301 ) Tube: Swiss Cottage
(£22 - £29) hampsteadtheatre.com

The Pitmen Painters

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Don’t miss Lee Hall’s much praised, fact-based play about a group of Northumberland miners – later known as the Ashington Group – who, encouraged by their hired academic tutor, discovered unexpected skills at their adult educational classes in the 1930s.

Max Roberts’ delightfully witty and entertaining production (which retains a handful of the original cast members from 2007) is clever, informative and sympathetic to these working men whose lack of formal knowledge proves no barrier to their ability to produce impressive works of art, many of which are simply projected on stage as testament to their talent.

Until January 21 Duchess, Catherine Street, WC2B 5LA (020 7452 3000) Tube: Covent Garden/ Charing Cross (£20 - £45) nationaltheatre.org.uk

Some Like It Hip Hop

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Following on from the success of ZooNation’s Into the Hoods, director Kate Prince apparently found initial inspiration in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and the Billy Wilder film Some Like it Hot.

But you don’t need to know a thing about either to enjoy her latest offering which departs so drastically from them both that I’m hard pushed to see many similarities.

It’s a bit too long, with a surfeit of minor characters whose moves are more interesting than their roles. And the narrator’s lyrics are often swallowed by the sound.

But who cares when she and co-writer Felix Harrison have come up with an athletic, fast-paced production, complete with original music (by DJ Walde and Josh Cohen) and a mix of contemporary ballet and street choreography which had the entire audience on its feet and dancing by the end of the show?

We get women dressing as men, an estranged daughter, and a city where books are banned along with the sun which the grieving Governor (Duwane Taylor) has hidden away for 15 years since the death of his beloved wife. Women are relegated to the role of drudges subservient to the men and, if they break the macho rules, they’re banished.

Limber-limbed Tommy Franzen’s book-loving nerd Simeon steals the limelight along with Teneisha Bonner and Lizzie Gough as the rebellious females in fake moustaches. But with its flips, spins and body-popping verve, everyone gets a chance to shine in this vibrant, well-drilled dance piece.

Until November 19 Peacock Theatre, Portugal Street WC2A 2HT (0844 412 4322) Tube: Holborn (£12 - £38) sadlerswells.com

Jumpy

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With a stroppy 15 year old daughter (Bel Powley’s micro-skirted Tilly) and the threat of losing her job, being 50 isn’t proving easy for Tamsin Greig’s affectionately, habitually married Hilary who once protested at Greenham Common.

Playwright April De Angelis captures the contrast between the teens of today and of 30+ years ago, and the different ways in which menopausal women deal with becoming invisible.

Her comic strokes are often broad, but there’s heart as well as humour in Nina Raine’s zappy production in which, surprisingly, the young male characters show themselves to be surprisingly thoughtful when it really counts.

Until November 19 Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, SW1W 8AS (020 7565 5000) Tube: Sloane Square (£12 - £28, Mondays £10) royalcourttheatre.com

A Walk in the Woods

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Inspired by a real life private walk taken by a pair of Soviet and American arms negotiators in Geneva in 1982, Lee Blessing’s neatly structured two-hander analyses the actual (as opposed to the perceived) function of these Cold War diplomats.

Steven Crossley’s seasoned Botvinnik wears his responsibility lightly, much to the annoyance of his newly promoted US counterpart (a male character in the 80’s premiere, but here played with impatient idealism by Myriam Cyr).

She’s determined to get results whilst he has long acknowledged the inbuilt obsolescence of any agreement their countries might reach in their tactical dance of political game-playing.

Tricycle, Kilburn High Road, NW6 7JR Tube: Kilburn (020 7328 1000) www.tricycle.co.uk Until 12th November (£12 - £22)

Third Floor

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Even if you’re not sharing the inside of your flat with anyone else, neighbours’ habits can drive you quietly mad – so I had more than a little sympathy with the unnamed first-time buyers in flats 11 and 12 when the unseen occupant of no. 10 repeatedly dumps bin-bags in the communal area of their new canal-side block.

