Opening: Thebes, Mendes Bridge, Salome, Elders

Amongst the major London openings in the West End and beyond this week are:
OPENING TUESDAY, 21 June 2010 (previews from 15 June), Moira Buffini’s new Greek myth-inspired play Welcome to Thebes premieres at the National, directed by former artistic director Richard Eyre and running in rep in the NT Olivier as part of the Travelex £10 Tickets season. David Harewood and Nikki Amuka-Bird lead the cast as Theseus and Eurydice, whose story is transplanted to the present day in the aftermath of a brutal war.

ALSO ON TUESDAY (previews from 19 June), Footsbarn’s new circus show Sorry! erects its big top in Victoria Park, care of the Barbican Centre, for a limited season to 4 July.

OPENING WEDNESDAY, 23 June 2010 (previews from 1 June), the second year of director Sam Mendes’ three-year Bridge Project – a collaboration between Mendes’ Neal Street Productions company, New York’s Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) and the Old Vic – concludes its international tour, bringing its two Shakespeare productions, As You Like It and The Tempest, to the Old Vic where they run in rep until 30 August. The Anglo-American company features Stephen Dillane, Juliet Rylance, Ron Cephas Jones, Christian Camargo and Edward Bennett.

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ALSO ON WEDNESDAY, the London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT) opens under the Artistic Direction of Mark Ball and takes place at the Barbican, National Theatre, Southbank Centre and ICA.

OPENING THURSDAY, 24 June 2010 (previews from 22 June), director Jamie Lloyd transplants Oscar Wilde’s biblical retelling of Salome to a futuristic Middle East, coming to Hampstead Theatre at the end of a regional tour that started in Leicester. The Headlong Theatre production, co-produced by Leicester Curve, stars Con O’Neill as King Herod. It continues until 17 July 2010.

ALSO ON THURSDAY (previews from 22 June), Bekah Brunstetter’s Miss Lilly Gets Bones or The Loss of All Elephant Elders premieres at the fringe Finborough Theatre, with a cast including Outnumbered child star Daniel Roche. It runs until 11 July 2010.

ALSO ON THURSDAY (previews from 22 June), the one-man show Confessions of a Dancewhore, written and performed by Michael Twaits, opens at Trafalgar Studios 2 for a run to 3 July 2010.

ALSO ON THURSDAY, the annual Greenwich and Docklands International Festival 2010 launches its 11-day schedule and Gob Squad’s Revolution Now! has its UK premiere at the ICA as part of LIFT, running until 26 June only.