Something a little different for September: Theatre Souk is going to make you think about money: how you get it, how you spend it, what it means, and how a new artistic economy might work.

Located in the former offices of the Uzbekistan Airways, just off Oxford Street, Theatre Souk offers interactive theatre performances to challenge and entertain you: some are one-to-one shows, others feature puppets, and there are 20 in all. Or you can just relax in the cabaret bar. Theatre Souk is presented by the fabulous TheatreDelicatessen, well known for exploring text-based theatre, and creating interesting immersive performances with ensemble casts.

So, on to this week’s cast news. Rising star Harry Treadaway returns to the Royal Court in October, in Nina Raine’s second play Tribes. Harry plays Daniel, a boy suffering in an argumentative, unconventional family, with a deaf brother. Last seen in the West End winning critical acclaim for his performance in Ibsen’s Ghosts, Harry has been at the Royal Court before too: starring opposite his twin brother Luke in Mark Ravenhill’s Over There.

From rising stars to big hitters: Sir Antony Sher’s returning to the London stage next month in Arthur Miller’s Broken Glass at the Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn. Sir Antony will play Philip Gellburg in Miller’s story of a Jewish couple living in 1938 New York;  the same time Kristallnacht occurs in Nazi Germany. The events in Germany have a profound effect on the couple…  Antony stars alongside Nigel Lindsay and Lucy Cohu.

And finally, Kevin Spacey is reuniting with American Beauty director Sam Mendes to play Richard III at the Old Vic in 2012. It’ll be the third and final instalment of The Bridge Project, so will also be performed in New York’s Brooklyn Academy of Music. Let’s not forget last time these two worked together they both won academy awards… Never mind the Olympics Opening Ceremony, here’s a really hot ticket for 2012!

Sam Mendes, who used to be Artistic Director at the Donmar, and whose film work includes Revolutionary Road and Road To Perdition, said, “I am absolutely delighted to be working with Kevin again for the first time since American Beauty, and I am doubly thrilled that he will be leading year three of The Bridge Project. Richard III is a play I love, and a role I think Kevin is born to play.”

Exciting stuff.

A long play, it seemed surprising that it started as late at 8 o’clock, but as the interval finished and the trials of the second half began, it became apparent that this production uses the inevitable nightfall to its advantage.

I have seen The Boyfriend and Hello Dolly at the Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park in previous years: both light, witty musicals. This year the theatre is tackling two rather more sombre plays, The Crucible and Macbeth.

Miller‘s play is, if anything, more effective than the musicals I’d witnessed in its use of the space. The young Salem girls sit surrounding the circular stage almost throughout the show, with haunted blank faces, reacting occasionally to the speech before them. Their silence is sometimes even more poignant than Miller’s most dramatic words.

The cast capture the dark hysteria wonderfully. John Proctor (Patrick O’Kane) towered above the young Abigail Williams (Emily Taafe), a physical contrast that emphasised the struggle for justice between them. O’Kane’s bellowing voice carried across the park, and his gradual desperation was developed very naturally by the actor. For me though it was Philip Cumbus as Reverend John Hale who gave the most compelling performance of the night.

Director Timothy Sheader should be congratulated on this eerie realisation of The Crucible, adapted well for this al fresco venue and yet staying true to the playwright’s intentions. The play, although written in 1953 and set in the 1690s , still  felt politically and culturally relevant. Towards the end I found myself gasping and hoping for a consoling outcome, but to no avail. The cold night and the chilling drama left me shivering as I left the park.

Catch this production before it ends on 19 June, it is a stunning rendition of Miller’s classic. However if you prefer something a little more light-hearted, opt for Sondheim’s Into the Woods at Regent’s Park from 6 August.

Book tickets here

If you want to sink your teeth into a story of real depth All My Sons at the Apollo Theatre could be just what you’re looking for.

I saw this play last night and bawled my eyes out (there, I said it!). There are many light-hearted moments throughout but there is a constant underlying tension that bubbles beneath the surface in this bleak yet touching post-World War II story. The script, infused with this tension, encourages the audience to investigate the dark mysteries behind the perfect American family seen on stage.

The cast are no strangers to the stage and screen. Acting-royalty David Suchet and Zoë Wanamaker disappear expertly behind the characters of Joe and Kate Keller and are joined by a talented cast who transform into their close friends and family.

This intimate play is set in the mid-west of the USA and tells the intriguing story of the Keller family and their once-neighbours, the Deevers. Beneath the charm of their American 1940s smiles and laughter lies a stomach-wrenching truth that slowly makes its way to the surface. It is this constant balance between light and dark that holds our attention.

I won’t give away too much, but there were shrieks and gasps from even the back rows of the theatre when the dark truth bubbled to the surface and the play ended. These audible shocks might even have come from Richard E Grant or Mrs Laurence Olivier (Joan Plowright) who we had spotted during the interval!

Like many new productions, the actors could do with a few more performances to really settle in. The large house on set, for example, feels less like an old family home and more like a new prop to which the actors aren’t completely familiar. We don’t get a true sense that this is their home and has been for over 20 years. Perhaps more minor practical interactions with the house (eg. uprooting a weed or checking a wood panel) rather than gazing off into the sunset in a nostalgic stupor would help.

The play is filled with eye-opening moments of pure agony, family love, blind responsibility and gut-twisting realisation that keep the cast and audience enthralled.

I’d gladly watch it again.

All My Sons plays at the Apollo Theatre until 11 September 2010