There are more theatre openings in London this week than decent sunny spells, many of them featuring some familiar (read: off telly) faces... Under the Blue Sky, a story of three intertwined love stories with Catherine Tate, a couple of girls you'll recognise from Cranford, and him from the IT Crowd starts previews at the Duke of York today. Over at the Vaudeville, more Cranfordians tread the boards in The Female of the Species......

Sure Wimbledon's started, but what if you couldn't give two hoots about tennis? Here's our round-up of what you should be getting excited about among London's cornucopia of current cultural offerings. Who needs tennis? What you really need is some swashbuckling flamenco swordfighting action with a Gipsy Kings soundtrack, right? Well, thank goodness for Zorro: The Musical, previewing from Monday at the Garrick. We can't help thinking it'll feel a little flat without a certain......

"I like to remember things my own way... not necessarily the way they happened". With this key line the orchestra swells to a small crescendo, and following a subtle beginning this audacious English National Opera production suddenly feels, well, operatic. Olga Neuwirth's startlingly faithful music-theatre treatment of David Lynch's 1997 neo-noir has been resurrected in the Young Vic for a short run. Fans of the film are doubtless aware of its complex Mobius-strip narrative,......

There's something of a Valentine's theme to the Arts of choice taking place in the capital this week. But Londonist knows for every young Juliet embracing the idea of timeless romantic love, there's a Bridget hugging her near-empty vodka bottle, crooning to Chaka Khan. So, in the name of balance, here's a varied, half 'rom', half 'com' round-up for you all. Shows for Swingin' Lovers: Photographer Gregg Stone, has been taking snaps of kissing......

Mince pies are proliferating on supermarket shelves people. It really is time to book your festive entertainment. I mean, we told you back in August about Cinderella at The Old Vic. Stephen Fry's "cheekily updated" script, Pauline Collins' Fairy Godmother and Sandi Toksvig's narrator promise to make this a cracking, cross dressing, cake filled chuckle fest in a veritable grande dame of a venue. Our advice is to try and get as close to......

As the "summer" holidays limp to their unseasonable end, September's looming with an alluring offer from one of London's finest and funkiest theatres. The groovy Young Vic is offering £10 tickets to the previews of its new season production "The Member of the Wedding". Opening on 7 September the show is a revival of a Carson McCullers play set in deep South Georgia in 1945 and follows the small town dreams of 12 year......

Young Vic Theatre amongst international finalists for Riba architecture prize Climate change activists target Heathrow What would they make of the Red Bull air race, over the Thames? 8 year-old black belt was told he'd never play sport Hazel Blears reopens enquiry into new Thames bridge Image courtesy of ro_nya via the Londonist flickr group.......

Always on the scout for the best the city has to offer, Londonist has caught wind of a cheeky little theatre deal to tempt you into one of its most vibrant and newly buffed up venues. Vernon God Little is currently showing at the Young Vic, just down The Cut from its bigger, creakier sibling, The Old Vic (no relation). Vernon God Little, the novel, won the Man Booker Prize in 2003 with its......

The Londonist Literary List appears every Tuesday. If you'd like to bring an event to our attention, please email londonistlit@gmail.com. A quick note to say The Godot Company is performing Marguerite Duras' La Musica at Bookshop Theatre, 51 The Cut, SE1 8LF, (opposite the Young Vic), Monday - Saturday (not Thursday) at 7.30 pm, till December the 9th, £7/£5 - well worth a look. Wednesday We kick off this week with the Rough Guide......

Faithful to its abundant exclamation points, new play iAy Carmela! opens tonight, at the Shaw Theatre in Kings Cross, with a gala event. As we like to grab all opportunities by the balls, we catch director Tom Wright (above right, being grabbed by the balls) for a quick chat about the Spanish Civil War, vaudeville, fart jokes and 1930 fuel economics. Tell us a bit about the play... iAy Carmela! was written by a......

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......

Two bits of theatre news before we slink away for a distinctly thespian-free weekend: New Season, New Building for Young Vic The Young Vic theatre has been on walkabout for the last two years while its original home has been demolished and rebuilt to a fabulous new design. Having toured shows to 41 theatres in 31 cities since the redesign started, the company is no doubt looking forward to settling back into its home......

Ever since Londonist heard that the Young Vic was planning to stage the famous boy reporter's quest to save his friend Chang from the perilous slopes of the Himalayas we've been willing them to get it right. It was a huge task even for a director with the pedigree of Rufus Norris, so it was with some trepidation that we scanned the broadsheets for the first reviews over the weekend. As far as Kate......

There was a great story in one of the local papers yesterday about young chap called Ollie. Ollie is a resident of Brixton Hill who was out for a walk in Kennington Park when he was spotted by a employee of the Barbican theatre. Now Ollie is taking centre stage as part of the Young Vic's production of Hergé’s Adventures of Tintin...as Snowy the dog. Yes, (and we're sure you guessed this three sentences......