Playing at Theatre Peckham before a UK tour, Tamasha Theatre’s Under the Mask – written by a junior doctor – is a haunting revisit of the early days of the pandemic.
NEWS: Birmingham Royal Ballet 2021/22 programme features classic & contemporary versions of Romeo & Juliet
For Birmingham Royal Ballet’s homecoming season at Birmingham Hippodrome, audiences will be treated to Kenneth MacMillan’s passionate Romeo and Juliet choreography and Prokofiev’s glorious score in this enduringly popular, classic interpretation of Shakespeare’s tragedy. Performances at Plymouth Theatre Royal take place later in October.
‘Just as Shakespeare would have intended’: THE SCOTTISH PLAY – Bard in a Yard
The intimate and interactive nature of the setting meant that we, the audience, were completely immersed in the performance of The Scottish Play.
NEWS: Adam Kay – This is Going to Hurt (Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor) returns to the West End
Award-winning comedian Adam Kay will be sharing entries from his diaries as a junior doctor in an “electrifying” evening of stand-up and music, Adam Kay – This is Going to Hurt (Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor), running at London’s Palace Theatre from 21-26 June 2021.
NEWS: Dianne Pilkington leads the cast of Bedknobs & Broomsticks world premiere stage production
The cast has been announced for Disney’s Bedknobs and Broomsticks which will make its world premiere as a new stage musical this summer on a major UK and Ireland tour. Dianne Pilkington will star as Miss Eglantine Price.
‘Funny, moving & thought-provoking’: YOU ARE HERE – Southwark Playhouse
After five long months, theatre buildings are finally back in business for in-person performances, meaning our calendar and credit card statement(!) are starting to look […]
‘Ordinary people living through extraordinary times’: THE LINE – Public Theater (Online review)
Verbatim testimony from New York health workers in The Line demonstrates the problems faced are universal.
NEWS: West End transfer & tour announced for Oleanna
Theatre Royal Bath Productions and Jonathan Church Productions’ critically acclaimed production of David Mamet’s drama Oleanna, directed by Lucy Bailey, will tour the UK this summer from 8 June 2021, visiting Cambridge Arts Theatre (8 June-12 June), Theatre Royal Bath (14 June-3 July), MAST Mayflower Studio Southampton (5 July-10 July) and Malvern Theatres (12 July-17 July), before transferring to the West End’s Arts Theatre from 21 July to 23 October.
Mark Shenton’s weekly chart of forthcoming theatrical comings & goings has some new entries
This weekly column keeps track of the shows that are coming back, or are newly being announced, as theatres prepare to re-open from next month onwards. It will be updated weekly until such time as it becomes a reality, and from then on will provide a weekly update to that week’s openings and future ones.
NEWS: Heathers The Musical announces a return to the West End & new UK tour dates
Producers Bill Kenwright and Paul Taylor-Mills have announced that Heathers the Musical will make its return to the West End’s Theatre Royal Haymarket from 21 June 2021 for a strictly limited until 11 September, while simultaneously launching its new touring production from 28 July, opening at Leeds Grand Theatre for three weeks, before heading off across the UK.
NEWS: Ben Brown’s new play A Splinter Of Ice begins its UK tour in June 2021
Following a successful season of online productions, Original Theatre Company has announced its first live stage production since March 2020. The UK tour of Ben Brown’s new political drama A Splinter Of Ice will open on 8 June 2021 at the Malvern Festival Theatre and will tour until 31 July.
‘Edifying, surprising & deeply human’: DOPPLER: THE STORY SO FAR – Grid Iron (Online review) ★★★★
Doppler: The Story So Far, a portrait of Grid Iron’s 2020 production of Doppler that never was, is an edifying, surprising and deeply human film.
NEWS: Nimax Theatres, the Criterion Theatre, Chichester Festival Theatre & more receive awards in the Culture Recovery Fund second round
Nimax Theatres, the Criterion Theatre, Young Vic and Chichester Festival Theatre are among the 2,700 organisations being offered nearly £400 million in grants and loans as part of the CultureRecovery Fund’s second tranche of funding.
NEWS: Mischief announces three UK tours opening in summer 2021
Olivier Award-winning comedy favourites, Mischief have announces they will be touring the UK with three productions this summer.
NEWS: Paines Plough makes a ‘Promise to 2021’ with plans for new season
Artistic directors Charlotte Bennett and Katie Posner have announced plans for Paines Plough 2021. The year’s programme will see the company return with a team of trailblazing writers in theatre including Chris Bush, Vickie Donoghue, Phoebe Eclair-Powell, Ifeyinwa Frederick, Chinonyerem Odimba, Frankie Meredith and Amy Trigg.
‘A bold theatrical experiment’: ASSEMBLY – Donmar Warehouse (Online review)
Assembly is a new piece in a livestream experiment that mixes live action, animation and sound. Initially planned to play live at the venue last July, it has now been reconfigured as an online show but still using the Donmar Local Company at the heart of the production.
NEWS: Ralph Fiennes will star in & direct new regional tour of T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets
Ralph Fiennes will create a brand-new stage adaptation of T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets this summer. Announced this week as Britain marks a year since regional theatres were forced to close, this world premiere production will welcome audiences back to live theatre when it reopens the Theatre Royal Bath from 25 May to 5 June, and launches Royal & Derngate’s Made in Northampton season in the venue’s Royal auditorium from 8 to 12 June in a co-production between both venues.
NEWS: Mamma Mia! heads to Harewood House for an open-air summer season
The musical Mamma Mia! will visit Harewood House in the heart of Yorkshire this summer from 13-30 August 2021 for audiences to enjoy the original stage show in the open air for the first time.
NEWS: A socially distanced Les Misérables – The Staged Concert returns to the West End from 20 May 2021
Performances of Les Misérables – The Staged Concert will resume performances at the the Sondheim Theatre on 20 May 2021, booking to 5 September 2021. Patrons whose bookings were affected by the Government’s previous directives will be contacted from today.
NEWS: New dates & casting for C-o-n-t-a-c-t’s Salford & Manchester shows
Aria Entertainment and WEF Productions have announced that the critically-acclaimed outdoor production of C-o-n-t-a-c-t will run for six weeks from 18 May to 29 June 2021.