The most exciting event of the week has to be Mark Rylance’s return to the theatre in which he was formerly artistic director to play Richard III. There can be few actors who understand the Globe stage and how to fill it as well as Rylance and, in any circumstances, on any stage, it would be a fascinating experience to see him play that role. Tim Carroll will direct the all-male production which also stars Samuel Barnett (as Elizabeth) and Roger Lloyd Pack. The production, along with a revival of Rylance’s delicious Twelfth Night – in which he plays Olivia – is already slated to transfer to the West End’s Apollo Theatre in November
At the National Theatre, Nadia Fall directs Aden Gillett in a production of George Bernard Shaw’s The Doctor’s Dilemma, a play about medical ethics in a time of limited resources which may well prove as timely as their current Timon revival. Alecky Blythe’s acclaimed – and some would say game-changing – verbatim musical, London Road, also returns to the National, this time to the larger Olivier space.
The Olympic-themed Playing the Games season at the Criterion Theatre features two world premieres, After the Party by Serge Cartwright, and Taking Part, by Adam Brace.
The Yard‘s Theatre of Great Britain Festival concludes with two dance pieces: And We Gather, a work exploring the role of gender in choreography by the A.D. Dance Company, and Jack by immigrants and animals.
Melbourne’s Slow Clap mix storytelling and character comedy in their new show Truth at Soho Theatre and there’s a chance to see a screening of the early expressionist horror classic The Cabinet of Dr Caligari with a live soundtrack by Martyn Jacques, founder and front man of The Tiger Lillies, at the same venue. Lingering on Dean Street, there’s a preview on Tuesday of Phil Porter’s Blink – a Soho Theatre/nabokov co-production which pairs the ever engaging Rosie Wyatt with Henry McEntire – ahead of its run at the Traverse, and another opportunity to see John Osborne’s sweet and geeky one man show, John Peel’s Shed.
Theatre Delicatessen’s Revival Festival, at its current pop-up space in Marylebone, features a horror theatre double bill on Thursday with The Improsarios’ Fresh, Live and Dead, an exercise in horror improv, and Theatre of the Damned’s unsettling play, As Ye Sow. There’s a chance to see an Edinburgh preview of Slapdash Galaxy, the new work from Jeff Achtem – the man behind the hugely enjoyable Swamp Juice and Sticks Stones and Broken Bones – at Priceless London Wonderground this week and. the unique Meow Meow, queen of crowd-surfing cabaret, will be at the Udderbelly on the South Bank.
Oh, and apparently there is some kind of major sporting event opening in the capital at the end of the week. Exeunt is tempted to watch the opening ceremony just to see what Danny Boyle does with those farm animals…