Lyn Gardner's Weekly Picks
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Series six of *Slow Horses* has just dropped with **Kristin Scott Thomas** in the hot seat as Diana Taverner, now First Chair at MI5. But **Scott Thomas** is much more than just an icy TV spook; she is a great stage actor. Here she teams up again with director **Ian Rickson** for what has been a rewarding partnership for a new version of [*The Cherry Orchard*](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/play/the-cherry-orchard-tickets) (Harold Pinter Theatre) written by **Conor McPherson.** **Scott Thomas** plays Lyubov Ranevskaya, a woman who does not understand that the tide of history is changing, and **Stephen Mangan** plays Lopakhin, the self-made businessman whose grandfather was a serf on Ranevskaya family estate, who sniffs an opportunity and is rising on the winds of change.
It’s all change at the Old Vic, where **Rupert Goold** is replacing **Matthew Warchus.** So, interesting times ahead in the Cut. But Warchus is going out with an intriguing choice, a rewritten version of **Alain Boublil** and **Claude-Michel Schönberg**'s [*Martin Guerre*](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/musical/martin-guerre-tickets) based on the ancient and true story of a man who disappears from his mediaeval village. Seven years later he returns. Or does he? Is it him, or an imposter? **Warchus**, who has a good nose for a musical hit (*Matilda; Pride*), has been developing the show for some time, and it arrives with a radical new version with new lyrics and orchestrations. If anyone can make it fly, my money would be on **Warchus**.
The news of shows which are closing in the new year is coming thick and fast. Churn is no bad thing in the West End because it makes room for new works. Those hoping for a last hurrah over the Christmas period without the costs of running into the darker days of January when people are tightening their belts include three shows who will finish their runs on January 3rd. They are [*Beetlejuice*](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/musical/beetlejuice-tickets) at the Prince Edward and *[My Neighbour Totoro,](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/play/my-neighbour-totoro-tickets)* which I highly recommend as your family Christmas show this year, and the wildly enjoyable [*Titanique*](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/musical/titanique-tickets) at the Criterion, a show which has entertained all who have sailed in her.
One of the new arrivals next year will be Elle Woods, the heroine of [*Legally Blonde*](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/musical/legally-blonde-tickets), which arrives at the Coliseum in March off the back of a successful UK tour. **Amber Davies** reprises her eye-catching performance as Elle, the flaky fashion student who turns out to have the brains and the steel to get into Harvard, in a revival by the Curve’s **Nikolai Foster**. Fluffy, yes; genuinely feminist, definitely not, but lots and lots of fun. Who’d sniff at that? Not me.