Drum Moonshine to October 16 author Snoo Wilson sends Conan Doyle into science-fiction land, Moira Buffini’s Silence November 11-27 is a sex and violence drama set a thousand years ago. Orchard Theatre in The Ugly Duckling December 7-24. Tours: Seagulls, Drummers.

EXETER Northcott (01392 493493) The Importance of Being Earnest October 7-30, Christopher William Hill’s new Lam November 18-27 reveals secret dreams and black-marketeering in wartime Cornwall, John Crocker’s Aladdin December 9-January 15. Tour: The Witches.

BRISTOL Old Vic (0117 987 7877) Willy Russell’s comedy of midlife rebellion One for the Road to October 23, Hamlet October 28-November 27, Chris Denys and Chris Harris’s Jack and the Beanstalk December 2-January 29.

New Vic Peepolykus perform their hilarious comedies Let the Donkey Go October 18-21, I Am a Coffee October 22-26, Horses for Courses October 27-30, daytimes Storybox offer respectively The Snow Queen, The Tin Soldier, The Mermaid October 28-30, Paines Plough presents new work from the region in Western Front November 4-6, Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in The Mysteries November 10-20, Forkbeard Fantasy offer The Brain November 22-December 4 - exploring ‘the scrambled egg that makes us tick’, Simon Treves offers black comedy in a North London flat as Bitter With a Twist December 15-January 15.

SALISBURY Playhouse (01722 320333) Michael Frayn’s farcical mayhem front and back stage Noises Off October 7-30, Miller’s dissection of Nazi brutality and its effect on a comfortable American couple Broken Glass November 4-20, Colin Wakefield and Kate Edgar offer Cinderella December 4-January 15, Stage 65 Youth Theatre in The Little Match Girl December 14-16.

Salberg Studio Trevelyan Wright adapts Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden October 16-23 (school workshops available: 01722 422182), Stage 65 with Timberlake Wertenbaker’s The Love of the Nightingale October 28-30, a repertory of love plays, Jonathan Harvey’s Beautiful Thing November 4-27 and Middleton and Rowley’s great Jacobean psycho-shocker The Changeling November 10-27.

SOUTHAMPTON Nuffield (02380 671771) Twelfth Night to October 16, Howard Barker’s Scenes from an Execution October 19-23, Tony McNamara’s The John Wayne Principle October 28-November 20 a strong-language satire on business, The Wind in the Willows December 2-January 15.

BASINGSTOKE Haymarket (01256 465566) Neville’s Island October 22-November 13, A Christmas Carol December 10-January 15. Tour: King Lear.

NEWBURY Watermill (01635 46044) Ariel Dorfman’s Death and the Maiden September 29-October 30, Music Hall November 8-13, Young Company in Helen Edmundson’s version of The Mill on the Floss November 17-20, Christopher Lillicrap’s Sinbad November 27-January 15.

HORNCHURCH Queen’s (01708 443333) Matt Devereaux adapts Greene’s Brighton Rock October 1-23, Ron Pember and Denis de Marne’s musical Jack the Ripper November 5-27, Nicholas Pegg’s Aladdin December 4-January 15.

WATFORD Palace (01923 225671) Miller’s examination of Nazism’s moral impact Broken Glass October 1-23, Priestley’s first play Dangerous Corner November 5-27, Roy Hudd panto The Strange and Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe December 4-January 8.

COLCHESTER Mercury (01206 573948) Richard III to October 9, A Streetcar Named Desire October 21-November 6, Women on the Verge of HRT - Get Away November 16-27, Roy Hudd’s Mother Goose December 10-January 16. Tour: Drummers.

Studio Look at Me October 28-30, Anna Reynolds’ play about school exclusion.

NORTHAMPTON Royal (01604 632533) Sleuth to October 16, Women on the Verge of HRT - Get Away October 19-30 (see Colchester), Vilma Holingbery and director Michael Napier Brown adapt Henry James’ enigmatic The Turn of the Screw November 5-27, Hollingbery’s Cinderella December 8-January 22. Cyrano de Bergerac tours the region to October 16. Pauline Purcell’s Off Course is an interactive drama workshop for Northants, available to schools November 1-December 3. Details: 01604 627566.

LEICESTER Haymarket (0116 253 9797) Sondheim’s art musical Sunday in the Park with George October 15-November 13, Oliver December 3-February 5. Tour: Lord of the Flies.