Then there’s the problem of either (a) trying to avoid or (b) catch the eye of the singleton living across the corridor. Just because you’re living in the same building doesn’t automatically mean he/she is going to be your new best friend.

Jason Hall’s slickly directed two-hander neatly catches the frustrations of having total strangers living just a few yards away, but then makes the mistake of taking a slight, but enjoyable, comedy into the realms of a thriller. That said, Craig Gazey (as the persistent and slightly unhinged Hitchcock fan in no.11) and Emily Head (the sleek, rather reserved young professional in no. 12) work well together in a series of short, swift scenes of escalating frustration with the whiffy rubbish cluttering up the hallway.

Trafalgar Studios (2), Whitehall, SW1A 2DY (0844 871 7632) Tube: Charing Cross www.ambassadortickets.com/trafalgarstudios Until 5th November (£25)

Saved

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Banned from public performance in the UK in 1965, Edward Bond’s portrayal of aimless social alienation went on to become an international success. In Sean Holmes’ respectful, unfussy but effective revival the infamous baby-stoning scene now unsettles rather than shocks, but the bleak, detached limitation of his working class characters still retains all its power to disturb as Pam (Lia Saville) and her discarded pick-up (Morgan Watkins’ well-meaning but ineffectual Len) head towards the same desolate emotional waste ground which her parents have occupied for years.

Lyric Hammersmith, King Street, W6 0QL (0871 221 1726) www.lyric.co.uk Tube: Hammersmith Until 5th November (£12.50- £30)

Driving Miss Daisy

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Despite its unsatisfactory episodic structure, this imported Broadway revival of Alfred Uhry’s 1987 hit, set in Atlanta, proves well worth seeing thanks to Vanessa Redgrave’s superb performance.

Over the decades, and against the background of the Civil Rights Movement, a touching friendship grows between her feisty, steely-willed Jewish septuagenarian and James Earl Jones’ Hoke, the dignified black chauffeur whose services she’s reluctantly persuaded to accept when she prangs her car once too often.

Director David Esbjornson can’t disguise the fact that it’s never been much of a play, but as a showcase for these veteran actors’ talents, this vehicle definitely has wheels.

Wyndhams, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA Tube: Leicester Square daisywestend.com Until 17th December (£10-£58.50)

Cool Hand Luke

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Take away the famous boiled egg-eating scene and the interpolated gospel songs and there’s not much else going for Emma Reeves’ flashback adaptation of the novel by Donn Pearce which spawned the 1967 film starring Paul Newman.

Marc Warren puts in a decent performance as the defiant, decorated Second World War veteran condemned to serve time on a Florida chain gang for decapitating parking meters – and manfully disposes of those eggs with a combination of comic aplomb and sleight of hand.

But neither his serial attempts to escape – nor the clash of wills with Richard Brake’s sadistically menacing guard who’s determined to “git his mind right” – really justify this bitty and ultimately unnecessary stage version.

Aldwych, Aldwych WC2B 4DF (0844 847 2429) Tube: Covent Garden/ Charing Cross aldwychtheatrelondon.info Until November 19 (£15-£45.00)

Bang Bang Bang

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Told mainly in flashback, Stella Feehily’s well-researched new play for Out of Joint begins with a blood-chillingly powerful scene.

Their compound in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been breached by gun-toting soldiers and seasoned human rights defender Sadhbh is desperately trying to calm her French assistant, Mathilde, as she screams, petrified, that she would rather be killed than raped.

It’s a far cry from the life in London that Sadhbh (originally from Dublin, pushing 30 and dedicated – probably too dedicated – to her work) shares with her long-term partner Stephen (a former NGO turned consultant for Shell) and even from the “R & R” weekends in Goma overloaded with too much booze and casual sex where Julie Dray’s idealistic, inexperienced Mathilde picks up a young photographer keen to get his first scoop.

Orla Fitzgerald is totally convincing as Sadhbh, sacrificing (or perhaps running away from) her personal life to return again and again to collect testimony against the warlord whom she faces up to over tea and implied threats. And although the focus is primarily on the fate of the white women, the Congolese victims of rape and abuse are also given a credible voice in Max Stafford Clarke’s well-acted production.

Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, SW1W 8AS Tube: Sloane Square royalcourttheatre.com Until November 5 (£20, Mondays £10)

Mixed Marraige

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Passions run high in the protestant Rainey household when the elder son wants to marry a local Catholic girl in Irish-born playwright St John Ervine’s taut, first drama of conflicting loyalties, written in 1911 and set in Belfast 4 years earlier.

With the dock workers on strike for a fair deal and the dissent fuelled by political agitators, respected head of the family John (Daragh O’Malley) is persuaded to help unite both sides of the religious divide in a common cause against the factory owners.

The timing couldn’t be worse. As tensions mount and personal and public interests collide, the Rainey men refuse to back down and it’s left to Fiona Victory’s staunch materfamilias to try and maintain the peace between father and son in this powerful 80 minute domestic tragedy of destructive intransigence.

Finborough Theatre, Finborough Road, SW10 9ED Tube: Earl’s Court ticketweb.co.uk Until October 29 (£11-£15)

The Veil

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Multi award-winning playwright and director Conor McPherson misses the mark with his latest tale of ghostly manifestations, set in Ireland in 1822, in which the aristocratic widowed owner of a country pile has arranged an unwelcome marriage for her daughter in order to salvage the estate.

The characters struggle to engage as they down one decanted drink after another, the underdeveloped plot is a multi-stranded muddle which attempts to incorporate social history, and (an unexpected bang or two apart) the supernatural elements fail to frighten – with a defrocked reverend’s attempt to release a “trapped soul” no more unsettling – or revealing – than a cat straining to retch up a furball.

Thank heavens for a dotty, cane-wielding granny who injects some much needed humour into the disappointingly unconvincing proceedings.

Lyttelton at the National Theatre, South Bank, SE1 9PX Tube: Waterloo nationaltheatre.org.uk Until 11th December (£12-£45)

Terrible Advice

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It’s taken since 1977 for actor Saul Rubinek to turn his germ of an idea into a play and the result – an adroit mix of the laugh-out-loud funny and the touchingly poignant – shows the maturity which comes with middle-age.

Unfortunately it’s a trait which has bypassed Scott Bakula’s womanising Jake. That doesn’t stop Andy Nyman’s tubby, neurotic teacher Stinky from following his old college buddy’s self-interested advice and ditching the girlfriend who can’t have kids.

And (even knowing her comfortable bank balance constitutes a large part of her allure) Caroline Quentin’s self-sufficient widowed Hedda is more than happy to share her home and her bed with the emotionally adolescent Jake in Frank Oz’s sitcom style production.

Menier Chocolate Factory, 53 Southwark Street, SE1 1RU (Tube: London Bridge) menierchocolatefactory.com Until 12th November (£29.50 & Meal Deals available £37.00)

The Killing of Sister George

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Frank Marcus’s dark comedy was probably rather shocking when it first opened in 1964 – not because there’s a real murder involved but because of its portrayal of the off-air lesbian relationship between middle-aged actress June Buckridge and doll-loving Alice, known, tellingly, as Childie.

For the last 6 years, June has been the voice of Sister George, the popular district nurse in a successful rural radio soap. Now her ratings are starting to slip and (with justification) she’s petrified not only of being written out of the series but of losing Alice, too.

Already a domineering bully in her home life, the stress doesn’t soften June’s sadistic attitude to her pretty, young live-in partner – forcing her to eat her discarded cigar butts is just one of her ways of exerting control.

Meera Syal (so effective in her recent solo West End forays) is too brazenly butch, failing to reveal why Alice took up with her even before she was famous – or to make us care when she slips into self-pitying, slovenly drunkenness.

Parading around the flat in her underwear, Elizabeth Cadwallader’s Alice knows her own power and (as Belinda Lang’s ironically named BBC executive Mrs Mercy Croft arrives with the increasingly bad news) isn’t afraid to spot the main chance. But Iqbal Khan’s production never really finds the correct tone in what proves to be a rather heavy-footed revival.

