Strong women are strutting their stuff across the London Fringe throughout 2015, kicking off with the legendary feud between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. In James Greaves' play, Bette and Joan: The Final Curtain at St James Theatre (Studio) this January, Davis is on her deathbed, being forced by Hollywood hacks Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons to face up to the ghost of her arch-rival. In February, innovative theatre company Filter heads up this year's Vault Festival with its production of Macbeth, whose anti-heroine Lady Macbeth would no doubt have been a great match for Bette and Joan. Filter has long distinguished itself through experiments with sound, and here the witches are let loose on the electronic musical apparatus to help convey the sense of a world veering out of control.
Hampstead Theatre celebrates Stevie Smith in March in Hugh Whitemore's play Stevie, which stars the reliably acerbic Zoë Wanamaker. The play contrasts her tame suburban evenings sampling Battenberg cake and sherry with the knife-sharp writing talent that will one day bring her fame. The much anticipated comedy, Buyer and Cellar at the Menier Chocolate Factory this March, revolves around a gay couple's worship of Barbara Streisand. The fictional account reaches its peak when Alex, an out of work actor, gets a job in the mini mall of the village she has constructed in her cellar (yes you read that correctly).