Let's face it: if you've been avidly following Sideshow's monthly speculative recommendations then I've lead you astray many, many times. You might have built up a store of distrust, aversion even, for these as indicators of quality; you might have come to see them as disrecommendations. I'd therefore like to make it clear that I've already seen Backgammon for Beginners, and am able to recommend it with unwavering, iron certainty. I'll write about the show eventually in a formal way, but, basically, it's strong and it's nuanced. There are eight different places you can see it in May (see below!); Farnham Maltings is your best bet if you're in London, Hereford or Taunton if you're in Bristol.

I'm sure as well that Smashed, playing at Brighton Festival, is worth your time, but I think I must have recommended it about twenty times by now (they tour a lot) so will leave it at that. Also at Brighton there's Circus Klezmer, which wasn't really my thing, but might be yours, and which will have a fancy programme containing an article about circus and narrative by yrstruly (I haven't written it yet, so can't recommend it). In London, and indicated here in a neutral, non-committing way, there's Game Over by French titans Pierre Rigal and Aurélien Bory, and an adaptation of Richard III by a Brazilian circus / visual theatre company.

Probably there's more, but this month let's keep it short. Next on Sideshow: a review of Compagnie Non Nova's Vortex (very good!) followed by some CircusFest coverage.

All best,

John