If a long crawl around the many art fairs open this weekend sounds like too much work, then you might be interested in the various theatrical things going on that don't require a great deal more effort from you than to turn up, take your seat and sit still until the lights come up again.
The Battersea Arts Centre Imagination Festival has been four weeks of extremely original work. Among the lengthy festival listings are oddball new works where you book your ticket and get assigned someone to stalk - and someone will be assigned to stalk you: We Follow You Home runs this Sunday night. The enigmatic Rabbit is in residence all this weekend with the curiouser and curiouser show titled Selfassembly - after booking a ticket, you must email Rabbit and enter into some correspondence. Londonist is several conversations deep with this mysterious chap and its turning out to be quite an adventure... Comedy show Saints and Superheroes about the last Vatican-sponsored lighthouse in Britainis also on Saturday and Sunday night and this weekend is your last chance to look for The Evidence for the Existence of Borrowers in the BAC building with Kazuko Hohki, the Japanese mistress of quirky interactive theatre. The Imagination Festival, Battersea Arts Centre, until 15 October. For more information and to book, go to the festival website here.
The Young Vic is back at The Cut after two years on a highly successful "walkabout" - while the old buidling was having a major refurbishment, the company took all their shows on tour and incidentally increased their profile far better than staying in SE1 could ever have done. Their brand new, beautiful building was opened earlier this week with Tobias and the Angel, a community opera that features an orchestra, a company of singers and a choir drawn from Lambeth and Southwark locals. If you can get a ticket, it promises to be an uplifting and joyful way to welcome home the Young Vic - otherwise, pop in and have a drink in the fancy new bar and see if the waiting was worth it. Tobias and the Angel, Young Vic Theatre, until 21 October. For more information and to find out more about the theatre's refurbishment, go to the website here.
Red Shift theatre presents Vertigo at the Greenwich Theatre - this is no direct adaptation of the Hitchcock classic to stage. Instead, the company focus on the original stories behind the films (previous productions include The Third Man and Get Carter) and bring those to life on stage, uncovering new depths and perspectives to characters and plots we thought we knew so well. Vertigo, Greenwich Theatre, until 14 October. For more information and to book, go to the Greenwich Theatre website here.
Image from Vertigo by Redshift Theatre Company