Arts Theatre, Great Newport Street, WC2H 7JB Tube: Leicester Square (lovetheatre.com) Until 29th October
£20-£37.50

One For the Road / Victoria Station

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These two short works by Harold Pinter - one lasting a mere 10 minutes – are neatly dovetailed in Jeff James’ efficient production played out on a stark white set.

In Victoria Station (written in 1982), a minicab controller has a frustratingly off-kilter nighttime dialogue with the distracted and somewhat confused "number 274" in an attempt to get him to pick up a passenger. Kevin Doyle does a nice line in bemusement as the stationary driver, but this short two-hander could be funnier.

In the second, darker and longer One for the Road (1984) the fluorescent lights suddenly blaze in an uncomfortable glare and the power play roles are reversed. Doyle is now Nicolas, a smiling, psychologically coercive interrogator in an unspecified totalitarian state who questions, in turn, Keith Dunphy’s battered Victor, his sexually abused wife and his (as yet untouched) 7 year old son.

It’s a chilling piece, the four brief scenes pulsating with the threat of unseen torture and gratuitous cruelty.

Young Vic, The Cut, SE1 8LZ tube Southwark/Waterloo (youngvic.org) Until October 15. £15.

Rock of Ages

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Even with understudies in two of the lead roles and the merest apology of a story stringing the 80’s rock anthems together, the audience was having a
whale of a time at this crowd-pleasing jukebox musical which – no matter what the critical verdict - is probably destined for a lengthy run.

If you can forget subtlety, ignore the lazy construction and forgive the often feeble jokes, you’ll enjoy wannabe rock star (Oliver Tompsett) wooing wannabe actress Sherrie with Waiting for a Girl Like You and the energetic cast belting out Final Countdown as they battle to save Sunset Strip from the clutches of a German property developer.

Shaftesbury Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, WC2H 8DP (020 7379 5399) Tube Holborn/Tottenham Court Road, www.shaftesburytheatre.com / www.rockofagesmusical.co.uk. Booking until October 2012 (£20-£65)

The Playboy of the Western World

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Greeted by riots when it premiered in Dublin in 1907, J.M. Synge’s classic comical account of misplaced hero-worship won’t cause much of a stir nowadays as the female population of a rural Irish community falls under the spell of a nondescript lad seeking refuge in the local shebeen and claiming to have killed his father.
Robert Sheehan’s fantasising patricidal braggart grows in confidence as he pursues Ruth Negga’s purposeful barmaid, but it’s Kevin Trainor (as her cowardly would-be husband) and the excellent Niamh Cusack’s scheming widow who seem most at ease with the flowery, heavily accented dialogue.

Old Vic, The Cut, SE1 8NB (0844 871 7628) Tube: Waterloo, www.oldvictheatre.com. Until November 26. £10 - £49.50

Broken Glass

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The discomfiture of Antony Sher’s angst-ridden, impotent Phillip is painful to watch as he struggles to make sense of his wife’s hysterical paralysis in Arthur Miller’s 1994 meld of the psychological, personal and political, set in Brooklyn in 1938 as the Kristallnacht attacks in Berlin make headline news.

The chemistry between Tara FitzGerald’s Sylvia and her expansive, assimilated doctor (Stanley Townsend) is as palpable as her repressed husband’s ambivalence about his Jewishness in Iqbal Khan’s fine, powerfully acted revival, punctuated by atmosphere-heightening cello music played live on stage.

Vaudeville, Strand WC2R 0NH (0844 412 4663) Tube: Charing Cross brokenglasstheplay.com Until December 10 (£22.50 - £47.50)

No Naughty Bits

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Even if you’re not a Monty Python fan, Steve Thompson’s fictional, fact-based reconstruction of the 1975 court case brought by Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin against US network ABC has moments to savour as they battle to reinstate unacceptable edits.

Matthew Marsh provides a masterclass in low-key comedy as the sympathetic, sardonic judge presiding over their fight against censorship and commercial breaks, whilst Edward Hall’s colourful production (aided by Francis O’Connor’s tribute design) recalls the surreal silliness of the Pythons’ schoolboy humour.

