Plan your week’s theatre: top tickets

Syrian refugees re-imagine Euripides in Oxford, a festival organised by under 25s kicks off in York and the acclaimed Young Chekhov trilogy arrives at the National

Testimony and tragedy … Queens of Syria.
Testimony and tragedy … Queens of Syria. Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian

Monday

Queens of Syria, a re-imagining of Euripides’ The Trojan Women performed by Syrian refugees, is at the North Wall in Oxford tonight and tomorrow, at the Attenborough Centre in Brighton on Wednesday and Thursday, and at the Everyman in Liverpool on Friday and Saturday. It’s your last chance this week to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream: A Play for the Nation at the Royal Shakespeare theatre in Stratford, where over the next few days you can also catch Doctor Faustus and The Alchemist. It’s also your last chance in Liverpool this week to see Jonathan Pryce in The Merchant of Venice at the Playhouse. Helen McCory is terrific in The Deep Blue Sea at the National Theatre. KlangHaus: On Air is part gig and part theatre and should certainly be worth your time at the Southbank. Robert Lepage’s Needles and Opium continues at the Barbican. The 1990s are revisited in the cult dark comedy I Heart Catherine Pistachio at the Yard in Hackney Wick.

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A trailer for Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour

Tuesday

Lee Hall’s Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour, directed by Vicky Featherstone, is at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle. Dumbshow bring Electric Dreams, inspired by Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine, to Battersea Arts Centre in London. The TakeOver festival, programmed and managed by the under 25s, begins at York Theatre Royal and features some terrific shows including pieces from Theatre Ad Infinitum and Le Gateau Chocolat.

Wednesday

At Home in Manchester, Alexander Zeldin’s Beyond Caring – about zero-hours contracts – plays until Saturday. Sheffield People’s Theatre shows are always eye-catching: this year Chris Bush’s Shakespeare mash-up, A Dream, is at the Crucible. Stalking the Bogeyman at Southwark Playhouse is the UK premiere of an American story of abuse and revenge.

Thursday

Jonathan Kent’s acclaimed Young Chekhov trilogy, seen in Chichester last year, arrives at the National Theatre and kicks off with David Hare’s version of Platonov. Head to the Lowry in Salford for Lost Dog’s terrific dance-theatre piece, Paradise Lost. Drag Idol champion Lucy Jane Parkinson is fantastic in Joan, a retelling of the Joan of Arc story, at BAC. Emma Rice’s delicious The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk takes up residence at Kneehigh’s Asylum in Cornwall. Stiles and Drewe’s new musical adaption of Half a Sixpence begins at Chichester Festival Theatre.

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A trailer for IF: Milton Keynes international festival

Friday and the weekend

Tim Minchin’s new musical Groundhog Day, directed by Matthew Warchus (who also did Matilda), is in previews at the Old Vic. IF: Milton Keynes International Festival begins tonight and will feature Voala’s outdoor spectacle Station and Rimini Protokoll’s Remote Milton Keynes. Jesus Christ Superstar should make Regent’s Park rock with the Open Air Theatre revival directed by Timothy Sheader and with choreography by Drew McOnie.