Recipients of this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours from the performing arts world include actors Maureen Lipman, David Suchet, Adrian Lester and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, writer and actor Arinzé Kene, entertainer Tommy Steele, choreographer Siobhan Davies and Mamma Mia! creator Judy Craymer.
NEWS: Anti-racism conference announced for UK theatre & dance sector
‘Speak – Listen – Reset – Heal’, an online anti-racism conference for the UK’s theatre and dance sectors is taking place in November 2020, presented by Inc Arts UK in partnership with Society of London Theatre (SOLT) and UK Theatre.
NEWS: Online premiere of one-man play Declan raises funds for The Actors Centre
Declan, a new play written and performed by Alistair Hall, is making its debut online to raise funds for London’s The Actors Centre.
NEWS: Critics’ Circle Awards sets date for 11 Feb, renames Best New Play in honour of Michael Billington
The next Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards, celebrating the best of 2019’s theatre, will take place at 1pm on Tuesday 11 February 2020 at the West End’s Prince of Wales Theatre, hosted by Critics’ Circle Drama Section Chairman Henry Hitchings and produced by (MyTheatreMates’ own) Terri Paddock. The ceremony is one of the best-loved in the theatre awards calendar with its …
NEWS: Director Jonathan Church launches new production company with Trafalgar Entertainment
Award-winning theatre director and producer Jonathan Church CBE, has announced the launch of a new production company Jonathan Church Theatre Productions supported by Trafalgar Entertainment’s Joint CEOs Sir Howard Panter and Dame Rosemary Squire.
NEWS: Six stars & Matthew Broderick amongst The Stage Debut Awards nominations
The Stage today (8 August 2019) announces the shortlist for The Stage Debut Awards 2019. The awards, now in their third year and presented in association with Access Entertainment, celebrate the best breakthrough talent in theatre, from actors and directors to designers, writers, composers and lyricists, all of whom have made their professional debuts in the past year.
NEWS: Roxana Silbert stages six premieres in her inaugural Hampstead Theatre season
Ahead of Hamstead Theatre’s 60th birthday next year, new artistic director Roxana Silbert recently announced her inaugural season at the north London venue, including six premiere plays written by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, Jordan Tannahill, Tom Morton-Smith, Al Blyth, Ruby Thomas and Chinonyerem Odimba.
CAMDEN FRINGE NEWS: Hit Brighton Fringe drama The Geminus comes to Tristan Bates Theatre
Following an award-nominated run at the Brighton Fringe earlier this year, Blue Devil Productions’ dark romance The Geminus comes to London’s Tristan Bates Theatre as part of the Camden Fringe 2019. Book you tickets now!
NEWS: Clive Owen will return to the West End for the first time in 18 years in The Night Of The Iguana
Clive Owen will return to the West End for the first time in 18 years to play the Rev. T. Lawrence Shannon in The Night Of The Iguana in a new production directed by James Macdonald. The production will begin performances at the Noël Coward Theatre on 6 July 2019 (press night is 16 July) and runs until 28 September.
NEWS: Joanna Murray-Smith’s Switzerland joins Honour & Songs for Nobodies in London
Lucy Bailey’s Theatre Royal Bath production of Australian playwright Joanna Murray-Smith’s Switzerland will transfer to the West End next month, running for a limited season at the Ambassadors Theatre just ahead of another Murray-Smith play, Songs for Nobodies, transferring from Wilton’s Music Hall. The West End transfers come hot on the heels of Paul Robinson’s star-studded London revival of Murray-Smith’s Honour, starting at the Park Theatre next week.
NEWS: Jasper Britton & Finty Williams star in Hugh Whitemore’s Pack of Lies at Menier
Jasper Britton and Finty Williams have been confirmed to star in Hugh Whitemore’s Pack of Lies, at London’s Menier Chocolate Factory. The production, directed by Hannah Chissick, runs from 20 September to 17 November 2018.
NEWS: Cast for UK premiere of Clare Barron’s new play Dance Nation at the Almeida includes Sarah Hadland & Manjinder Virk
The Almeida Theatre has announced the full cast for the UK premiere of Clare Barron’s new play Dance Nation, directed by Bijan Sheibani (running from 27 August to 6 October, with a press night on 4 September).
NEWS: West Yorkshire Playhouse to change its name to Leeds Playhouse prior to major development
West Yorkshire Playhouse today announced it will change its name to Leeds Playhouse. The name change marks a new chapter in the theatre’s 50-year history.
NEWS: Father & son Edward & Freddie Fox star with Frances Barber in An Ideal Husband
Real-life father and son, Edward and Freddie Fox, will play fictional father and son, the Earl of Caversham and Lord Goring, in An Ideal Husband, as part of the year-long Oscar Wilde season at the West End’s Vaudeville Theatre. Also starring, in the role of Mrs Cheveley is Frances Barber.
My Top 5 Productions of 2017
2017 has been a bumper year for Break A Leg, we’ve literally been all over the place in as many theatres as possible and loving every minute.
NEWS: Bush Theatre announces four premieres in 2018 season & three-year BAMER initiative
The Bush Theatre has today announced its new 2018 season. Highlights include: Eight plays announced – including two new commissions, three world premieres and one UK premiere This season sees the launch of Passing the Baton –a three-year programming initiative dedicated to revivals of work by BAMER (Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and Refugee) artists beginning with Winsome Pinnock’s Leave Taking and including a …
NEWS: ‘Ella Fitzgerald’ joins for The Rat Pack’s West End return, Full cast announced
Final casting has been announced for the West End return of The Rat Pack – Live from Las Vegas, which starts performances on 13 December 2017 at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, home to its first West End run in 2003.
NEWS: Mel Giedroyc stars in Much Ado About Nothing for Rose Kingston’s ten-year anniversary
Rose Theatre Kingston announces the centrepiece of their ten-year anniversary: Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, starring Mel Giedroyc as Beatrice and directed by Simon Dormandy in a limited season from 13 April to 6 May 2018.
VIDEO SERIES: Meet the Brutes & their fellow revellers in The Provoked Wife
Marooned Theatre’s contemporary reimagining of John Vanbrugh’s 1697 Restoration comedy, The Provoked Wife, moves into Islington’s Hope Theatre next month after a sell-out season at the White Bear Theatre earlier this summer. In this morning’s blog, director Hannah Bolland Moore explained how and why she youthened the characters and reset the action at a modern music festival. Now it’s time to meet the …
NEWS: David Lan steps down after 17 years at the Young Vic
The Board of the Young Vic announced today that the artistic director David Lan will step down after leading the company for almost two decades.