Perfect timing… Hickory Dickory Dock

THE Little Angel Theatre Children’s Puppet Festival has a great mix of shows, family workshops and playcations. This weekend, highlights include Hickory Dickory Dock by Garlic Theatre about a wonderful Mouse Clock that gets broken. Ages 3-8. Aug 22-24 Little Angel Theatre. In The Elves and the Shoemaker by Grandly Strange Puppet Theatre, nobody wants to buy Mr Shooz’s footwear anymore. Then someone starts making amazing shoes in the night and leaving them on his workbench every morning. Who are the midnight cobblers and how can he say thank you in return? Ages 3- 8. Aug 23-25. Little Angel Studios. The festival ends on Aug 31. littleangeltheatre.com/

• This year celebrates the 75th anniversary of CS Lewis’s classic novel, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Join Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter as they meet new friends, face dangerous foes and learn the lessons of courage, sacrifice, and the power of love. This exhilarating show blends puppetry and storytelling, while a talented cast of actor-musicians, creates an unforgettable theatrical experience. Sadler’s Wells, until Sept 7. sadlerswells.com/

• The Enormous Crocodile is weaving his way through the jungle in search of delicious little fingers and squidgy knees… Only the other jungle creatures can foil his secret plans, but they’re going to have to find enough courage to stop this greedy brute. Based on Roald Dahl’s book, this family musical features Toby Olié’s magnificent menagerie of puppets. Open Air Theatre until Sept 7. openairtheatre.com/

• Set in a fractured America transitioning from the Reagan era into the Bush presidency, Emeka Agada’s The Last Black Messiah is a two-hander political drama that unfolds inside a prison. Dr Oko, an ex-professor and black revolutionary leader, awaits his execution. When his former student makes a surprise visit, not everything is as it seems. Etcetera Theatre, various times, Aug 27-29. In Daniel Cuckow and Abigail Sinclair’s Motorway Maeve Lucy work night shifts at a service station; a liminal, eerie place to stop for a coffee. No one ever comes in. When one of the friends is given the gift of an extraterrestrial encounter, jealousy leads to a violent meltdown in friendship. 7pm, Sept 4-7. etceteratheatrecamden.com/

• Joel Marlin’s satire, The Statesman, is the story of a humourless village and the bitter old man whose job it is to teach them to be funny. Nestled deep in the countryside, the people stand defiantly apart from their neighbours – all humour is banned. No one has cracked a joke in generations. When a boy is exiled for the forbidden act of laughter, his case catches the eye of the Queen. With a royal representative on the way, the village faces a terrifying dilemma: to protect their way of life, they must become the very thing they are not… funny.
Theatro Technis, Sept 10-27. theatrotechnis.com/