What's On: Further afield

COMEDY
As You Like It
Shakespeare's Globe

One of Shakespeare's most beloved comedies - although considered to be a lesser ranking work overall - As You Like It brings a breath of country air to the Globe on Bankside.

The play follows heroine Rosalind as she escapes persecution in her uncle's court to find sanctuary - and love - in the Forest of Arden.

Critics have suggested that it lacks the high art of which the playwright was capable but its dismissal as a crowd pleaser is a boon to those who make up the crowd.

As You Like It combines cross dressing and slapstick with gentle satire.

Under the direction of Thea Sharrock, Rosalind is played by Naomi Frederick best known from her acclaimed performance in Kneehigh's production of Brief Encounter.

Joining the creative team are designer Dick Bird and composer Stephen Warbeck.

The run starts on Monday with previews showing now. Tickets £5-£33. Go to shakespeares-globe.org.

DRAMA
Kursk
Young Vic

The theatrical space lends itself to claustrophic settings, invariably inside where the perils lie beyond the walls.

The interior of a submarine is just such a constraint and, in Kursk, theatre company Sound & Fury aims to "create an environment of submarine warfare, transporting the audience to a confined underwater world of command and control, secrecy and codes, fear and camaraderie".

The production at the Young Vic studies the Russian submarine disaster of August 2000, a global crisis comprising individual stories.

The run starts on Monday with previews now.

Go to youngvic.org.

DRAMA
The Winter's Tale / The Cherry Orchard
Old Vic

A formidable double header of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale and Chekov's The Cherry Orchard starts at the Old Vic from Tuesday.

Director Sam Mendes brings together a strong ensemble, including Simon Russell Beale and Ethan Hawke, for his ambitious transatlantic project.
Go to oldvictheatre.com.

LOOK OUT FOR...

- A newly-opened exhibition at Tate Britain Heaven And Earth features more than 80 works from Richard Long and his first survey of London for 18 years. His multi-media approach uses photographs, text and sculptures to reveal the relationship between art and landscape.

Go to tate.org.uk.