Lyn Gardner's Weekly Picks
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James’ 1898 novella, *[The Turn of the Screw](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/play/the-turn-of-the-screw-ticket)* ([Arcola](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/venue/arcola-theatre-london)) tells of a young inexperienced governess who is employed to care for two children at an isolated house in the Essex countryside. The children are delightful and charming. But as time passes, she becomes convinced that they are haunted and corrupted. *Emilia* playwright **Morgan Lloyd Malcolm** adapts a story often acclaimed as one of the best ghost stories ever written. Prepare to shiver and be wrong-footed about exactly what is going on.
It is a busy week for the Arcola, the wonderful two theatre complex in Dalston, which is also opening *[Fire Fire](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/play/fire-fire-tickets)*, **John Webber**’s hugely topical new play about climate activism and protest. It tells of two very different people - Eddie, a former oil worker mourning his brother - and Kimberley, a climate protestor, who has blocked the road to the park where Eddie is holding a memorial for his brother. Sparks will fly.
If it is good enough for **Maria Friedman** to want to star, then *[Kimberly Akimbo](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/musical/kimberly-akimbo-tickets)* ([Hampstead Theatre](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/venue/hampstead-theatre-london)) should definitely be good enough for you and me. Friedman plays Kimberly, a typical teenager with teenage desires, who has a rare medical disorder which accelerates the biological aging process. So, she looks like a 70-year-old even though she is a teenager in the number of birthdays she has celebrated, and while her classmates are making plans for starting their adult lives, she has to face up to the fact that death is coming for her. **David Lindsay-Abaire**, **Jeanne Tesori** and **Jessica Stone**’s musical won a clutch of Tony Awards for its vivid depiction of Kimberly and her flawed, messy family life.
In December 1956, the founder of Sun Records, Sam Phillips, gathered Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins together in his Memphis recording studio. Not all were legends, but some soon would be. From that **Colin Escott** and **Floyd Mutrux** fashion *[Million Dollar Quartet](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/musical/million-dollar-quartet-london-tickets)* ([The Arts at Marble Arch](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/venue/the-arts-at-marble-arch)), a juke box musical but one which explores professional jealousies and rivalries and comes with non-stop hits from "Blue Suede Shoes" and "I Walk the Line" to "Hound Dog" and "Great Balls of Fire". By all accounts, this transfer from the small but vibrant Barn Theatre in Cirencester, delivers the goods in style.