August is festival month! As Scotland is overtaken by Edinburgh Fringe, Camden Fringe gets into full swing in London. There’s much MyTheatreMates activity across both. For EdFringe, pay particular attention to Laura Kressly and Thom Dibdin’s All Edinburgh Theatre. For Camden Fringe, follow our festival Featured Show series.
MyTheatreMates is a portal for independent theatre bloggers, run by Terri Paddock. We currently have over 40 bloggers whose sites and content are regularly featured and hundreds more guest bloggers. We love meeting new mates! Are you a champion of theatre? Do you regularly blog and tweet about it? Why not join us?
Terri Paddock co-founded MyTheatreMates in 2015 with the help of leading theatre critic and industry commentator Mark Shenton, a mate for life! Find out more about the ethos behind the site. And join our mailing list.
Editor’s picks
NEWS: Sally Field & Bill Pullman will star in Arthur Miller’s All My Sons at The Old Vic in spring 2019
17th August 2018Sally Field and Bill Pullman will star as Kate and Joe Keller in Arthur Miller’s All My Sons, directed by Jeremy Herrin, in a co-production with Headlong Theatre at The Old Vic in spring 2019. Further casting and dates are… .. Read more
NEWS: Jordan Luke Gage takes over as Strat in the West End production of Bat Out of Hell
17th August 2018Jordan Luke Gage will be taking over the lead role of Strat from Andrew Polec in the West End production of Bat Out Of Hell – The Musical at the Dominion Theatre from 3 September 2018. Gage made his West End debut as Hoffman in the… .. Read more
In House podcast: Theatre503 artistic director Lisa Spirling on finding new writers & capturing the zeitgeist
16th August 2018Have you bookmarked Stagedoor's new weekly theatre podcast In House? This week's episode sees poet, journalist and Critics of Colour founder Bridget Minamore interviewing Theatre503's Lisa Spirling. We've picked out some of our favourite highlights but be sure to listen in full... Lisa Spirling has been… .. Read more
NEWS: Final casting & brand new song announced for West End transfer of Heathers the Musical
16th August 2018The creative team behind Heathers the Musical has announced a brand new song has been written into the show ahead of its West End debut at the Theatre Royal Haymarket (3 September to 24 November 2018), along with multiple re-workings to the… .. Read more
NEWS: Trevor Nunn directs a major revival of Fiddler on the Roof at the Menier Chocolate Factory
16th August 2018The Menier Chocolate Factory has announced a major revival of one of much-loved musical Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick and Joseph Stein’s Fiddler on the Roof in a new staging by Trevor Nunn. The production opens on 5 December 2018, with previews from… .. Read more
‘Photos on a mantelpiece will become photos in a textbook’: Square Rounds director Jimmy Walters on the importance of commemorating WWI onstage
16th August 2018Square Rounds is the seventh production from Proud Haddock, founded in 2014, and the first of its two this autumn to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War. Founder and artistic director Jimmy Walters talks to us… .. Read more
Other recent articles
‘Appealingly winsome piece of theatre’: HYMNS FOR ROBOTS – Edinburgh Fringe ★★★
18th August 2018C Aquila (Venue 21), Edinburgh 2-27 August 2018 Guest reviewer: Hugh Simpson Hymns For Robots, Noctium Theatre’s portrait of electronic music innovator Delia Derbyshire, is an appealingly winsome piece of theatre. Derbyshire is most famous for reworking Ron Grainer’s theme… .. Read more
‘In his music, as in life, he was always on stage’: Why Leonard Bernstein the composer was a game changer
18th August 2018There wasn’t much that Leonard Bernstein didn’t try his hand at at least once – and wanting, needing, to experience it all applied as surely to the music he wrote as to the music he conducted. “Finding himself” as a… .. Read more
Also visit Terri’s social media directory for musicals
‘Beautifully written piece of drama’: A RECIPE FOR SLOE GIN – Cardiff
18th August 2018World of Boats, Cardiff Allan Neve’s play is an exploration of a father-daughter life over the decades. Starting when daughter Lucy (Georgia Theodoulou) comes home to look after her father Charlie (Keiron Self), a series of intertwined monologues tell their… .. Read more
‘A style that will develop and flourish’: Tobacco Road – Edinburgh Fringe
18th August 2018Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33), Edinburgh Until 27 August 2018 If you’ve watched Peaky Blinders then with Incognito Theatre’s Tobacco Road you’ll be on familiar territory. The real-life, Birmingham-based gang whose world is depicted in the BBC TV series is not… .. Read more
‘Great writing, clever production, brilliantly acted’: IMPERIUM – West End
18th August 2018Gielgud Theatre, London – until 8 September 2018 I’ve learned quite a lot about Ancient Rome this year. Most importantly, there are a lot more goats on the Via Appia than BBC history documentaries would have you believe. But also… .. Read more
‘Paints mental health issues with broad strokes’: FLIES – Edinburgh Fringe
18th August 2018Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33), Edinburgh Until 27 August 2018 Theatre doesn’t need another all-white, all-male absurdist production ridiculing vulnerable people. Whilst fun in its staging and innovative in its storytelling, Flies lazily exploits cishet, male power dynamics in a Kafka-esque… .. Read more
REVIEW ROUND-UP: Emilia at Shakespeare’s Globe
18th August 2018Love London Love Culture rounds up the reviews for Morgan Lloyd Malcolm’s Emilia now playing at the Shakespeare’s Globe. The Independent: ★★★★ “Not just the best piece in Michelle Terry’s inaugural season, this is a landmark moment in the history of Shakespeare Globe.”… .. Read more
‘More than just great music’: 8 Songs – Edinburgh Fringe
18th August 2018Assembly Roxy (Venue 139), Edinburgh Until 27 August 2018 8 Thoughts on 8 Songs Eight songs. Not a long playlist, but in the hands of Gandini Juggling, eight songs turns into more than just great music. Thought One: I’ve never… .. Read more
‘I left feeling moved, inspired & overjoyed’: SPRING AWAKENING – Stockwell Playhouse ★★★★★
18th August 2018Stockwell Playhouse, London I would hazard a guess that there aren't many musical theatre fans of my age that didn't go through a Spring Awakening phase. For me it went a little like this: watched the Glee pilot episode, became… .. Read more
‘A dangerously addictive hour of comedy’: GREAT BRITISH MYSTERIES: 1599? – Edinburgh Fringe ★★★★★
18th August 2018Pleasance Courtyard (Below) (Venue 33), Edinburgh Until 27 August 2018 Join intrepid Mystery Hunters Oliver Bacon and Teddy Tyrell in Tudor England as they take on their most daring mission yet: a witch hunt. We, Linda (time-travelling perverts), are invited… .. Read more