Here’s a selection of the latest updates from My Theatre Mates co-founders Mark Shenton and Terri Paddock, plus other contributors. To filter by author, date or category, fiddle with the controls to the right. You can also search all of our content by keyword using the universal search in the top right of the site’s navigation bar above.
‘The relevance of the issues it raises screams out to the audience’: INDEBTED TO CHANCE – Old Red Lion Theatre ★★★★
17th November 2018
Written by Charlotte Ryall and directed by Jenny Eastop, Indebted To Chance follows the life of Charlotte Charke (née Cibber), a forgotten 18th-century pioneer who showed that not only can women run theatre companies, they can play ‘men’s’ roles too.Read more...
‘Packed with power & poetry’: BRASS THE MUSICAL – Union Theatre ★★★★
17th November 2018
As we mark #Armistice100 it seems right that Benjamin Till’s award-winning musical Brass should return to remind us, as if we need any reminding, of the terrible price paid by communities during World War I.Read more...
‘One of the most refreshing & riotous shows in London’: HADESTOWN – National Theatre ★★★★
17th November 2018
Running at the National Theatre prior to a Broadway opening, Hadestown offers a uniquely folksy and enchanting take on the tragic tale of Orpheus and his love, Euridice. Read more...
‘The two plays are starkly different’: PINTER FOUR – West End
17th November 2018
Pinter Four continues Jamie Lloyd’s Pinter at the Pinter season with the Lyndsey Turner-directed Moonlight starring Robert Glenister as a dying patriarch who bemoans his family’s absence at his deathbed to his long-suffering wife (Brid Brennan).Read more...
REHEARSAL PHOTOS: Cast announced for first major revival of Head-Rot Holiday
16th November 2018
How do you celebrate Christmas in incarceration? Weighed In Productions presents the first major revival of Head-Rot Holiday, Sarah Daniels' 1992 play set in a 'secure hospital', at the Hope Theatre, supported by Women in Prison, a charity that helps women avoid and exit.Read more...
If only I was famous… then I could reach playwrights around the UK
16th November 2018
My challenge is to bring an opportunity to British playwrights who have a play which deserves to be published and licensed around the world.Read more...
PHOTOS: Jermyn Street’s Rebels season concludes with Watermill transfer of Burke & Hare
16th November 2018
After its current critically acclaimed hit with Proud Haddock's production of World War One musical two-hander Billy Bishop Goes to War, Jermyn Street concludes this year's Rebels season with the transfer of murderous black comedy three-hander Burke and Hare. Check out photos from the.Read more...
‘Less grime, more glitter’: ROCK OF AGES – Touring
16th November 2018
Having come to Rock of Ages with no prior reference other than the 2012 film version (mostly memorable for featuring a surprisingly entertaining performance from Tom Cruise) I was, let’s say, unprepared for the stage show. It’s an altogether louder, more unsavoury affair. Read more...
Text of the Day: Ear for Eye at the Royal Court Theatre
16th November 2018
Random and topical thoughts and quotes gathered by My Theatre Mates contributor Aleks Sierz, first published on www.sierz.co.uk.Read more...
‘It might not be Fight Club, but it’s no less subversive’: CHUTNEY – Bunker Theatre ★★★★
16th November 2018
Written by Reece Connolly and directed by Georgie Staight, Chutney is a black comedy that examines the ‘less-civilised’ aspects of human nature and whether we can – or should – curb our ‘baser’ instincts.Read more...
NEWS: Hampstead Theatre’s first productions for 2019 include the UK premiere of Martyna Majok’s Cost of Living
16th November 2018
Hampstead Theatre has announced its first three productions of 2019. Highlights include: Martyna Majok’s 2018 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, Cost of Living, making its UK premiere directed by Edward Hall on the Main Stage.Read more...
‘It’s like a dream come true’: Hiba Tawaji plays Esmeralda in Notre Dame de Paris
16th November 2018
The singer and actress Hiba Tawaji spoke to Love London Love Culture’s Emma Clarendon about bringing Notre Dame de Paris back to London for the first time in 20 years. Read more...
‘Didn’t really reach out across the dark auditorium to me’: PINTER THREE – West End ★★★
16th November 2018
I go to the theatre is to be amused or moved or challenged or interested and sadly this collection of Pinter didn't really reach out across the dark auditorium to me.Read more...
NEWS: LAMDA graduates give Mark Ravenhill’s dark satire The Cut its first London revival
16th November 2018
Dead Woman Walking Productions, a new theatre company formed by a group of LAMDA graduates, are bringing Mark Ravenhill's The Cut back to the London stage for the first time since it premiered at the Donmar Warehouse in 2006. The new production runs for.Read more...
‘The cast excels with their superb timing & tremendous energy’: A FLEA IN HER EAR – Theatro Technis
16th November 2018
Acting Gymnasium’s talented cast excel with their superb timing and tremendous energy in this acrobatically verbal and physical comedy, A Flea in Her Ear at Theatro Technis.Read more...
NEWS: Kelsey Grammer & Danielle de Niese will star in Man Of La Mancha at ENO’s London Coliseum
16th November 2018
Emmy award-winning and Tony-nominated actor Kelsey Grammer and international opera star and soprano Danielle de Niese will lead the cast of a brand new production of the Broadway musical Man of La Mancha, presented by Michael Linnit and Michael Grade and English National Opera.Read more...
NEWS: Darwin drama The Wider Earth extends its run at the Natural History Museum
16th November 2018
The Wider Earth, the critically-acclaimed drama about a young Charles Darwin’s expedition on HMS Beagle, has extended its run at the Jerwood Gallery at London’s Natural History Museum and will now play until 24 February 2019.Read more...
‘The first score since Hamilton to earn a place on my regular playlist’: HADESTOWN – National Theatre
16th November 2018
Hadestown is certainly a welcome contribution to London’s musical theatre. The excellent score and unrelenting criticism of corporate systems that enslave the poor in awful conditions and low pay give this show its value, along with the cast. Read more...
‘The play comes back, timeless and terrifying’: MACBETH – Sam Wanamaker Playhouse ★★★★
16th November 2018
Here in Robert Hastie’s careful production of Macbeth is all the horror, psychological acuity and profound, terrified morality of Shakespeare’s darkest play.Read more...
FROM DOWN UNDER: Opera Australia’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
15th November 2018
The sterling result of the determined and loving labours of countless talents, Opera Australia’s Melbourne presentation of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg is a shimmering musical and visual treat, with added interest coming from some intriguing directorial choices.Read more...