Studio Nine Nights October 6-9 has stories from the Ramayana, The Funjabis’ This is Your Life, Mr Funjabi October 14-16 is a comedy about Indian experiences in Britain, Haymarket Youth Theatre in Sir Peter Hall’s version of Animal Farm October 27-30, The Square Circle November 11-27 examines male and female social roles through the travels of a disguised woman and a cross-dressing entertainer, Coup de Masque in Dario Fo’s one-man satire Mistero Buffo November 30-December 4, Action Transport in Jack’s Midnight Surprise daytimes December 7-January 8 (connected art project for nursery schools and playgroups, contact Dawn Ingleson 0116 253 0021). Tours: Riddance and A Doll’s House.

NOTTINGHAM Playhouse (0115 941 9419) Manuel Puig’s prison drama Kiss of the Spider Woman October 7-30, Beckett monologue First Love November 3-4, preceded on November 3 by New Perspectives in Amanda Whittington’s story of 1950s cigarette makers Player’s Angels, Cinderella November 27-January 22.

DERBY Playhouse (01332 363275) musical Soul Train to October 9, Martin McDougall’s beachbound black comedy Watching the Sand from the Sea October 15-November 6 throws together an American and English pair and their contrasting outlooks on life, Small Theatre of Vilnius present (in Lithuanian with English surtitles) Lermontov’s 19th-century Russian comedy Masquerade November 9-13, Mother Goose November 30-January 22. The Playhouse also opens its Asian Arts Exchange with theatre, dance, storytelling, poetry and comedy, plus workshops for writers and critics. Details: Anita Sall, 01332 363271.

CARDIFF Sherman (02920 646900) Made in Wales offer the Welsh in Australia with Roger Williams’s Killing Kangaroos October 14-16, David Wood adapts Dahl’s The Twits November 19-January 8. Tour: Widowers’ Houses.

Studio Unprotected Sex October 16-November 6 is Patrick Jones’s tough picture of masculinity for over-16s. For the 3-6s Mike Kenny’s The Elves and the Shoemakers November 30-December 24. Tours: Paul Robeson Knew My Father, New South Wales, The Brain and Hamlet.

MILFORD HAVEN Torch (01646 695267) Mike Leigh’s Abigail’s Party October 6-23, Ayckbourn’s multi-level Taking Steps November 3-20, Aladdin December 20-30 - plus school matinees available November 29-December 17.

MOLD Clwyd Theatr Cymru (01352 755114) Anthony Hopkins Theatre Twelfth Night October 14-November 6 (also Cardiff New November 9-13), Manon Eames’ third slice of Alexander Cordell’s Welsh history Song of the Earth November 18-December 4, Peter Rowe and Alan Ellis show Dick Whittington and the Coolest Cat in Town December 10-January 22. Tours: Arabian Nights and Animal Farm.

Emlyn Williams Theatre Macbeth to November 13, Under Milk Wood December 23-January 29.

WORCESTER Swan (01905 27322) Charley’s Aunt September 30-October 16, CP Taylor’s wartime And A Nightingale Sang October 28-November 13, Philip Monks’s Beauty and the Beast December 1-January 8. In-service training for drama and English teachers: 01905 726969.

STRATFORD-UPON-AVON (01789 403403) Royal Shakespeare Theatre Adrian Mitchell’s version of CS Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe November 11-March 5, King Lear December3-February 26.

Swan Theatre Macbeth from November 2, The Taming of the Shrew December 2-January 15.

The Other Place Goldini’s 18th-century comedy The Servant of Two Masters December 8-January 22.

COVENTRY Belgrade (02476 553055) The Importance of Being Earnest to October 2, Jeffrey Hatcher adapts Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw October 7-23, Jack and the Beanstalk December 8-January 29. Tours: One for the Road and Shang-a-Lang.

BIRMINGHAM Repertory Theatre (0121 236 4455) Tennessee Williams on love and bigotry in Baby Doll October 22-November 13, Peter Whelan’s Nativity December 1-30, The Snowman January 13-22, Yasmina Reza’s three-man hit Art January 28-February 12.

The Door Silence October 14-November 6 (see Plymouth), Charles Mulekwa’s tragicomedy of African brutality and humanity A Time of Fire November 18-December 11, Tamasha offer Shaheen Khan and Sudha Bhuchar’s curry wars saga Balti Kings December 15-January 8.

NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE New Vic (01782 717962) Tim Firth comedy Neville’s Island to October 9, Ayckbourn revises his Body Language October 12-30, A Midsummer Night’s Dream November 4-27, The Wizard of Oz December 3-January 8.

