How Not to Drown is at Stratford East

THE London International Mime festival opens on Jan 16 and concludes on Feb 5. In Through the Grapevine two circus/dance artists play with their physical difference through a stream of movement. Jan 16-18. theplace.org.uk/  In The Nature of Forgetting, Tom is living with young onset dementia. As he prepares for his 55th birthday party memories come flooding back. Jan 18-22. shoreditchtownhall.com/ Andrea Salustri explores polystyrene and its many uses in Materia from Jan 19-22. jacksonslane.org.uk/

• Sam McArdle’s The Manny, a dark comedy about an Irish male nanny who works for rich single mums, runs at the King’s Head Theatre until Jan 14. Tom Foreman’s Swell follows Ava and Josh,two siblings caught in the purgatory of a fictional town that’s about to be abandoned. Residents of Fairbourne, Wales, discover they are to be Britain’s first climate refugees, with their town set to be decommissioned and depopulated by 2054. Jan 14-15. kingsheadtheatre.com/

• In September last year, Mahsa Amini was killed by Iran’s “morality police” for not adequately observing its religious dress code. Since then, thousands of protesters have taken to the streets calling for freedom and a more progressive Iran. In Camden, 678 Mystic Nightingales unite a collective of supporters and performers to raise funds for Six Pillars to Persia. Expect moving musical and spoken-word reflections, film, thrilling circus acts and dancing. 7.30pm, Jan 16. cptheatre.co.uk/

• Nicolas Billon’s The Elephant Song is at Park90 from Jan 18-Feb 11. A psychiatrist disappears from a mental health unit. A young patient, Michael, is a suspect. Dr. Greenberg, the hospital director, questions Michael who talks about elephants and opera. In a turbulent power struggle, Michael attempts to barter the truth for his freedom. parktheatre.co.uk/

• How Not to Drown by Nicola McCartney & Dritan Kastrati tells the painful yet uplifting true story of an 11-year-old unaccompanied asylum-seeker. In 2002, in the turmoil at the end of the Kosovan War, Kastrati is sent on a perilous journey across the Adriatic with a gang of people smugglers to a new life in Europe. He relies on his young wit and charm to make it to the UK. But the fight for survival continues when he ends up in the British care system. Performed by an ensemble cast featuring Kastrati himself. Jan 26-Feb 11. stratfordeast.com/

• Willy Hudson’s Welcome Home is billed as a queer sci-fi show about resolving anger, the importance of allies and knowing when to let go. Recovering from a bad break-up, Willy moves back to his parents’ house. But waiting there is the thing that’s been controlling him since birth – his childhood church. We join Willy in his kitsch DIY world and witness space battles and monster anthems. Jan 26-Feb 11. sohotheatre.com/