The original two-part multi-award-winning production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will resume performances at London’s Palace Theatre on 14 October 2021. After over a year and a half of shutdown due to the pandemic, rehearsals for the West End production will begin this August.
‘Surprisingly beautiful’: AFTER LIFE – National Theatre ★★★★
Where Jeremy Herrin directs and Bunny Christie designs, you expect something pretty damn theatrical before After Life ends, and this we get.
REVIEW ROUND-UP: After Life at the National Theatre
Love London Love Culture rounds up the reviews for Jack Thorne’s adaptation of Hirokazu Kore-eda’s film of the same name now playing at the National Theatre.
NEWS: The Old Vic announces Back Together season
The Old Vic has announced its Back Together season, the seventh from artistic director Matthew Warchus, which will run from July 2021 to July 2022 and combines both streamed and live shows.
Returning & new productions heading for the West End & beyond post-lockdown: Are you up to date?
Meanwhile, I want to start keeping track of the shows that are coming back, or are newly being announced, in a new feature here that 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: Olivier & Dorfman Theatres will reopen in June 2021 with Under Milk Wood & Jack Thorne’s new play After Life
The National Theatre has announces plans to reopen in June, welcoming audiences back to the South Bank for the first time since closing last December. The Olivier Theatre will reopen on 16 June 2021 with Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas. The Dorfman Theatre will reopen on 2 June for the first time since February 2020 with the previously announced co-production with Headlong, After Life written by Jack Thorne and directed by Jeremy Herrin.
‘Will only go from strength to strength as the run continues’: A CHRISTMAS CAROL – Old Vic (Online review)
Andrew Lincoln brings a real gravitas to proceedings in A Christmas Carol, anchoring the production and delivering a performance of variety and skill that will leave you hoping he returns to the stage more often in the future.
NEWS: Andrew Lincoln will star as Scrooge in The Old Vic’s In Camera production of A Christmas Carol
Andrew Lincoln will star as Ebenezer Scrooge in this year’s Old Vic: In Camera version of Jack Thorne’s A Christmas Carol from 12-24 December 2020.
‘Piece after piece remains with you after the performance’: THE NEW TOMORROW – Young Vic (Online review)
Although a rather more muted celebration than originally planned, The New Tomorrow is a powerful acknowledgment of the theatre’s ongoing mission to be a real centre for the community.
NEWS: Old Vic announces programme of online work through to spring 2021 with A Christmas Carol as next In Camera production
Now in its fourth year, Jack Thorne’s A Christmas Carol will return to The Old Vic as an Old Vic: In Camera production (12-24 December 2020).
NEWS: Birmingham Repertory Theatre announces the commissioning of 12 new plays
Birmingham Repertory Theatre has announced 12 new commissions titled The Park Bench Plays – a series of micro-plays that ‘illuminate, interrogate and even celebrate today’s socially distanced world’.
NEWS: Special installations & live theatre feature in Young Vic’s 50th birthday celebrations
Kwame Kwei-Armah, artistic director of the Young Vic, has announced the start of the Young Vic’s 50th birthday with a year-long programme of work entitled We are the New Tide, dedicated to the theatre’s milestone birthday.
‘There is not a dud piece in the pack’: THE GREATEST WEALTH – Old Vic (Online review)
The series of monologues under the collective title The Greatest Wealth was first performed at The Old Vic Theatre in 2018 as part of the celebrations for the 70th anniversary of the founding of the NHS.
‘Will make your heart leap’: A CHRISTMAS CAROL – The Old Vic
This freshened-up and first-rate production of A Christmas Carol at the Old Vic sees Paterson Joseph giving one of the performances of his life, his humanity simply erupting onto the stage.
NEWS: Headlong announces Jeremy Herrin’s last season as artistic director
Headlong has announced its programme for 2020/21, the final season under current artistic director Jeremy Herrin.
Text of the Day: The End of History
Random and topical thoughts and quotes gathered by My Theatre Mates contributor Aleks Sierz, first published on www.sierz.co.uk.
NEWS: Paterson Joseph to star in A Christmas Carol at The Old Vic
Paterson Joseph (Peep Show, Green Wing) is to star as Ebenezer Scrooge in Matthew Warchus’ big-hearted, hit production of Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol, adapted for the stage by Jack Thorne (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child). The Old Vic’s A Christmas Carol returns on 4 December 2019,
‘It feels like a real waste’: THE END OF HISTORY – Royal Court Theatre
The Harry Potter team presents a hyped up state-of-the-family play in The End Of History and it just falls flat on its face.
‘Absorbing family comedy’: THE END OF HISTORY – Royal Court Theatre
What’s so great about Jack Thorne’s play The End of History (as well as his consistently interesting use of stage directions) is that it has made me pause to think but is all wrapped up in this absorbing family comedy.
‘We believe in the individual reality of this family’: THE END OF HISTORY – Royal Court Theatre ★★★★
Jack Thorne and director John Tiffany are the Harry Potter team. They know how not to bore. But they’ve been here before too in a Royal Court state-of-the-nation mood, and they can make pieces like The End of History just as gripping.