Following cancellation after cancellation of festivals for early-career creatives to showcase their work, the OFFIE award-winning ChewBoy Productions is curating ChewFest, a week-long event of celebrations, experiments and brand-new, never-before-seen work at London’s Lion and Unicorn Theatre from 23-28 May 2022. Get booking now!
FEATURED SHOW: Heather Alexander’s Virginia Woolf-inspired ★★★★★ play Room is heading to Brighton & Edinburgh Fringe
Heather Alexander’s acclaimed one-woman play Room, a unique dramatised interpretation of Virginia Woolf’s A Room Of One’s Own, is being staged this summer at Brighton Fringe and Edinburgh Fringe ahead of another London run in September.
‘When you hear the NHS is at breaking point, that means the people in the NHS’: Adam Kay on Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas
Junior doctor turned multi-award-winning writer and comedian Adam Kay returns to the stage this festive season with a reminder to spare a thought for the hard-working staff of the NHS as we gorge on our mince pies and mulled wine.
VIDEO: Can you spot real vs fake iambic pentameter? Doing Shakepeare post-show Q&A
As much as it was possible for anyone the arts, Northern Comedy Theatre had a very good pandemic. When all performing arts venues closed, rather than wrap up their work, they ramped up.
It’s ok to not be ok: A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad) is streaming now
A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad), the multi-award-winning cabaret musical that explores how it’s OK to not be OK, is now available globally via Stream Theatre until Sunday 11 July 2021.
NEWS: ‘Covid edit’ of new play Lovesick opens at the White Bear Theatre
There was disappointment for writer and actress Georgina Barley in April this year when the planned run of her debut play Lovesick at London’s White Bear Theatre was cancelled due to the Coronavirus pandemic, but six months later a new ‘Covid edit’ version of the piece is back in the venue’s programme, directed by Helen Tennison and running from 13-17 October 2020.
NEWS: Government announces £1.5 billion lifeline for UK arts & culture
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has bowed to pressure from the arts world and unveiled a £1.57 billion lifeline for the UK’s theatres, venues and museums struggling to stay afloat in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic.
NEWS: Edinburgh Fringe & International Festival announce ‘heartbreaking’ decision to cancel world’s largest arts festival in 2020. Full quotes
For the first time in over 70 years, the five festivals that transform Edinburgh into the world’s leading cultural destination every August are not going ahead this year due to concerns around the covid-19 pandemic.
NEWS: West End production of Waitress has closed
The producers of Waitress have announced that the West End production at the Adelphi Theatre has closed. The multi-award-winning Broadway transfer had been originally booking until 4 July 2020, with Lucie Jones and David Hunter returning to the lead roles of Jenna and Dr Pomatter on 23 March.
NEWS: Theatre industry issues statement on Government aid for self-employed
A week after the UK Government announced its package for workers on the payroll, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has announced an economic relief package for self-employed workers and freelancers.
NEWS: RSC & Marquee TV announce online ’watch along’ of Twelfth Night to mark World Theatre Day
To mark World Theatre Day (Friday 27 March 2020), the Royal Shakespeare Company is inviting people to join a live ‘watch along’ from their living rooms on 11 April of a recording of their 2017 production of Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth Night, featuring Adrian Edmondson as Malvolio and Kara Tointon as Olivia.
NEWS: National Theatre will stream NT Live productions for free via YouTube
A selection of much-loved National Theatre Live productions will be made available to watch on YouTube for free over the next two months.
NEWS: Olivier Awards’ Greatest Moments will be celebrated in special TV & radio programmes
ITV will broadcast a special Olivier Awards with Mastercard programme on 5 April 2020 at 10:15pm, in place of the 2020 Royal Albert Hall awards show which was cancelled due to coronavirus.
NEWS: Headlong & Century Films announce major new digital series of short plays
Award-winning theatre company Headlong, in association with the BAFTA-winning Century Films, have announced Unprecedented: Real Time Theatre From a State of Isolation, a major new digital project, bringing together celebrated playwrights to create a series of short digital plays, as a response to the current global crisis.
NEWS: SOLT issues update for West End theatre ticketholders
A statement has been issued by the Society of London Theatre (SOLT) on behalf of the major commercial West End theatre operators and the Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers (STAR) to provide clear information for theatre customers in light of this week’s shutdown and help ease the unprecedented strain on box offices and ticket agents.
NEWS: Finborough postpones Hockey Mom & Women Without Men runs during coronavirus crisis
Amongst the rising tide of news about closures due to the coronavirus pandemic, London’s Finborough Theatre has postponed two of its forthcoming fortieth-anniversary-year productions, which had been due to run from this month until the end of July.
NEWS: The London premiere of Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike is postponed
Producers have announced that the London premiere of Christopher Durang’s Tony Award-winning Best Play comedy Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, due to start previews at Charing Cross Theatre on 21 March 2020 will not now go ahead as planned. It will be rescheduled later in the year.
NEWS: Sheridan Smith will revisit her award-winning TV role in new Cilla The Musical tour
After much speculation, producers have confirmed that Sheridan Smith will revisit her award-wining portrayal of the late Cilla Black to star in Bill Kenwright’s stage production, Cilla The Musical, written by BAFTA award-winning writer Jeff Pope.
NEWS: Winners of the 10th anniversary Offies 2020 Awards are announced
Winners of the Offies 2020 Awards, held at Battersea Arts Centre, have been announced. It was the tenth anniversary year of the awards presented by Off West End.
WATCH: Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em stars Joe Pasquale & Sarah Earnshaw on why they couldn’t wait to reprise their roles
I laughed my head off watching Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em, and afterwards, got onto the wonderfully kitsch 1970s set myself to interview stars Joe Pasquale and Sarah Earnshaw and writer-director Guy Unsworth.