Joseph Potter in The Poltergeist is at the Arcola

RAVENSCOURT by Georgina Burns is at Hampstead Theatre Downstairs until Oct 29. Lydia is a mental health professional determined to make a difference. But as she settles into her new job at Ravenscourt she starts to realise how high the odds are stacked against real change. Maybe the cynics are right: the system is broken and nobody cares. hampsteadtheatre.com

• Downstairs at the Pleasance, Kieton Saunders-Browne’s one-woman play, Block’d Off, follows the lives of five characters caught in the cycle of deprivation. Set in a block of council flats, the play considers how working-class people are often defined by their titles or jobs. Camila Segal multi-roles a plethora of characters, from lonely Brazilian grandmother to a sensitive middle-class tutor. Oct 6-7, and thereafter at Camden People’s Theatre Nov 8-19. pleasance.co.uk

• BÉZNĂ Theatre are at Camden People’s Theatre with wipe these tears from Oct 11-22. Known for its political activism, the company’s latest production is a theatrical montage that explores imperial methods of crushing dissent and celebrates solidarity. Themes touched upon include radicalisation, torture, experiences of ex-service people in war zones and anti-Islamophobia. cptheatre.co.uk

• A young governess arrives at a mansion on the bleak and wind­swept moors – but there’s no sign of the child she’s been employed to look after… Jen Silverman’s The Moors, at The Hope Theatre, is a Gothic tale about isolation, ambition, and the struggle to be seen. Inspired by the letters of Charlotte Brontë, this macabre thriller has a queer thread run­ning through its centre. Billed as a dark comedy perfect for when the nights are drawing in. Oct 11-Nov 5. www.thehopetheatre.com/

• The world premiere of Peter Gill’s Something in the Air is at Jermyn Street Theatre from Oct 13-Nov 12. Alex and Colin’s stories flow like mist down the Thames, roll under Hammersmith Bridge, and past the windows of forgotten Soho restaurants. As the old men’s youth comes to life, so do the young men they once loved. Gill co-directs with Alice Hamil­ton. jermynstreettheatre.co.uk

• Philip Ridley’s The Poltergeist makes its stage debut at Arcola Theatre. This one-man show, performed by Joseph Potter, is about art, family, memory, and being haunted by the life we nev­er lived. At 15 Sasha was called an art world prodigy. Celebrities wanted to buy his paintings. His first exhibition was going to make him a superstar. But now he lives in a run-down flat, with his out-of-work boyfriend, and no one’s heard of him… What went wrong? Oct 12-Nov 5. arcolatheatre.com

• American playwright Lanford Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning classic Talley’s Folly is at the Cockpit from Oct 13-29. Part of the theatre’s New York Voices season, the play explores the love story between a Jewish refugee and a lonely farm girl in 1944 Missouri. thecockpit.org.uk