No news of government help for theatre as Tories announce a £100 million bailout… for zoos! Yes, that’s right. You couldn’t make it up!
NEWS: West End production of The Mousetrap will reopen in October 2020
Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap – the longest running show in the world, which had to be suspended when the Coronavirus pandemic resulted in the closure of UK theatres – is to reopen in the West End on 23 October 2020.
NEWS: Designers launch #MissingLiveTheatre across the UK & Ireland
In collaboration with theatres across the UK, #scenechange – a community for stage designers taking action for theatre – has launched #MissingLiveTheatre, wrapping theatre buildings in a positive message of hope and visibility to the industry.
NEWS: Drive-in production of Six makes it the first West End musical to perform again after lockdown
Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss’ hit musical Six looks likely to become the first West End musical to resume performances across the UK in August and September 2020.
NEWS: Royal Ballet School, ArtsEd, LAMDA & the Royal Academy of Dance receive Lynne and Land Foundation grants
Today, on the second anniversary of the death of choreographer Dame Gillian Lynne, The Lynne and Land Foundation has announced grants to the Royal Ballet School, ArtsEd, LAMDA and the Royal Academy of Dance.
NEWS: The Da Vinci Code receives its stage premiere, launching UK-wide tour in April 2021
The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown’s 2003 novel that became an international bestseller and a 2006 film starring Tom Hanks, is now to become a new stage thriller.
NEWS: ‘Age-blind’ Hamlet starring Ian McKellen begins rehearsals for eventual run
A new production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, directed by Sean Mathias with Ian McKellen in an age-blind interpretation of the young Prince, will go into rehearsals on Monday 29 June 2020.
NEWS: Sleepless reschedules month’s run from 25 Aug with social distancing measures
SLEEPLESS, A Musical Romance, based on the original screenplay Sleepless in Seattle, has rescheduled its premiere at London’s Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre for 25 August to 27 September 2020.
NEWS: Hairspray postpones for a second time, now runs for 19 weeks from April 2021
The return of Hairspray the Musical has been postponed again. It will now return next April, a full year after originally scheduled, but now for a longer, 19-week season, rather than ten weeks.
NEWS: Jermyn Street Theatre dark for rest of 2020, artistic director lambasts ‘deafening Government silence’
Jermyn Street Theatre has announced that it will remain closed until some point in 2021. Tom Littler lays bare the lack of support from Westminster.
‘If our pub landlord closes, where will the theatre go then?’: Artistic director Lisa Spirling on dual threats to Theatre503
‘In terms of the future, we want 503 to be resilient and it feels like our community of audience and artists believe in the necessity of an organisation such as ours. At the same time, there are no guarantees.’
‘We have to do something else indefinitely but keep the keys to the building & look after them’: Royal Lyceum artistic director & playwright David Greig in Edinburgh
The more you think about the invitation to the audience – as you say ‘come, be blocked off behind screens, we will spray you and present shows where actors stand apart, and we will try to encourage you not to sing along’, it’s like an anti-theatre.
‘I don’t want to bank on a saviour that might not come’: Hartshorn-Hook producers on their plans to reopen The Great Gatsby
‘It feels to me like, with The Great Gatsby, we had an opportunity, and resulting from that a duty, to use the show to work out some of the key things that might help the industry as a whole.’
NEWS: Theatre Royal Newcastle confirms Covid-19 closure until at least November
Theatre Royal Newcastle is the latest regional venue to announce lengthy closure extensions in the face of uncertainty around coronavirus and Government social-distancing guidelines.
It is with a heavy heart that we write to announce that Newcastle Theatre Royal will remain closed until 24 November 2020.
If you have a booking that will be affected by this closure, you do not need to do …
NEWS: Cameron Mackintosh announces West End closures until 2021, starts redundancy consultations
Cameron Mackintosh has delayed the return of his West End productions of Les Misérables, Mary Poppins, Hamilton and The Phantom of the Opera until as early as practical in 2021.
NEWS: Wales Millennium Centre closes til Jan with 250 roles affected; touring will suffer ‘for years to come’
Wales Millennium Centre has announced that the venue will remain closed until at least January 2021, due to the devastating impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on the theatre industry. Productions that have been cancelled or postponed include The Lion King, Welsh National Opera’s autumn season, The Book of Mormon and The Phantom of the Opera, which were all due to …
NEWS: National Theatre announces five final free lockdown YouTube streams
The National Theatre today announces a further five productions that will be streamed as a part of the National Theatre at Home series.
Unprecedented or uninteresting? Do bad times provoke bad art?
We are living, I have frequently been told, through weird times. Maybe. But do weird times necessarily require weird art? Do bad times provoke bad art?
NEWS: The award-winning play of Nigel Slater’s Toast is adapted for online premiere
Nigel Slater’s Toast returns to the Lawrence Batley Theatre as a brand-new online adaptation – part radio play, part animated film – airing from 1 to 31 July 2020.
NEWS: West End premiere of Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman delays until 2021
The Pillowman, which was due to make its West End premiere this summer, has been delayed until 2021.