Watch out for ...

TOM STOPPARD, who is in active discussions to transfer the acclaimed revival of his play Travesties from the Menier Chocolate Factory in Southwark into the West End early in 2017. The hope is that Travesties, directed with flair by Patrick Marber, would then scoot over to Broadway in the autumn — as long as its brilliant leading man Tom Hollander (pictured below) is available to go, too. Hollander and his great cast mates, Freddie Fox, Peter McDonald, Amy Morgan, Clare Foster, Forbes Masson, Sarah Quist and Tim Wallers can be seen at the Menier until November 19. marK sTroNg (pictured below), Hope Davis and elizabeth Debicki, who are the leads at the National Theatre in David Hare’s scorching new play The red Barn, based on georges simenon’s novel La main. The psychological study has been directed with scintillating style by robert icke and it’s a piece where the design is as show-stopping as the acting. so step forward Bunny Christie, Paule Constable, Tom gibbons and Tim reid, who are responsible, respectively, for sets and costumes, lighting, sound, and video and projection. The red Barn is set in the sixties and imbued with a slight mad men sensibility, in that folks knock back tumblers of scotch for breakfast. The play, which is on at the Lyttelton, won’t be shown in cinemas on NT Live, which is a shame, because the run on the south Bank has very few seats left. EMMET KIRWAN and Ian Lloyd Anderson, who bring their freestyle Edinburgh Festival hit Dublin Oldschool to the National’s Dorfman Theatre for a short run from January 24 until January 31. The show, written by Kirwan, is about a ‘chemically enhanced’ DJ who bumps into his estranged brother as he makes his musical way around Dublin. The show had a successful run at the Pleasance during this summer’s Fringe and became a big word-of-mouth hit.