Hampstead Theatre, Eton Avenue, NW3 3EU (020 7722 9301) Tube: Swiss Cottage hampsteadtheatre.com Until October 15 (£22-£29)

When Did You Last See My Mother?

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Christopher Hampton made theatrical history in 1966 when, as a 20 year old Oxford undergraduate, he became the youngest playwright in modern times to have a show staged in the West End. Written for a student competition when he was just 18, it bears the hallmarks of a young man’s attempt to make sense of his sexuality and of his place in society. It also reveals a very clever mind and a precocious wit.

Ian is out of work, lonely and sharing a London bedsit with former schoolfriend, Jimmy, until they take up their university places. Jimmy (Sam Swainsbury) has an easy confidence, comes from a wealthy background and (though he had his share of homo-erotic encounters at their single sex public school) is now busy notching up female conquests.

In contrast, self-pity oozes from every pore of Ian’s body and he’s predominantly interested in men - and in Jimmy. With his messy hair, barbed repartee and massive chip on his shoulder, Ian's a decidedly unsympathetic character – all of which makes it hard to believe that Jimmy’s soignée mother (an emotional Abigail Cruttenden) would turn to him for sexual solace.

That said, Blanche McIntyre’s long overdue and always watchable revival captures the ambivalence of an era in change and (as manipulative, angry young man of the 60’s Ian) Harry Melling proves there’s far more to his talent than the minor role of Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter films

Trafalgar Studios, Whitehall, SW1A 2DY Tube: Charing Cross (0844 871 7632) ambassadortickets.com/trafalgarstudios Until October 8 (£22.50)

The Kitchen

Based on his own experience, Arnold Wesker's 1959 work place play boasts a cast of 30, a clash of nationalities and a faltering romance as the Tivoli restaurant's staff slave away feeding the diners and lining the boss's pockets.

Tempers blaze, the temperature rises, and although pans sizzle and gas rings flare, Bijan Sheibani's busy, carefully choreographed production captures the repetitive drudgery without quite achieving the sweaty, frenetic frazzle the dialogue demands.

Olivier at The National, South Bank, SE1 9PX Tube: Waterloo nationaltheatre.org.uk Until Nov 9 (£12-£30)

Street Scene

There are just a few days left to catch the London return of the Opera Group/Young Vic’s revival of this powerful production which garnered an Evening Standard Best Musical Award in 2008.

A fruitful collaboration between German-Jewish immigrant Kurt Weill (music), Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Elmer Rice (book) and the black writer and social activist Langston Hughes (lyrics), this gritty 1947 American Opera is structured more like a Broadway musical than conventional opera, with spoken dialogue and sung lyrics given more or less equal weight.

With the temperature soaring and the gossips out in force, this slice of urban life boasts musical styles – arias, jazz, blues - as varied as the ethnicity of the occupants of the brownstone East Side tenement where it is set.

Unhappily married, middle-aged Anna Maurrant sets tongues wagging by seeking the affection from the milkman which her heavy-drinking stagehand husband will not supply. Her daughter, Rose, is pursued by her married boss (who wants to set her up in a place of her own) but is in love with bookish, Jewish Sam (excellent Paul Curievici with a voice I want to hear more of). A single-parent family lives under the constant threat of eviction, a jovial Italian music teacher (his German wife regretfully childless) buys ice-creams all round, and an expectant dad eagerly awaits the birth of his first baby.

The orchestra occupies street level of designer Dick Bird’s multistorey set, whilst good time girl Emma (Charlotte Page) and her latest conquest (John Moabi) kick up their drunken dancing heels on the walkway which crisscrosses the playing area.

Frustratingly, the lyrics aren’t always clear, but with a massive cast of 80 (including a chorus of locals and a batch of enthusiastically playful school kids) and its dramatic climax, this ambitious staging is well worth catching before it sets off on tour.

Young Vic, The Cut, SE1 8LZ (0207 922 2922) youngvic.org Tube: Southwark / Waterloo Until: 1st October then on tour until 15th October (£10 - £29.50)