Five of the best things to do in and around Leamington, Warwick and Kenilworth in the next seven days

From madcap theatre to big-name music acts, there's lots going on...
Lucy Rose performs at the Godiva Festival in Coventry this weekendLucy Rose performs at the Godiva Festival in Coventry this weekend
Lucy Rose performs at the Godiva Festival in Coventry this weekend

1 THEATREThe Physicists, Loft Theatre, Leamington, July 12 to 22The Loft rounds off a year of fine theatre with a bold, energetic and gripping satire, last staged at the West End’s Donmar Warehouse in 2012. The Physicists, written by the Swiss playwright Friedrich Durrenmatt, opens with a murder investigation in a sanitorium where the physicists of the title have been committed, all exhibiting delusional behaviour. As the investigation gathers apace, the doctor in charge of their care allows them to reveal more about themselves than they realise, leading to a devastating conclusion about what can happen when scientific knowledge falls into the wrong hands. Director Rachel Adams feels audiences will be as thrilled by the play as she was, after reading it: “From that first instant, The Physicists had me laughing out loud. It is set in the late 1950s when the threat of nuclear war, a key part of the play, was on people’s minds, but the issues tackled are timeless. Audiences are promised the whole bag on the night: laughter, sadness, horror - and just wait for the dark, sinister twist at the end. The energy is high, the cast are on form and there is never a dull moment.”Details: www.loft-theatre.co.uk

2 MUSICGodiva Festival, Memorial Park, Coventry, July 7 to 9The Stranglers, The Darkness, Example, Cast and Lucy Rose are among the acts at Britain’s biggest free festival – with plenty of entertainment promised aside from the music, too.Details: godivafestival.com

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3 ARTDrawn from Life: People on Paper, Leamington Art Gallery and Museum, July 7 until September 17This Arts Council Collection touring exhibition brings together work by some of the biggest names in 20th and 21st century British art including David Hockney, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and LS Lowry. Most works in the exhibition are drawn from observation, though some are from memory or imagination. Some are unfinished studies while others are finished works in their own right. The exhibition also includes work created early on in artists’ careers such as a self-portrait by Richard Hamilton from 1938, Mrs Ash Asleep by Howard Hodgkin from 1952 and Peter Blake’s Portrait of a Man from 1950. Look out for a programme of events running alongside the exhibition.Details: warwickdc.gov.uk/royalpumprooms

4 ARTSlate Art Gallery opening, 44 Oxford Street, Leamington, July 7Leamington welcomes a new independent gallery and venue to the town with a grand opening from 6.30pm. Slate owner Kate Livingston has been running independent art galleries for the past five years. The first exhibition will be a mixture of traditional and contemporary work from new artists plus artists Kate has worked with over the years. Details: www.slateartgallery.co.uk

5 ARTSeurat to Riley: The Art of Perception, Compton Verney, July 8 to October 1This exhibition joins the dots between Georges Seurat’s pointillist paintings and the psychedelic genius of Bridget Riley in a wide-ranging celebration of Op Art, including 90 works ranging from painting, sculpture, light-based, prints and drawings.www.comptonverney.org.uk

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