Still, the country in question has been able to unleash to the world in the last few years one of the finest blues guitarists and songwriters — Dan Patlansky

Lost Atoms’, the latest production from physical theatre company Frantic Assembly, is an intensive two-hander with memorable performances and striking, highly physical staging.

Those Damn Crows brought their ‘God Shaped Hole’ tour to Bristol’s newest live music venue, The Prospect Building, turning the space into a furnace of Welsh hard rock energy.

There was an air of expectancy as Canadian rockers The Damn Truth strode onstage, followed by a surge of energy as they delivered the double whammy of ‘Be Somebody’ and ‘Killer Whale’ without pause.

When Rivers Meet performance at Gloucester Guildhall was a testament to the band’s electrifying live shows and independent spirit.

As the support act for the Stranglers at Bristol Beacon, the Buzzcocks tore through a 45-minute set that bristled with a cracking retrospection of the band’s late-70s heyday along with a healthy dollop of more recent material.

Bywater Call’s show at the Guildhall, Gloucester, was a flawless night of soul, blues, musicianship, and heart — a triumphant night from a band on top of their game

Two stellar bands shared the Zed Alley stage in Bristol, each delivering something distinct yet complementary — a celebration of musicianship and the joy of live performance.

From New York City, Suzanne Vega has always exuded an alternative spirit, often subtly channeling Bob Dylan, and sometimes more overtly putting that spirit into song, as in her 1986 single ‘Left of Center’. Tonight, at the Bristol Beacon, we get both – an admission that, yes, that love of Dylan has always been real, plus a reworked rendition of the live favourite.

Neil Hannon – frontman, songwriter and only constant member since the band’s inception in 1989 – arrives on stage at the Bristol Beacon looking dapper in a dark suit and trilby hat. His holding a pint of Guinness could either be a celebratory marker of the tour’s end or Hannon merely defaulting to his roots as a Northern Irish native.

Powerful, angry performances hold together Yaël Farber’s sprawling, bleak vision of a king and his country in terminal decline in King Lear at Almeida Theatre, London.

At London’s Donmar Warehouse, Lucy Kirkwood’s The Human Body depicts the establishing of the National Health Service through the eyes of a Shropshire doctor.

Bristol Old Vic theatre was caught in the middle of a real-life drama when the star of its latest production was injured at the start of a sell-out run of Bangers at the Weston Studio.

It feels appropriate, somehow, that Tom Ripley, the ever-chameleonic con man created by author Patricia Highsmith, has proven a bit of a...