Simon Russell Beale plays song collector Cecil Sharp in BBC Radio 3’s Folk. Photo: BBC

A TREAT for fans of Cecil Sharp House is Nell Leyshon’s drama, Folk. Originally commissioned by Hampstead Theatre, BBC Radio 3 is broadcasting an audio version of Leyshon’s play with Simon Russell Beale playing the English folk song collector Cecil Sharp. At the heart of the early 20th century folk revival, Sharp co-founded what is now the English Folk Dance and Song Society and collected around 5,000 songs from England and America. Leyshon discovered that Sharp collected songs from the Somerset village she grew up in and that his work began in Hambridge. Directed by Susan Roberts with musical direction from Gary Yershon. BBC Radio 3, 7.30pm, May 9 / BBC Sounds.

• The Almeida reopens on May 19 with Six Artists in Search of a Play. Available live and online, Ebenezer Bamgboye, Atri Banerjee, Nastazja Domaradzka, Anthony Lau, Audrey Sheffield and Cherrelle Skeete present seminal plays and new works from across the globe that have often been overlooked by British theatre. Each artist will direct a semi-staged reading of their chosen play, and curate a programme of live music, dance and panel discussions exploring theatrical traditions from around the world. Events will be performed to socially distanced audiences at the theatre from May 19-June 5, and will be available digitally at a later date. All tickets are £10 (£5 conc) and have just been released so check out the plays and grab a seat while you can. Visit: almeida.co.uk

• Ferodo Bridges, Hoxton Hall, Hoxton Trust and Howl at the Moon present Persephone by Gianna Kiehl. Performed at dusk in the Hoxton Trust Community Gardens, this one-act play explores the impact of grief and the price of believing in something unbelievable. Kiehl wrote the story during self-isolation in London and Prague in order to investigate the surprising, frightening and sometimes imperceptible marks left by loneliness and loss. Frustrated by the lack of stories about female relationships, Kiehl wanted to explore what happens when women interrogate and challenge each other. The title refers to the Greek goddess Demeter’s daughter whose capture by Hades, lord of the Underworld, throws Demeter into despair and she curses the land with winter. The myth tells of Persephone’s return accompanied by the spring: pain is turned into something beautiful. 8.30pm, May 20-June 13 Visit: HoxtonHall.co.uk

• The Bush Theatre reopens on May 17 with Harm, a twisted comedy by Bruntwood Prize award-winning playwright Phoebe Eclair-Powell, starring Kelly Gough and directed by Atri Banerjee. When an unhappy estate agent sells a house to Alice, a charismatic social media influencer, the two strike up an unlikely friendship. But as her obsession with Alice’s perfect world intensifies, the lines between online and reality become dangerously blurred. Until June 26. Visit: bushtheatre.co.uk