Veiled and Vinegar

A new play Sumerah Srivastav commissioned as the inaugural production of SayWhat Theatre in association with Tamasha and Redbridge Drama Centre. This new company is dedicated to developing creative artists in Redbridge and telling stories that reflect the community. Written following conversations with young people across the country on the theme of identity, Veiled and Vinegar is a performance portrait of what it is to be young in Britain today featuring a cast of six upcoming young actors between the ages of 16 and 21 years. Contains some strong language

Redbridge Drama Centre, Churchfields, South Woodford, E18 2RB, November 12, 8pm. Details: redbridgedramacentre.co.uk

Hairspray

Chelmsford Young Gen will sweeps audiences away to 1960s Baltimore, where the '50s are out and change is in the air. However, racial segregation is still entrenched in American society when our loveable plus-size heroine, Tracy Turnblad, who has a passion for dancing, wins a spot on the local TV dance programme.

Chelmsford City Theatres, Fairfield Road, Chelmsford, CM1 1JG, until November 14. Details: 01245 606505, chelmsford.gov.uk/event-type/theatre

Ballet Black, Triple Bill

Cassa Pancho’s company of black and Asian classically trained dancers perform pieces by Kit Holder (Birmingham Royal Ballet) and Will Tuckett (Royal Ballet). Award-winning choreographer Mark Bruce makes the company’s newest narrative ballet, Second Coming, inspired by Yeats’ poem of the same name and Grimm’s fairy-tales – a hybrid fairy-tale filled with beauty and darkness, irony and humour and the content of the human heart.

Harlow Playhouse, Playhouse Square, Harlow, CM20 1LS, November 12, 7.30pm. Details: 01279 431945, playhouseharlow.com

Red Imp Comedy

The line-up boasts Roger Monkhouse, Angie McEvoy and Andre Vincent.

Ye Olde Rose and Crown, Hoe Street, Walthamstow, November 12, 8.30pm. Details: 020 8509 3880, yeolderoseandcrowntheatre.co.uk

Disco Pigs

Born seconds apart, Darren and Sinead, aka Pig and Runt, live in a fantasy world all of their own in Cork City. Trash TV, disco beats and a load of cheap booze have fuelled this obsessive friendship. But as they go for their 17th birthday binge, reality violently collides with their fantasy and their world begins to crumble. This production first played a sell out extended run at the Young Vic Theatre in 2011.

Chelmsford City Theatres, Fairfield Road, Chelmsford, CM1 1JG, November 12, 8pm. Details: 01245 606505, chelmsford.gov.uk/event-type/theatre

The Original Gravity Festival

Returning to celebrate original compositions, with no covers allowed and 13 acts including Norell & The Dub Factory, Mama Moonshine, Black Scarr, The Higham Flyers, Lady President and more.

Warrant Officer, Higham Hill Road, Walthamstow, E17 5RG, November 13 to 15. Details: 020 3524 0747, the-wo.co.uk

The Searchers

With total record sales well in excess of 50 million, The Searchers still have great appeal to audiences of all ages. They tour the globe as much today as they have done throughout a fantastic career and this entertaining show combines anecdotes with all their famous hits.

Harlow Playhouse, Playhouse Square, Harlow, CM20 1LS, November 13, 7.30pm. Details: 01279 431945, playhouseharlow.com

Eat or Heat Benefit Concert

A night of music and song in aid of food bank, Eat or Heat, with MC Nina Benjamin and starring London gospel, reggae, soul and bashment singer JayJayBorn2Sing, North-West London reggae singer Harmonie Deja, hip hop artist Tony As, as well as Asabi Hawah and Winsome Moncrieffe-Mitchell.

Ye Olde Rose and Crown, Hoe Street, Walthamstow, November 13, 8pm. Details: 020 8509 3880, yeolderoseandcrowntheatre.co.uk

Don’t Look Now

Hoping to save their troubled marriage after the loss of their young daughter, a couple take a romantic trip to Venice. But then they meet a pair of elderly psychic sisters who claim to be able to see Christine and urgently warn them to leave the city. This haunting drama is full of twists and turns as well as adult nudity and scenes of a sexual nature.

The Queen’s Theatre, Billet Lane, Hornchurch RM11 1QT, until November 14. Details: 01708 443333 queens-theatre.co.uk

Crazy Legs - Christmas Show

Ross Henson promises a fun-packed, lively and of course, crazy show - includes bubbles, snow, magic, Mr Lion, beat-boxing and break dancing.

The Queen’s Theatre, Billet Lane, Hornchurch RM11 1QT, November 14, 11.30am. Details: 01708 443333 queens-theatre.co.uk

Songs that Won the War

In this Remembrance Week, join vocalists G.I. Jeff and Sweetheart Sue for an afternoon of nostalgia as they take you back to the 40's to feature the great songs and melodies of the war-time years on this the 70th anniversary of the end of WW 2. Dressed in full AAF Uniform, Jeff & Sue will feature hits made famous by the stars of the day, including: Vera Lynn, Bing Crosby, Doris Day, Flanagan & Allen, Frank Sinatra and more.

The Queen’s Theatre, Billet Lane, Hornchurch RM11 1QT, November 14, 2.30pm. Details: 01708 443333 queens-theatre.co.uk

M&G Classical Concert: BBC Concert Orchestra

The BBC Concert Orchestra arrives at Chelmsford City Theatres for the first time to perform three works by three great composers: Wagner’s miniature masterpiece Siegfried Idyll and Richard Strauss’ Oboe Concerto are both wonderfully intimate works from these masters of the large scale, and Dvo?ák’s Eighth Symphony is one of the most joyous in the orchestral repertoire. The concert will be conducted by distinguished British musician Michael Collins and the concerto soloist is BBC Concert Orchestra’s Principal Oboe Gareth Hulse.

