What to see: Lyn Gardner's theatre tips

Let's begin in the middle of the country, where tonight you can catch Theatre Alibi's very enjoyable touring show about artistic responsibility, Goucher's War. It's at the Public in West Bromwich. Or tomorrow you could head to MAC in Birmingham for Plasticine Men's Keepers, a delicate physical theatre comitragedy. Both are lovely pieces of work. Rattigan's In Praise of Love is at the Royal and Derngatein Northampton, and over in Stratford Greg Doran has turned detective for Cardenio, inspired by Shakespeare and Fletcher's lost play, in turn based on Don Quixote. Alistair McGowan plays the university professor accused of sexual harassment in David Mamet's Oleanna at the Lakeside in Nottingham, a play that often divides audiences by gender.

Further north, you shouldn't miss Tim Crouch's brilliant piece about conceptual art and bloody-mindedness, My Arm, which is at Northern Ballet for one night only on Monday. David Thacker's highly praised Arthur Miller revival The Price moves to the Stephen Joseph in Scarborough (and from there to Hull Truck) to make way for The Demolition Man, the story of steeplejack Fred Dibnah, a local hero. In Keswick, there's another Miller revival at the Theatre by the Lake, which is staging A View from the Bridge – this year's most popular Miller play, which can also be caught at the Mercury in Colchester from the end of next week. If you want a glimpse of the future, you should also head to Scarborough for this years National Student Drama festival, which starts tomorrow.

Head for the the Lowry at the end of next week where you can find Les Enfant Terribles' London-bound The Vaudevillians, another dark and twisted tale from the company who produced Ernest and the Pale Moon. Promenade piece The Mill continues in Bradford, as does The Rise and Fall of Little Voice at the Duke's, Lancaster, which boasts a superb central performance from Rebecca Hutchinson. Canadian playwright Brad Fraser is also playwright-in-residence at the Royal Exchange in Manchester which hosts the premiere of his latest, 5 @ 50, a tale of enduring female friendship.

In Scotland, Girl X, a troubling drama about a girl whose parents put her through surgery because of her disabilities, is at Dundee Rep on Tuesday, where it is swiftly followed by George Gissing adaptation The Age of Arousal on Wednesday and Thursday. Rona Munro's east-meets-west romcom Pandas is at the Traverse in Edinburgh, while the Head to the Arches showcase of award-winning work is in Glasgow this weekend and at the Traverse from next Thursday. Munro is a busy woman: another new play, Little Eagles, about the early days of the space race, is being staged by the RSC at Hampstead theatre in London from 16 April.

Des Dillon's black comedy Six Black Candles, which has some cracking roles for women, is revived by Goldfish Theatre and is at the Cottiers in Glasgow until 14 April, and a national tour by the Groupe Acrobatique de Tangiers with a new show called Chouf Ouchouf begins at the Eden Court Theatre in Inverness, before heading for the MacRobert in Stirling and London's Southbank Centre. Tom McGrath and Jimmy Boyle's The Hard Man is at the King's Edinburgh until Saturday before moving to the King's in Glasgow. Liz Lochhead's Molière adaptation Educating Agnes continues at the Royal Lyceum. I like the look of the Visible Fictions/Scottish Opera collaboration on Philip Pullman's Clockwork, at the Tron from Wednesday.

Let's move to the south-west, where the Drum in Plymouth has Fuel's The Summer House until Saturday before seeing a return of Belgian youth in Ontroerend Goed's Edinburgh show from last summer, Teenage Riot. The drive-in-theatre experience Hidden City Deco continues in the city until tomorrow. Kneehigh favourite Tristan Sturrock premieres his one-man show, Frankenspine, at BOV, which tells of his struggle to walk again after he broke his neck. Also well worth seeing in Bristol is The Comedy of Errors at the Tobacco Factory. In Taunton, the Brewhouse plays host to Out of Joint's Dr Johnson show, A Dish of Tea. Head to Chapter in Cardiff for Ian Rowland's Desire Lines, a new play about the choices we make and those we regret.

Closer to London, there's a great revival of Guys and Dolls at the New Wolsey in Ipswich and the brilliant Propeller return from New York and take up residence at the Watermill near Newbury with The Comedy of Errors and Richard III.

In London, you have a choice of two Tempests: Cheek by Jowl's Russian version at the Barbican and the Little Angel's charming shortened version, created for the RSC and transferring into the company's Islington home. David Eldridge has two plays in the capital, Knot of the Heart at the Almeida and a new piece, The Stock Da'wa, about an unforeseen and violent reunion, which is downstairs at the Hampstead. I'd recommend Naomi Wallace's One Flea Spare at the Old Red Lion, and do take a look at the terrific programme for The London Word festival, which includes Tim Etchells and Ant Hampton's The Quiet Volume and later in the month a rare sighting of Deborah Pearson's graceful look backwards, Like You Were Before, and a new work-in-progress from Chris Goode. Ella Hickson's 2009 Edinburgh hit Precious Little Talent is worth a look at Trafalgar Studios.

This week's other London openings include two new musicals: Betty Blue Eyes in the West End and the Shakespeare-influenced Funk It Up About Nothin' at the Theatre Royal Stratford East. London Road at the Cottesloe is a verbatim musical about life in Ipswich following the arrest of Steve Wright for the murder of five women there. Pinter's Moonlight is revived at the Donmar (more Pinter heading our way soon with Kristin Scott Thomas in Betrayal at the Comedy theatre from the end of May), while rising young playwright Nick Payne tackles Electra at the Gate. Steven Berkoff is at Riverside Studios from Tuesday with The Tell-Tale Heart and Dog.

Phew. Have a good weekend and enjoy your theatregoing while you can – there are couple of quieter weeks coming up around Easter and the royal wedding.