Features

Top 5 theatre openings this week: 2 – 8 May

Emma Rice’s first production at the Globe and Hugh Bonneville returns to the stage in this week’s major openings

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3 May 2016

5. The Busker's Opera – Park Theatre

George Maguire in rehearsals for The Busker's Opera — George Maguire in rehearsals for *The Busker's Opera*

Olivier Award-winner George Maguire and Bend it Like Beckham actress Lauren Samuels star in this new musical by Dougal Irvine (Departure Lounge, Teddy).

Set around the London Olympics in 2012, Maguire plays a political activist intent on taking on the media and government – presumably through the power of song.

5 May – 4 June, Park Theatre. More information and tickets here.

4. The Iphigenia Quartet – Gate Theatre

Nigel Barrett and Andrew French in Agamemnon by Caroline Bird — Nigel Barrett and Andrew French in *Agamemnon* by Caroline Bird
© Helen Murray

It's four plays for the price of two as the Notting Hill venue goes all Cursed Child on us with this presentation of the Greek legend in two parts.

Four playwrights – Caroline Bird, Suhayla El-Bushra, Lulu Raczka and Chris Thorpe – examine the story from the perspective of its key players – Agamemnon, Clytemnestra, Iphigenia and Chorus.

You can see both parts for £30 when booked together.

3 May – 21 May. More information and tickets here.

3. The Lovers of Viorne – The Theatre Room

Charlotte Cornwell stars as Claire in *The Lovers of Viorne*

James Roose-Evans' production of Marguerite Duras' 1968 play marks the debut of his new company Frontier Theatre Productions – established to provide opportunities to actors aged 60 and over.

It also opens the organisation's new 55 seat chamber theatre, The Theatre Room, located in their headquarters at 6 Frederick's Place, in the City of London.

4 – 21 May, The Theatre Room. More information and tickets here.

2. An Enemy of the People – Chichester Festival Theatre

Jonathan Cullen, William Gaminara and Hugh Bonneville in An Enemy of the People — Jonathan Cullen, William Gaminara and Hugh Bonneville in *An Enemy of the People*
© Manuel Harlan

Downton Abbey's Earl of Grantham, Hugh Bonneville, returns to the stage to play Dr Stockmann, a Chief Medical Officer who discovers a sanitation scandal around his local baths.

Ibsen's play is adapted by Christopher Hampton whose adaptations of Florian Zeller's work have enjoyed recent widespread success.

The stellar cast also includes Abigail Cruttenden, William Gaminara and Adam James.

4 – 21 May, Chichester Festival Theatre. More information and tickets here.

1. A Midsummer Night's Dream – Shakespeare's Globe

Ankur Bahl (Helenus) in rehearsals for A Midsummer Night's Dream — Ankur Bahl (Helenus) in rehearsals for *A Midsummer Night's Dream*

© Steve Tanner

Emma Rice made history earlier this year by becoming the first female artistic director of Shakespeare's Globe. Stepping into the well-worn shoes of Mark Rylance and Dominic Dromgoole, the Kneehigh co-founder pledged to make 50/50 gender balance a priority for the venue.

Fast forward five months and her first production as director features an all-female mechanicals and Helena is now a gay man named Helenus – way to mix it up from the get go Emma!

5 May – 11 September, Shakespeare's Globe. More information and tickets here.