CHESTER Gateway (01244 340392) Rare, early Noel Coward The Young Idea October 15-November 6, E Nesbit’s story of a magic bird and fantastical adventures, adapted by Deborah Shaw and Scott Ramsay, The Phoenix and the Carpet November 25-January 15, Miller’s drama of brothers revisiting their past and its inheritance The Price February 4-26.

LIVERPOOL Everyman (0151 709 4776) Jim Cartwright’s story of a girl who finds refuge in song The Rise and Fall of Little Voice to October 16, Howard Barker’s Scenes from an Execution October 26-30, Stellar Quines bring Helen Edmundson’s The Clearing November 2-6 (see Edinburgh), rock ‘n’ roll panto from Tony Lidington and Mike Sherman Puss in Blue Suede Boots November 24-January 29. Tour: Drummers.

MANCHESTER Library (0161 236 7110) Tony Kushner’s epic of US society with love, AIDS and rusty ideals Angels in America. Part One - Millennium Approaches to October 16, Stoppard’s Arcadia October 22-November 20 investigates the classical and romantic through a modern exploration of old times, Charles Way’s Cinderella November 26-January 15, Measure for Measure February 4-March 4. Tour: The Colour of Justice.

Forum Theatre, Wythenshawe (0161 437 9663) Jeffrey Longmore’s Dick Whittington December 3-January 8. Tours: Gold! and Lord of the Flies.

Royal Exchange (0161 833 9833) King Lear to October 23, Jim Cartwright’s new Prize Night October 27-November 20, madcap Emil Wolk and director Braham Murray go Bats November 24-January 8 with Draculitis.

BOLTON Octagon (01204 520661) Women on the Verge of HRT - Get Away! October 6-16 (see Colchester), Godber’s campsite comedy Perfect Pitch October 21-November 6, Ayckbourn’s revised Body Language November 9-20 Stuart Paterson’s Hansel and Gretel December 2-24. Bill Naughton Studio: Paines Plough’s Western Front November 11-13 (see Bristol), Rocket Theatre in Marber’s gambling comedy Dealer’s Choice November 18-20.

OLDHAM Coliseum (0161 624 2829) Charles Dyer’s Staircase to October 9 shows the bickering partnership of barbershop owners Harry and Charles, middle class tension and pretension in Mike Leigh’s Abigail’s Party October 14-November 6, Godber’s Unleashed November 8-27 (see Hull), Kenneth Alan Taylor’s Mother Goose December 4-January 22, Compact Theatre offer One Big Blow January 24-29, John Burrows’ 1980 a “cappella” miners’ musical.

LANCASTER Dukes (01524 66645) Alfred Uhry’s duo for white US lady and black chauffeur Driving Miss Daisy September 30-October 23, Ayckbourn’s How the Other Half Loves October 28-November 20, Neil Duffield’s The Ugly Duckling November 25-December 30.

SHEFFIELD Crucible (0114 249 6000) A View from the Bridge to October 16, in 23:59 November 5-27 Nicola Baldwin heralds the millennium with revenge in the music industry, Charley’s Aunt December 9-January 15. Tour: The Colour of Justice.

Studio Lee Hall solo about an autistic girl Spoonface Steinberg December 6-18. Tour: Happy Birthday Mr Deka D.

LEEDS West Yorkshire Playhouse (0113 213 7700) Quarry Theatre: Geraldine Connor matches Trinidad trad and English choral favourites in Carnival Messiah to October 16, Peter Shaffer’s character comedy in an English country house Lettice and Lovage October 29-November 27, from Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed, MGM’s Singin’ in the Rain December 7-February 5.

Courtyard Theatre: Shared Experience’s Jane Eyre to October 2, Macbeth October 9-December 4, Richard Williams’ version of Clive King’s Stig of the Dump December 15-February 2.

HULL Truck (01482 323638) Jacquie Hanham translates Verona to a Yorkshire street and school for Romeo and Juliet September 29-October 23, John Godber sends British office workers to Amsterdam’s red light district in Unleashed October 25-November 6, John Godber and John Pattinson’s new musical of a bullied boy’s involvement in amazing adventures Big Trouble in the Little Bedroom November 25-January 15, the same writers’ school musical Thick as a Brick January 19-February 5.

