Thought Bertie Carvel in Bakkhai at the Almeida might steal this, even at the beginning of the month before I'd seen it. He has a look in his eye you see. There is a Greek word for it, that Poly told me about, that doesn't have an English equivalent but it sort of means a combination of sexy and fun.

Now he's quite stern to start with but Ben Whishaw's Dionysos starts to work his seduction, loosens him up. And then later he wears a dress and there is a scene where Dionysos, who is also wearing a dress, tucks a lose strand of hair back for him and it is just so sexy. Trust me.

And if all that wasn't enough to send you running for a cold shower he wears this outfit at the press night party and completely rocks it.

So my theatre hottie for July is very definitely Bertie Carvel.

Bertie Carvel in Bakkhai, Almeida Theatre. Photo: Marc Brenner

The Donmar's stage has been transformed into an opulent sitting room complete with chandelier and grand windows looking out into the darkness - the no doubt equally opulent gardens beyond left to our imagination.

A circle of ornate flooring is fringed with broken glass and there is only one entrance and exit onto the stage. Splendour can be summarised right there: extravagance, privilege, claustrophobia, danger.

Sinead Cusack is Micheleine, the wife of a dictator in an unnamed country. Together with her best friend Genevieve (Michelle Fairley), a photo journalist Kathryn (Genevieve O'Reilly) and translator Gilma (Zawe Ashton) they are waiting for her husband to return, drinking chilli vodka and eating snacks to pass the time.

All is not well outside the room. Genevieve had to use the back road to get to the presidential palace because of unrest in the streets, the dictator can't be reached by phone and the maid has disappeared. But it is the women inside the room that the camera lense has firmly in its focus. Civil tensions are played out in the room. Gilda has tried to disguise her regional accent and is dating a soldier. Genevieve's artist husband drowned in a swimming pool in dubious circumstances and Micheleine is trying to maintain an air of composure, a sense of normality - is it denial in order to deal with her growing fear?