Rock of Ages

TNT

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

TNT

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

TNT

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

TNT

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?

TNT

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)