HARROGATE Theatre (01423 502116) musicalised “Macbeth” in Bob Carlton’s tale of ambitious rocker Eric Glamis From A Jack to a King to October 16, Terry Johnson looks at science and society by bringing Marilyn Monroe, Einstein, Senator McCarthy and Joe di Maggio together in a New York bedroom in Insignificance October 28-November 13, Nicholas Pegg’s Jack and the Beanstalk December 3-January 8, The Importance of Being Earnest January 28-February 19.

YORK Theatre Royal (01904 623568) John Mortimer’s Chekhov The Cherry Orchard October 8-30, The Glass Menagerie November 12-December 4, Berwick Kaler’s Old Mother Milly December 15-January 29.

SCARBOROUGH Stephen Joseph Theatre (01723 370541) Hobson’s Choice October 1-30, Ben Brown’s story of Philip Larkin and women in Hull Larkin with Women November 5-27, Ayckbourn’s sci-fi for the young Callisto NoNo7 day and evenings December 4-January 8, Ayckbourn’s new Virtual Reality February 3-12. Tour: Riddance.

NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE Northern Stage (0191 230 5151) Newcastle Playhouse: Carol Ann Duffy’s version of Grimm Tales day and evenings December 10-January 22.

Gulbenkian Studio You’ll Have Had Your Hole to October 9, Irvine Welsh’s excoriated 1998 cocktail of drugs, crime, sex and bad language is reconceived by Northern Stage Ensemble as a 75-minute promenade, V October 14-16 is the Ensemble’s staging of Tony Harrison’s controversial poem, followed by discussion, Theatergroep Hollandia bring Voices November 9-10, one actor as six businessmen sharing a table with the audience, a search for Roberta’s missing bear with the Ensemble’s new piece for up to 6s Bert’s Big Night Out daytimes December 4-January 22. Tours: Without Trace, Happy Birthday Mr Deka D.

Royal Shakespeare Company (0191 232 2061) Theatre Royal A Midsummer Night’s Dream November 1-6, Antony and Cleopatra November 9-13, Othello November 16-20, Timon of Athens November 23-27.

Playhouse The Family Reunion October 25-30, Volpone November 1-6, Schiller’s Don Carlos November 9-13, Biyi Bandele’s version of Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko November 16-20.

EDINBURGH Royal Lyceum (0131 248 4848) Stellar Quines revive Helen Edmundson’s story of a Catholic-Protestant marriage in Cromwellian Ireland The Clearing October 8-23, Macbeth October 29-November 20, Stuart Paterson’s Peter Pan December 3-January 8, John Byrne’s modern classic comedy of literary biography Writer’s Cramp January 14-February 5.

Traverse (0131 228 1404) Highland Shorts October 15-24, seven brief plays - one in Gaelic, also touring to Inverness, Ardross, Kirkwall, Benbecula, Stornoway, Sleat, Plockton, Lochcarron, Ballachulish, Aboyne, Aberdeen), Class Act November 17-18 is the result of four Edinburgh and Borders schools working with writers, actors and directors, Paterson’s King of the Fields December 3-18, about brotherly tension in 1935 Ayrshire. Tour: Dr Faustus.

GLASGOW Citizens (0141 429 0022) Main Theatre: Pygmalion to October 9, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? October 22-November 13, Coward’s mass-cast Cavalcade November 26-December 18.

Circle Studio Jon Pope adapts Clive Barker’s macabre The Books of Blood to October 9, rare Goethe translated Robert David MacDonald Clavigo October 21-November 13, Scottish serial killers in Douglas Skelton’s Blood on the Thistle November 25-December 18.

Stalls Studio “Trainspotting” team Irvine Welsh and adapter Harry Gibson produce Welsh’s Filth to October 9, Simone de Beauvoir’s The Woman Destroyed October 20-November 13, Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice November 24-December 18.

PERTH Theatre (01738 621031) Theatre Archipelago in Teresa Lubkiewicz’s grim tale of family oppression, Werewolves October 7-9, Eduardo di Filippo’s sunnier story of family respectability and past secrets Filumena October 15-30, Brian D Osborne and Ronald Armstrong’s Strange Bedfellows November 12-27 brings Dr Johnson and Boswell to Ayrshire.

DUNDEE Rep Theatre (01382 223530) Stellar Quines in The Clearing September 28-October 2 (see Edinburgh), A Midsummer Night’s Dream October 13-23, Miller’s All My Sons November 10-27, Stuart Paterson’s The Princess and the Goblin December 3-January 8. Tour: Seagulls.