24:7 theatre festival, Lost Musicals, Sea Wall: what to see at the theatre this week Jul 20th 2013, 05:00
24:7 theatre festival | Lost Musicals | Sea Wall | The Witches Of Eastwick | Holt festival | Hot Air
24:7 Theatre Festival, Manchester
Now in its 10th season, this new writing festival allows emerging scribes to see their theatre work produced and gives them a helping hand in their careers. This year there are 11 shows, ranging from the family-friendly Billy, The Monster And Me through to a site-specific show called Manchester's Burning, played out in a working fire station and featuring pyrotechnics. The festival is also hosting its first devised project, Faro Productions' The Young, which asks whether or not we really want to be young forever. There really is something for everyone, from Richard O'Neill's Temper, about masculinity and cowardice, Louise Monaghan's My Space, about parkour, prejudice and growing up, to Thomas Bloor's Night On The Field Of Waterloo.
Various venues, to 26 Jul
LG
Lost Musicals, London
Some huge literary names grace this year's season of Lost Musicals, now in its 24th instalment. First on is Nöel Coward's Words And Music (to 4 Aug), then comes a riff on Truman Capote's Breakfast At Tiffany's, with Holly Golightly (8-29 Sep). To finish things off with a bang there is Around The World (20 Oct to 10 Nov), based on Jules Verne's Around The World In 80 Days, originally written by Orson Welles and featuring music and lyrics by Cole Porter.
The Lilian Baylis Studio, EC1, to 10 Nov
MC
Sea Wall, London
One of the country's most in-demand actors reprises a role at the National Theatre's new Shed venue. Best known for playing Moriarty in the BBC's Sherlock, Andrew Scott has also appeared in Design For Living at the Old Vic and Cock at the Royal Court. The Paines Plough production of Sea Wall by Simon Stephens – adapter of The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time – was first seen at the Bush Theatre in 2008, and the monologue was eventually filmed last year. Described by a Guardian critic as "one of the most devastating 30 minutes that you are ever likely to experience in the theatre", it focuses on one man with a seemingly happy life who is plunged into an emotional abyss.
National Theatre: The Shed, SE1, Thu to 2 Aug
MC
The Witches Of Eastwick, Newbury
Rhode Island is swapped for Berkshire with this revival of the 2000 musical, based on John Updike's novel, about some desperate housewives-cum-witches who form a coven and conjure an enigmatic stranger, Darryl Van Horne. The original production was staged at the huge Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, while the Watermill stage is the size of a postage stamp. No matter, because this little theatre has a massive reputation for its musical revivals, and director Craig Revel Horwood has already had success here with Sunset Boulevard and Martin Guerre. So keep your nostrils flared for a whiff of sulphur and your ears open for Dana P Rowe's score in a show that should be devilishly good summer fun.
The Watermill, Bagnor, Thu to 14 Sep
LG
Holt festival
The annual Holt festival has got its timing just right, taking place at a time when Edinburgh-bound companies are looking for somewhere to preview. Circus is represented by Casus's five-star Knee Deep, a brilliant Australian show that took Edinburgh by storm last year and which will return this year. New York cabaret singer Lady Rizo will also be entertaining, while on Sunday the entire town will be taken over for free theatre and entertainment. But the real coup happens next Friday, when ATC pitch up with David Greig's The Events, a show that has already attracted media attention because it is set in the aftermath of an atrocity within a close-knit community.
Various venues, Sat to 27 Jul
LG
Hot Air, Bristol
Who would have guessed that Bristol is famed for making hot-air balloons? The world's largest manufacturer of them is situated only half a mile from the Tobacco Factory, where Myrtle Theatre Company will be celebrating the desire to rise upwards and float across the landscape. Inspired by director Heather Williams's own experience of taking to the skies, the show has been three years in the making and is based on interviews with many in the ballooning community. The aim is to give audiences some sense of what it feels like to float through the air, even though they will have their feet firmly on the ground. A cast of 10 will tell the stories of those taking part in the annual international balloon fiesta (which runs 8-11 Aug) and the pilots and makers for whom ballooning is a passion.
Tobacco Factory, Thu to 10 Aug
LG
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