Best theatre shows: our critics' picks (April 25)

‘Emma Rice kicks off’ was a phrase heard in plenty of corners of the theatre world last week, but only in our critics’ picks is it a football metaphor deployed to announce the start of her final season at Shakespeare’s Globe…

Natasha Tripney, reviews editor

Don’t miss

Ross and Rachel – Battersea Arts Centre, London
James Fritz’s startling and moving Ross and Rachel returns to London for a run at Battersea Arts Centre. It’s a funny and unsettling piece of writing featuring a perfectly pitched performance from Molly Vevers, won won The Stage Edinburgh Award when the show debuted in 2015. It opens on April 25 and runs until May 13.

Also worth seeing

While We’re Here – Bush Theatre, London
The Bush Theatre’s new studio space opens with Barney Norris’ latest play While We’re Here, about a meeting between two one-time lovers. Norris’ Up in Arms collaborator Alice – who previously directed Visitors and Eventide – is at the helm again and the production opens on April 28.

How My Light Is Spent – Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester
Welsh playwright Alan Harris’ How My Light Is Spent won the Judges Award at the Bruntwood Prize 2015. Set in Newport, it receives its world premiere at the Royal Exchange, in a production directed by JMK Award-winner Liz Stevenson opening on April 27, before transferring to Sherman Theatre in Cardiff.

Everything Between Us – Finborough Theatre, London
The Finborough presents David Ireland’s play Everything Between Us, set at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Northern Ireland at Stormont. Ireland wrote the “caustic, audience-rattling” Cyprus Avenue, recently seen at the Royal Court, so this one should be interesting. It opens on May 1.

The Toll – Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club, London
Poet Luke Wright – writer and performer of the brilliant What I Learned from Johnny Bevan, another winner of The Stage Edinburgh Award – is on tour with new show The Toll, based on his new collection of the same title. You can catch him at Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club on April 26.

Festival of the week

Hotbed – Camden People’s Theatre, London
Camden People’s Theatre’s shiny new festival, Hotbed, sets out to explore sex in every shape and shade. Expect three weeks of sex-positive performance with work including Oh Yes Oh No, the new show from Louise Orwin, the creator of Pretty Ugly and A Girl and a Gun. It runs from April 25 to May 14.

Mark Shenton, lead critic

Don’t miss

Romeo and Juliet – Shakespeare’s Globe, London
Emma Rice’s second and final season at the helm of Shakespeare’s Globe kicks off with Daniel Kramer (the new artistic director of ENO) directing Edward Hogg and Kirsty Bushell in the title roles of Romeo and Juliet, opening on April 27.

Also worth seeing

The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui – Donmar Warehouse, London
Brecht’s The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, a parable about the rise of a demagogue in 1920s Chicago, is revived with Lenny Henry in the title role, in a new version by Pulitzer prize winning playwright Bruce Norris (Clybourne Park). Simon Evans directs a cast that also includes Michael Pennington, Justine Mitchell, Giles Terera and Tom Edden, opening on May 2.

Alice’s Adventures Underground – Vaults, London
Olivier-nominated for best entertainment or family show in 2015, Les Enfants Terribles’ Alice’s Adventures Underground returns this week. This immersive retelling of the Alice in the Wonderland story is interactive and combines storytelling, music, circus and spectacle.

Wonderland – New Wimbledon Theatre, London
Meanwhile, another version of the Alice story, Frank Wildhorn’s musical Wonderland, comes to New Wimbledon Theatre as part of its current national tour, from May 2-6.

City of Glass – Lyric Hammersmith, London
Stage version of Paul Auster’s novel City of Glass, part of his New York trilogy, transfers to London after premiering at Manchester’s Home, to open on April 26. Duncan McMillan’s adaptation is directed by Leo Warner.

Last chance to see

46 Beacon – Trafalgar Studios 2, London
Bill Rosenfield’s affecting, autobiographical play 46 Beacon, about losing his virginity aged 16 to an older British actor in a Boston residential hotel in the 1970s, has much to say about finding gay identity. It ends on April 29.

Interview – Bill Rosenfield