What's On: Further afield

ART
Classified
Tate Britain

Recent acquisitions of British contemporary art will go on display in Tate Britain from Monday and will feature some headline-grabbing works on show for the first time.

These include Jake & Dinos Chapman's Chapman Family Collection 2002 and two works from Damien Hirst's recent gift to Tate: The Acquired Inability to Escape 1991, one of the artist's early vitrine works, and Life Without You 1991.

Familiar works such as Damien Hirst's room installation Pharmacy 1992, Simon Patterson's Great Bear 1992, a reconfigured version of the iconic map of the London Underground, and Mark Dion's Tate T.

Classified will focus on the way artists use ordering systems in their work, exploring how our need to classify affects our perception of the world.

The exhibition will address this desire to collect, order and categorise, and will show how artists often use these networks and relationships in ways that reveal the inherent instability of meaning.

Go to tate.org.uk.

STAGE
Carrie's War
Apollo Theatre

Prunella Scales, pictured, takes on the role of Mrs Gotobed in this second world war-set drama based on the novel by Nina Bawden.

Emma Reeves has adapted the work of this drama and, to create a sense of its Welshness, traditional hymns and songs will be performed live.

There are 15 characters in the play and the roles will be divided among a cast of nine which also includes Kacey Ainsworth and James Beddard.

The production starts today with a run scheduled to continue until September 12.

Opens today. Go to apollo-theatre.co.uk.

STAGE
Apologia
Bush Theatre

Kristin Miller is an eminent art historian. As a young mother she rebelled against the Establishment and stormed the Parisian barricades.

But her recent memoir fails to mention her sons. On her birthday, the forgotten offspring decide to deliver their verdict on her and everyone must confront the consequences of Kristin's passions.

Opens Monday. Go to bushtheatre.co.uk.

ALSO OPENING...

STAGE
Observe The Sons Observe The Sons Of Ulster Marching Towards The Somme
Hampstead Theatre

Celebrating its 50th anniversary, Hampstead revives Observe The Sons Of Ulster Marching Towards The Somme, the drama that that brought Frank McGuinness to wide attention in 1985 and gave the theatre one of its greatest successes.

The story centres on eight volunteers whose bonds of friendships grow amid the horror.

Opens tomorrow. Go to hampsteadtheatre.com.