Eight of the capital's best-known theatres are teaming up for the greatest show in town. By David Lan

Eight of London's theatres are teaming up for the greatest show in town

Pig out

Without Warning has a brilliant location, but takes a while to make the most of it.

Sheila Allen, a triumphant English actress possessed of strong looks, deep voice and a graceful, maternal manner, had, outside the theatre, only one true moment in the spotlight – as the seemingly steadfast suburban housewife Cassie Manson in one of the great television events of its age, Andrea Newman's magnificent Bouquet of Barbed Wire (1976). Cunningly cast for her theatrical repose, Allen was the foil for millions of viewers who were drawn into the story of the detonation of a nuclear family through the exploration of sexual taboos. Only halfway through the serial, in the extraordinary episode "Repercussions", a remarkable musing on sexual masochism, did we learn the whole truth about Cassie – and Allen brilliantly managed to reveal the uncomfortable details of her character's past without once losing our sympathy or understanding. It was a perfect showcase for her skill in expressing decency and intelligence, a skill that blessed many of her finest stage performances.

Talk about topicality. While the fight for Tripoli intensified and rebels captured the Gaddafi compound, the National Youth Theatre has been opening a new play, Our Days of Rage, which dramatises four decades of struggle against his regime.

It's six hours long, and in Arabic, but don't be put off: this retelling of ancient stories is both mesmerising and thoroughly modern

If you have seen Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, you will know they are the next big thing. As they tour the festivals of Europe, Sarah Morrison meets them in Paris

The mighty and passionate actor John Wood communicated wisdom and generated surprise with an originality and intensity that left his performances glowing in the memory like hot coals from which the heat never quite fades.

Controller tells Ian Burrell why 12m listeners can't be wrong

Box office takings at London's theatres have bounced back from a winter slump thanks to a string of big productions and star performers.

Who knew that Kevin Spacey has an older brother called Randy Fowler who earns his living as a Rod Stewart impersonator? While Kevin bestrides stage and screen like a colossus, Randy offers his services to the good people of Boise, Idaho, as the proprietor of Rod's Limos, ferrying prom kids in a white stretched limousine while dressed in a zoot suit.

A ship has dropped anchor in Bristol. There's nothing unusual in that, perhaps. But this one is on dry land, parked outside the Old Vic Theatre and overrun by 18th-century pirates.

Spacey swivels between hand-twirls and hollering in Mendes's 'stagey' production