Swan theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
Emma Rice directs an ebullient RSC version of the landmark 1990 story of sex, music, class and racism

Hanif Kureishi’s 1990 debut novel was so cool that its TV adaptation featured original music by David Bowie. Part coming-of-age story, part state-of-the-nation satire, it refracted 1970s Britain through the lens of a bisexual mixed-heritage teenager.

It seems fitting that his journey from the “miserable undead” of the London suburbs to self-realisation in the Big City has been reincarnated on stage since Karim (Dee Ahluwalia) is, after all, an aspiring actor, who stands on the brink of soap opera fame by the end. We follow his family life and parental adultery to sexual experiments with Charlie (Tommy Belshaw) and best friend, Jamila (Natasha Jayetileke). Adapted by Emma Rice along with Kureishi, it is a warm, ebullient production, lovable and cheeky, even if shorn of the edgier energy of the novel.

At the Swan theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon , until 1 June

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Jermyn Street theatre, London
Sara Ryan’s book about justice for her son, who died in an NHS unit aged 18, has been turned into a play with campaigning passion

In a church down the road from this theatre you can see a quilt, a loving tribute to Connor Sparrowhawk, who drowned in a bath in an NHS unit in 2013 aged 18. Each square was made by someone touched by Connor’s death and his mother’s campaign to uncover what happened.

Sara Ryan’s memoir Justice for Laughing Boy has been adapted by writer-director Stephen Unwin. The show itself is a bit of a patchwork quilt – heartfelt, colourful, bitty – held together by campaigning zeal.

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Writer of Make Good: the Post Office Scandal says postal workers’ interviews helped describe ‘the power of the state coming down on you’

The creators of a new musical about the Post Office Horizon scandal are appealing to postal workers to form part of the choir for the production, which they say can help heal communities affected by the issue.

Make Good: the Post Office Scandal is based on interviews with two post office operators from Shropshire whose lives were ruined when Fujitsu’s flawed computer software Horizon made it appear there were shortfalls in their accounting.

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Musicals, Shakespeare and multiple versions of Nick Payne’s multiverse drama Constellations are among May’s digital theatre highlights

One of the most celebrated new British musicals in recent years, this true story about Henry Fraser , a young rugby player paralysed in an accident, extended its run at London’s @sohoplace by three months. Fresh from Amy Trigg’s Olivier win as best actress in a supporting role in a musical, it joins the NT at Home collection from 9 May.

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He was the first disabled actor to play Richard III at the RSC. As he appears as Shardlake, the star recalls the parts that made him – and explains why this latest character is like the Lone Ranger

Arthur Hughes wants to go on adventures. “When I was little,” he says, “I loved films. I loved Jurassic Park. I loved Back to the Future. I loved things I probably wasn’t supposed to watch, like Predator. And then of course I loved all the Disney classics. To go to a world that isn’t your own is so exciting. I wanted to tell stories like that.”

It was this desire that saw him first take to the stage in school plays, and then to eschew university in favour of drama school – although his parents persuaded him to apply to both, just in case. “There was nothing else I wanted to do,” he says. The gamble paid off as he has landed some huge roles – including being the first disabled actor to play Richard III at the RSC, and co-starring in the BBC drama Then Barbara Met Alan, the first primetime drama about the disability rights movement . To hear him tell it, his whole career has been one big thrill.

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More than 40 years after the unlucky antihero first appeared on TV screens, the writer who helped to bring him to life is thinking about a comeback

Name: Blackadder.

Age: The first episode of Blackadder aired in June 1983, so just shy of 41.

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In letter ahead of vote, signatories say their relations with female colleagues have been damaged and threaten to quit club

The musicians Sting and Mark Knopfler have co-signed a letter with leading theatre producers and actors, warning that they will be obliged to resign their memberships of the men-only Garrick Club if members refuse to approve a decision to admit women in a vote next Tuesday.

The letter, seen by the Guardian, was also signed by the actor Stephen Fry, the West End and Broadway theatre producer Karl Sydow, and Matthew Byam Shaw, an executive producer on The Crown television series and co-founder of Playful West End theatre production company.

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Lyric Hammersmith, London
Max Webster and David Haig’s ambitious female-led stage version of the sci-fi thriller is overwhelmed by its own optics

This ambitious co-production was always going to throw down the gauntlet for large-scale, special-effects theatre: how to adapt Philip K Dick’s fast-paced, futuristic crime thriller for the stage and distinguish it from the Hollywood sci-fi action film with Tom Cruise? If any director was qualified to give it a go, it was Max Webster, who made such a splash with Life of Pi .

This female-led version begins with a lecture by Dame Julia Anderton (Jodie McNee), creator of the pre-crime system, which lays out Dick’s philosophical and ethical arguments around free will. It is 2050 and state surveillance has been extended into the human brain, with a chip implanted into citizens to monitor transgressive thoughts. We follow Julia’s fugitive sleuthing when her own system identifies her as a future murderer and she goes on the run.

At Lyric Hammersmith, London , until 18 May

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The jukebox musical based on the 1994 film follows a string of high-profile early closures with producers saying the show has faced ‘difficult times’

An immersive jukebox musical production based on the 1994 Australian film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is to close more than four months early in the West End. Priscilla the Party! had been booking until the end of September but will now have its last performance on 26 May. In a statement, the producers said that it was “no longer sustainable” to support the show financially and that “the production has been facing difficult times”.

Billed as an “all-singing, all-dancing immersive party and musical theatre extravaganza”, the show is running at London’s £1bn Outernet complex in the Here venue with an audience capacity of just over 700. Theatregoers can join in the show on the dancefloor or choose a seated ticket including dining options. The show’s website reveals “good availability” for all but one of the remaining 23 performances. Prices start at £45.

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