Actress and writer Georgina Barley refused to feel defeated by the cancellation of her debut play Lovesick six months ago due to the Covid crisis. Instead Georgina put her mind to creating a version of the piece that could be staged post-lockdown and she can’t wait to share it with audiences at London’s White Bear Theatre from 13-17 October 2020.
‘Melancholic & funny’: IN A NUTSHELL – Lost Dog (Online review)
Theatre is just different organisms in close proximity. It’s a great image, and one of many that float gently to the surface in Ben Duke’s In a Nutshell, a monologue which explores with a marvellously tentative touch the nature of theatre, meaning theatre as it was until the pandemic struck.
NEWS: West End reopening of The Mousetrap will be postponed
Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap – the longest-running show in the world, which had been due to resume performances at London’s St Martin’s Theatre on 23 October 2020 – is to have its reopening postponed.
‘Blends wry reminiscence, personal experience, poetry & music’: AN EVENING WITH AN IMMIGRANT – Bridge Theatre
This is a masterly revival of An Evening with an Immigrant, Inua Ellams’ 2016 autobiographical one-man show which is both poetic and engaging.
NEWS: The Lion & Unicorn Theatre will reopen for live performances from 30 September 2020
Beginning on 30 September 2020, The Lion & Unicorn Theatre’s first Covid-secure performances since lockdown will be a mix of brand-new work and some old favourites, as well as productions from the venue’s team of in-house Associate Artists.
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: Nimax Theatres will open all 6 West End theatres in sequence from October 2020 with social distancing
Nimax Theatres will open all six West End theatres in sequence from 22 October 2020 with social distancing under Covid-19 secure government guidelines. The special season will beginning at the Apollo Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue with This is Going to Hurt, written and performed by ex-NHS doctor Adam Kay.
‘Hare allows much more of his own personality to emerge’: BEAT THE DEVIL – Bridge Theatre
The first short play is Beat the Devil in which David Hare stakes first claim to what will surely be a new genre or at least a familiar theme in the coming months – the Covid monologue.
‘Intermittently affecting blend of personal struggle & political outrage’: BEAT THE DEVIL – Bridge Theatre
David Hare gets in first with his Coronavirus monologue Beat The Devil at the Bridge Theatre, evocatively performed by Ralph Fiennes.
NEWS: Arts Council awards £2 million to the Theatre Artists Fund & Help Musicians
The Arts Council has announced that £2 million has been awarded to the Theatre Artists Fund and Help Musicians’ Financial Hardship Funding programme.
NEWS: RSC starts redundancy consultations as closure is extended to 2021
Responding to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic and the direct impact on the RSC, artistic director Gregory Doran and executive director Catherine Mallyon have confirmed that RSC theatres will not reopen for full productions before 2021.
‘We’ve shown we’re not going without a fight’: Who really cares about what has happened to the theatre industry?
I accidentally wrote a viral tweet. It came out of a moment of possibly ill-thought frustration. Out of feeling brushed aside, dismissed one too many times. But wow did that tweet resonate.
‘Marvellously inventive & thoroughly compelling’: BLINDNESS – Donmar Warehouse
Simon Stephens and Juliet Stevenson create a perfectly beautiful and haunting installation for our times in The Blindness at the Donmar Warehouse.
NEWS: National Theatre returns with new Clint Dyer & Roy Williams play performed by Giles Terera
The National Theatre will reopen with a socially distanced production of new one-person play, Death of England: Delroy, by Clint Dyer and Roy Williams, directed by Dyer and performed by Giles Terera.
NEWS: Hackney Empire, Lyric Hammersmith , Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch & Theatre Royal Stratford East postpone their 2020 pantos
Hackney Empire, Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch and Theatre Royal Stratford East will be postponing their 2020 pantomimes by a year due to the continued uncertainty of government guidelines for restarting public performances.
FEATURED SHOW: The ★★★★★ reviews are in for “outstanding” Moment of Grace
“Sensitive and engaging,” “beautiful,” immensely thoughtful”: Take a look at the incredible reviews for new online play Moment of Grace, then watch for yourself at The Actors Centre website until 9 August.
‘Beautifully conveys its emotional & political charge’: SCROUNGER – Finborough Theatre (Online review)
The bright colours of the performance underline the surrealism of Scrounger’s quest for justice, and Athena Stevens, the first actor in a wheelchair nominated for an Offie, performs her story brilliantly.
NEWS: Return of indoor performances delayed until 15 August 2020
There was a blow to any producers planning socially distanced indoor performances from 1 August 2020 when prime minister Boris Johnson announced that the easing of restrictions on theatre and music venues, amongst others, had been delayed to 15 August.
NEWS: VAULT Festival postpones until 2022
The next full, live version of the VAULT Festival will be postponed until 2022. In consideration of the significant financial and safety risks brought about by Covid-19 and that each festival takes ten months to create, the organisers believe the “difficult but necessary decision” is in the best interests of its artists, staff, and collaborators.
NEWS: Moment of Grace to be streamed by The Actors Centre
Moment of Grace, a new drama inspired by the monumental action taken by Princess Diana when she visited a London AIDS ward in the 1980s, will be streamed by The Actors Centre later this month. The production premieres on 31 July and will be available to watch until 9 August.