Chelmsford City Theatres, Fairfield Road, Chelmsford, CM1 1JG, November 15, 4pm. Details: 01245 606505, chelmsford.gov.uk/event-type/theatre

Let's Twist Again

Now in its fourth successive year, The Twist team returns with their new line-up. Strictly Come Dancing lead singer Chris Madin and the hugely versatile Suzi Madin lead a full company of critically acclaimed artistes and musicians, combining fun and laughter with some of the greatest hits of the 50s and 60s.

Harlow Playhouse, Playhouse Square, Harlow, CM20 1LS, November 15, 7.30pm. Details: 01279 431945, playhouseharlow.com

The Drifters Rebranded Tour

This high energy show includes many of the greatest hits such as Under The Boardwalk, Saturday Night At The Movies, Up On The Roof, Kissin In The Back Row, Down on the Beach, More Than A Number In My Little Red Book along with newer songs that have evolved through the first new recordings in over 30 years.

The Queen’s Theatre, Billet Lane, Hornchurch RM11 1QT, November 15, 7.30pm. Details: 01708 443333 queens-theatre.co.uk

ForestBeats: Waltham Forest Jazz Festival

MOBO award winning saxophonist and rapper Soweto Kinch will be one of the stars of this inaugural festival run by Waltham Forest Council. There will be something for everyone with performances by pianist Joe Stilgoe, renowned singer Annie Dehaney-Steven, the ever-popular Big Chris Barber Band and BabyJazz; a class for toddlers featuring jazzed-up versions of children’s songs performed by Ruby Barker and Kim Murray. It has been organised to complement the EFG London Jazz Festival.

Various venues, Waltham Forest, November 17 to 30. Details: wfculture.eventbrite.com

The Fureys

This Irish band is responsible for some of the most stirring music ever to capture the public imagination. Along with all their hits, they’ll also be playing songs from their new album The Times They Are A Changing.

Harlow Playhouse, Playhouse Square, Harlow, CM20 1LS, November 17, 7.30pm. Details: 01279 431945, playhouseharlow.com

An Audience With Perry McCarthy - The Original Stig

This Essex-born racing driver fought against all odd to make it to Formula One and become pals with Damon Hill and then Jeremy Clarkson who persuaded him to become the original Stig on Top Gear. Hear his thrilling stories and watch clips from his career.

Chelmsford City Theatres, Fairfield Road, Chelmsford, CM1 1JG, November 17, 7.45pm. Details: 01245 606505, chelmsford.gov.uk/event-type/theatre

The Big Band Christmas Show

Swing ‘n’ sing into Christmas with the unique Five Star Big Band show, as featured at London’s Leicester Square Theatre and BBCs Children in Need. Enjoy all your favourite Christmas songs from the likes of Glenn Miller, Sinatra and Nat King Cole.

Harlow Playhouse, Playhouse Square, Harlow, CM20 1LS, November 18, 2pm. Details: 01279 431945, playhouseharlow.com

Jethro

This comedian is back armed with nothing more than a microphone,

Harlow Playhouse, Playhouse Square, Harlow, CM20 1LS, November 18, 7.30pm. Details: 01279 431945, playhouseharlow.com

The Royal Ballet

Enjoy four short ballets in one evening with this quadruple programme from The Royal Ballet, pre-recorded from the Royal Opera House.

Chelmsford City Theatres, Fairfield Road, Chelmsford, CM1 1JG, November 18, 7.15pm. Details: 01245 606505, chelmsford.gov.uk/event-type/theatre

Sons of Blighty

A play exploring post migration racism through generations of black men based on interviews and the real life stories of poet and screenwriter Benjamin Zephaniah, Apprentice winner Tim Campbell MBE, the first black leader of the British Trade Union Lord Bill Morris, barrister of the Queen's Bench Courtney Griffiths QC and members of the local community.

Ye Olde Rose and Crown, Hoe Street, Walthamstow, November 19 to 21. Details: the writenetwork.wordpress.com, 020 8509 3880, yeolderoseandcrowntheatre.co.uk

Anita and Me

The first ever stage adaptation of Meera Syal’s poignant coming-of-age tale follows Meena, the irreverent teenage daughter of the only Punjabi family in the mining village of Tollington who finds herself caught between two worlds when she befriends the impossibly feisty Anita.

Theatre Royal Stratford East, Gerry Raffles Square, Stratford E15 1BN, until November 21. Details: 020 8534 0310, stratfordeast.com

Art is Your Human Right

Bob and Roberta Smith is the pseudonym of Patrick Brill, leading British contemporary artist and founder of the Leytonstone Centre for Contemporary Art. Enraged by the Government’s downgrading of art in schools, the artist decided to fight back and this exhibition follows his campaigns; from his furious painting, Letter to Michael Gove, to the launch of the Art Party and his attempt to be elected to parliament in 2015.

William Morris Gallery, Lloyd Park House, Forest Road, Walthamstow, until January 31. Details: 020 8496 4390, wmgallery.org.uk

Emerge Festival

Curated by C-12 Dance Theatre, this three-week festival provides an opportunity for different choreographers and theatremakers to premiere new short works over five consecutive nights. Each week of the Festival features a different programme of dance theatre, showcasing a huge array of bold new talent.

The Space, Westferry Road, E14 3RS, until November 21. Details: space.org.uk/, c-12dancetheatre.com/productions/emerge-festival/