Lyn Gardner's Weekly Picks
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We can be certain that whenever there is a war, someone is turning a buck. I know it, you know it, and **Bertolt Brecht** certainly knew it when, in 1939 and in the shadow of war, he wrote [Mother Courage and Her Children](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/play/mother-courage-and-her-children-tickets). Revived at Shakespeare’s Globe with the magnificent Michelle Terry playing the opportunistic woman who tramps the battlefields of Europe with her children, making a good profit out of war, this revival comes in a version by **Anna Jordan** which relocates **Brecht**’s original from the 17th century to the near future and a Europe riven by conflict. Originally produced at the Royal Exchange in Manchester in 2019, the text gets fresh life from director **Elle White**, and **Brecht**’s meditation on the real price paid by war profiteering should be particularly potent in a world erupting into wars.
**Jack Thorne**’s vampire drama [Let the Right One In](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/play/let-the-right-one-in-underbelly-tickets) (Underbelly Boulevard), based on **John Ajvide Lindqvist**’s novel and movie, should be a canny choice for the National Youth Theatre and its young cast. Kudos too for bringing in **James Dacre**, a director with real clout to stage it. The original National Theatre of Scotland premiere was a truly memorable event, so here’s hoping that **Dacre** and his cast can make something equally haunting of this desperate and painfully tender coming-of-age drama, which contemplates what it really means to be human.
Taking over the stage at Sadler's Wells this week comes [Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/dance/les-ballets-trockadero-de-monte-carlo-mixed-bill-tickets), the all-male company which is celebrating its 50th anniversary. If you reckon it will just be a drag or think you don’t like ballet, think again. The Trocks, as they are affectionately known, offer an evening of joy, hilarity and genuine dance prowess as they both satirise the rigid conventions of ballet and also celebrate the art form. They can have you convulsed with laughter and open-mouthed in awe in the same minute. The company’s great achievement is that they are loved alike by balletomanes and those who think ballet is a bore.
At the Bridge, **Chris Pine** in [Ivanov](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/play/ivanov-tickets) has been delayed until 2027, but replacing it and opening in July is **Simon Stone**’s version of [The Oresteia](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/play/oresteia-tickets), in which a modern family suddenly finds itself in a Greek tragedy. It’s just over 10 years since **Robert Icke**’s astonishing Olivier Award-winning rewrite of **Aeschylus**’ savage tragedy, so it is not too soon to be revisiting a play which is capable of encompassing all the really big questions about what really constitutes justice and whether humans and families can ever escape the endless cycle of violence and revenge.