Opening: Three Acts, West End Jerusalem, Man

OPENING TUESDAY, 9 February 2010 (preview 8 February), Bette Bourne and Mark Ravenhill‘s award-winning collaboration A Life in Three Acts, examining the remarkable life of actor, drag queen and gay rights activist Bourne, returns to the Soho Theatre in a reworked version (See News, 19 Nov 2009). Until 27 February.

OPENING WEDNESDAY, 10 February 2010 (previews from 28 January), Jez Butterworth’s Jersusalem, which opened to rave reviews at the Royal Court last summer, transfers to the West End’s Apollo Theatre, with Mark Rylance reprising his award-winning turn as wild man Johnny Byron (See News, 18 Sep 2009).

ALSO ON WEDNESDAY, performance poet Inua Ellams’ The 14th Tale, “a free-flowing narrative that tells the hilarious exploits of a natural born mischief growing from the clay streets of Nigeria to the rooftops of Dublin, and finally to London”, opens at the NT Cottesloe, where it runs in rep until 13 March.

OPENING THURSDAY, 11 February 2010 (previews from 9 February), the Union Theatre’s acclaimed production of A Man of No Importance, the award-winning Off-Broadway musical from the writers of Ragtime, transfers to the Arts Theatre for a limited run to 27 February 2010 (See News, 8 Jan 2010).

ALSO ON THURSDAY (previews from 9 February), Lope de Vega’s classic comedy Madness in Valencia is revived at Trafalgar Studios 2, with Simon Evans directing David Johnston’s translation. Until 6 March.

OPENING FRIDAY, 12 February 2010 (previews from 10 February), Thomas Bernhard ‘s Heldenplatz opens at the Arcola, the second production in the venue’s season of German language plays (See News, 9 Dec 2009). Bernhard’s controversial last play (it was condemned after its 1988 premiere by then-Chancellor Kurt Waldheim as an affront to the Austrian people), it examines the legacy of the 1938 Anschluss. Until 6 March.