Regular reviews of new London theatre, from the West End and the National Theatre to the fringe, plus occasional dispatches from around the UK and beyond.

No fuss

Love in (3) Parts, Southwark Playhouse, London

This is kind of post-histrionics relationship-angst theatre. Gentle, unassuming, kind and quietly sad; without having to raise its voice.

The unifying potential of dance

In Blood: the Bacchae, Arcola Theatre, London

The only Greek tradition borrowed directly is the chorus, represented here by the neglected and abused Afro-Brazillian masses. The parallel just about holds up, but I wish this company had gone for broke – told their own story, in their own words, with what they believe to be the ultimate form of expression – capoeria.

A line-up of the loopy

Captain Oates’ Left Sock, Finborough Theatre, London

Antrobius’ play examines a group of voluntarily institutionalised inmates under the inactive observation of Dr Parks. In amongst the ragbag collection of ticks and crocks are the youthfully antagonistic David , the coy masochist Juliet and Carter, a suicidal forty-something bouncing between prim etiquette and blind inappropriateness.

The fatal inevitability of repercussions and conscience

Seeking Oedipus, Purcell Room, South Bank Centre, London

Seeking Oedipus is a bold and brilliant piece of theatre, caught between traditions of Ancient Greece, Marcel Marceau and Pina Bausch. It delights the eyes and rouses the feelings in a way that everyday life is unable to do.

Slow, careful circles

Ali – Mathew Bolze and Hedi Thabet, ICA, London

This delicate half-hour long show exists in this gentle rhythm of difference, mimicry and separation; in the subtle interplay of power between these two sensitive performers.

Beautifully delicate creatures

Salto.Lamento, ICA, London

More than any of its startling imagery, or its sometimes laboured humour, what makes this show so fascinating is Soehnle’s presence as a lone puppeteer. He is magician in chief, moving from puppet to puppet with a slow delicacy that sets the rhythm for the show as much as Johannes Frisch & Stefan Mertin’s brilliant music.

Disco collages

Plug N’ Play, Shunt Vaults / Faust.2360, ICA, London

Three figures, all magnificently weird, gyrating with startling awkwardness across an overcrowded stage like the best nightclub come cabaret show you’ve never been to in the hidden basement of an anarchist vodka bar somewhere in the former Soviet Union.

Too much thinking?

On emotion, Soho Theatre, London

No play is an argument, and although one of the writers is a neuropsychologist, this play is an articulate attempt to persuade the audience of what Kathryn Ecclestone and I call the new foundational epistemology of the emotions.

The birth of science as theatre slept

The Tragedy of Thomas Hobbes, Wilton’s Music Hall, London

Adriano Shaplin’s play for the RSC dramatises the historically-documented animus between Hobbes and the founders of the Royal Society, and the invented prism of theatre is an intriguing one.

Butter would freeze over

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, Battersea Arts Centre, London

Essentially, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea is a series of pop-gothic vignettes, akin to Improbable’s Shockheaded Peter, telling of faceless tooth-fairies and gingerbread revolutionaries.

Between support and destruction

August: Osage County, National Theatre (Lyttelton), London

The fact Letts’ characters are a whisker away from cliché – you know who they are before they speak – makes for some forceful but truthful performances. Their eccentricities fuel the comedy, but Letts never lets his characters slip away from him: they might be larger than life, but they are never outside it.

A pas de deux between performer and light

Brilliant, Lyric Hammersmith Studio, London

Dispensing with the usual rules of narrative, character and interaction, Fevered Sleep has created something altogether more responsive and gloriously freeform. It borders on live art; almost post-dramatic theatre for pre-schoolers

Verse and murder-mystery

Family Reunion, Donmar Warehouse, London

TS Eliot’s verse here is not nearly as impenetrable as the previews suggest, and though it might feel indulgent in parts, he paints a vivid picture with his poetry. However, it is Eliot’s talent for tension that stands out; director Jeremy Herrin recognises this quality and exploits it skilfully and sparingly. Even if the dialogue loses its way sometimes, the scenes are tight and the atmosphere tense.

An issue-ridden childhood

In a Dark Dark House, Almeida Theatre, London

Ultimately this feels like a prolonged form of therapy - one that remains bizarrely indifferent to its patient. It is restricted by the opening scene at rehab, which establishes a predilection for psychobabble that is never shaken off.

Between Beckett and Hannah-Barbera

Daedalus and Icarus, Barbican, London

Like the characters, Mungu’s production takes a long while to get off the ground, but having finally taken off, it soars. The metal structures form a swinging cockpit-like contraption, equipped with an industrial fan and four black-clad stagehands, and the two seem to genuinely take flight.