The National Theatre really did save lockdown and made us appreciate our phenomenal creative industries, but they may also have inadvertently pointed the way for the future as surely as National Theatre Live did in 2009.
How important is theatre photography to the success of a show?
Theatre photography is one of the most important ways to promote a new production and simultaneously one of the elements audiences – and probably most creatives – actively think least about.
‘A lean, swift & feisty political thriller’: CORIOLANUS – Donmar Warehouse (Online review)
To take a play as epic in scale as Coriolanus and find a natural home within the intimacy of London’s Donmar Warehouse takes a skill and lightness of touch that is not only rare but all so often missed.
‘Tom Hiddleston is worth the price of admission’: CORIOLANUS – Donmar Warehouse (Online review)
There are some staggering contemporary references to draw from this staging of a lesser-known Shakespeare, starring Tom Hiddleston.
‘This is our humanity. And sheer genius’ – Andrew Scott in SEA WALL
Lockdown occasionally spawns some real delights. Like the surprise appearance of a strange creature from the profoundest depths. One of these must be Andrew Scott’s superb performance in Simon Stephens’s Sea Wall.
Mind The Blog’s top five musical choices for 2020
If you’re struggling with all the choice, Mind The Blog has come up with her top five musicals you do not want to miss in 2020.
NEWS: Five years after Donmar sell-out, City of Angels transfers to West End’s Garrick Theatre
Josie Rourke’s critically acclaimed and Olivier Award-winning production of City of Angels makes its West End transfer five years since opening at the Donmar Warehouse in 2014.
How the Mates Rate: Sweet Charity at the Donmar Warehouse
Sweet Charity, Josie Rourke’s farewell production at the Donmar Warehouse which stars Anne-Marie Duff as Charity and Arthur Darvill as Oscar, appears to have charmed the majority of our Mates, with a few reservations here and there. The musical continues until 8 June 2019.
‘The show sparkles with invention’: SWEET CHARITY – Donmar Warehouse ★★★★
‘A sweet sexy fairy tale’ is how one critic described Sweet Charity on its opening in London in October 1967. And Josie Rourke’s final production as the Donmar’s artistic director before handing over to Michael Longhurst certainly lives up to that description, but also makes it something rather more and darker because of the unlikely casting of Anne-Marie Duff as Charity.
‘Fun, laughs, good time’: SWEET CHARITY – Donmar Warehouse ★★★★
This is as unconventional production of Sweet Charity as you’re likely to see. Set firmly in the art milieu of Andy Warhol’s Factory, it’s so perfectly, silver-foil-wrapped acid-tabbed 1967 it’s like you were actually there.
REVIEW ROUND-UP: Sweet Charity at the Donmar Warehouse
Love London Love Culture rounds up the reviews for Josie Rourke’s final production at the Donmar Warehouse, Sweet Charity.
‘Every number is irresistible’: SWEET CHARITY – Donmar Warehouse ★★★★
The minute you walk in the joint (Hey, big spender!), the trumpets and sax blare an impertinent welcome and you’re in the right dive for Sweet Charity.
‘Full of heart & exuberance’: SWEET CHARITY – Donmar Warehouse ★★★★
Director Josie Rourke ends her tenure at the Donmar Warehouse with a hip revival of Sweet Charity that pushes Anne-Marie Duff out of her comfort zone and shows a new side to Adrian Lester.
NEWS: Adrian Lester & Beverley Knight are among the guest actors cast as Daddy Brubeck in Donmar Warehouse’s Sweet Charity
Multiple guest actors will play the role of Daddy Brubeck in Josie Rourke’s production of Sweet Charity at the Donmar Warehouse including Shaq Taylor, Adrian Lester, Le Gateau Chocolat, Beverley Knight and Clive Rowe with further casting to be announced.
BOOK REVIEW: About the Art of the Artistic Director
Christopher Haydon, the former artistic director of the Gate Theatre in London, has written the book About The Art of the Artistic Director.
NEWS: Martha Plimpton will reprise her role in Donmar Warehouse’s production of Sweat by Lynn Nottage when it transfers to the Gielgud
The Donmar Warehouse’s sold-out production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Sweat by Lynn Nottage will transfer to London’s Gielgud Theatre for a limited six-week run from 7 June 2019, with Martha Plimpton reprising her role as Tracey in Lynette Linton’s acclaimed production. Further casting is to be announced.
NEWS: Josie Rourke’s farewell production at the Donmar Warehouse will be Sweet Charity starring Anne-Marie Duff
Anne-Marie Duff will lead the cast in Donmar Warehouse’s artistic director Josie Rourke’s farewell production, Sweet Charity, opposite Arthur Darvill making his Donmar Warehouse debut as Oscar. The musical will run from 6 April to 8 June 2019 (press night is 17 April).
‘Unfunny echo of today’s sexual & social injustices’: MEASURE FOR MEASURE – Donmar Warehouse ★★★
There’s every reason why Josie Rourke should have chosen Measure for Measure to direct in her final season as the Donmar’s artistic director. Anyone with half an ear to public events in the arena of gender relations and abuse of power in the past two years would recognise its extraordinary pertinence.
Mark Shenton views the week of news, openings & radical overhauls of Shakespeare in the West End, Broadway & beyond
Mark Shenton offers the week’s news, reviews, quotes and tweets in theatre from both sides of the Atlantic, including an interview with Sonia Friedman, reviews of Shakespeare in three different abbreviated versions, and a YouTube star appearing on Broadway.
‘It’s the lean 1604 telling that is a punch in the gut’: MEASURE FOR MEASURE – Donmar Warehouse ★★★★
This is a made for measure Measure-For-Measure. Its greatest achievement is hacking the flabby old Jacobian down to the right side of 90 minutes. It rollicks through, giving a booster jab to the drama but keeping quiet pauses and poetry.