Welcome to today’s edition of ShentonSTAGE Daily, after an extraordinary day that saw us bid farewell to Her Majesty the Queen, after a reign of 70 years that saw her appoint 15 prime ministers — the latest of whom Liz Truss she met only on Tuesday. Truss will now be reporting in a weekly audience to King Charles III (coincidentally the title of Mike Bartlett’s 2014 play which imagined the future that awaited him — and us — that transferred to the West End and Broadway).
‘A disappointingly toothless & rather dreary non-satire’: SCANDALTOWN – Lyric Hammersmith
Mike Bartlett is very prolific, but this Restoration-style satire on society at London’s Lyric Hammersmith is sadly timid and predictable.
NEWS: Goold directs Mike Bartlett latest, Twilight Zone gets stage premiere in new Almeida season
In addition to the West End transfer of James Graham’s Ink, the Almeida Theatre has today announced its new season, including the stage premiere of The Twilight Zone and Mike Bartlett’s new play Albion.
WILD – Hampstead Theatre
God bless a playwright you can’t predict. Mike Bartlett’s King Charles III was founded on a pretty simple idea, and a frankly rather jejune imagining about the Royal family; it transferred up West and to America amid huge plaudits. This one by contrast is rich in important, complex ideas and riskily surreal conversations, and is most unlikely to transfer: not least because of a certain extraordinary, unexpected technical coup de theatre in the last ten of its hundred minutes.
NEWS: Ralph Fiennes as Richard III, Andrew Scott as Hamlet in new Almeida season
The Almeida Theatre has announced its star-studded 2016-2017 season, including two heavyweight Shakespeare productions, two world premiere plays, a screen adaptation and another West End season. Production highlights include: Ralph Fiennes (pictured) takes the title role in Shakespeare’s RICHARD III, directed by Almeida Artistic Director Rupert Goold. Vanessa Redgrave makes her Almeida debut as Queen Margaret THEY DRINK IT IN THE …
KING CHARLES III – Touring
There is an uneven grandeur to King Charles III at the Festival Theatre, which is certainly one of the most peculiar big-budget, ex-West End touring productions to hit Edinburgh recently.
Mike Bartlett’s attempt at a Shakespearean tragedy is set in unspecified time in the near future when Charles has become king. His first act as monarch is to refuse Royal Assent to a bill restricting press freedom, leading to a constitutional impasse, unrest and much backstabbing.
NEWS: Robert Powell stars in autumn tour of Mike Bartlett’s King Charles III
Following critically acclaimed sell-out runs at the Almeida Theatre and in the West End, King Charles III embarks on a UK tour this autumn. Robert Powell will take on the role of King Charles. The production opens on 4 September 2015 at Birmingham Repertory Theatre and then visits Richmond Theatre, Newcastle Theatre Royal, Nottingham Theatre Royal, Milton Keynes Theatre, Cambridge …
Popular vs personal: How did my own choices fare against the #AlsoRecognised winners?
On Monday, we announced on MyTheatreMates.com the winners of our inaugural #AlsoRecognised Awards. The first year of these Awards has caught the imagination of the industry, the audience voters and the nominees and winners more than I had hoped to imagine. Your winners are lovely, truly lovely and appreciative. Just look how they’ve embraced – […]
Oliviers: 23 priceless quotes and 8 more-than-words moments from the Royal Opera House
This afternoon I caught up with the ITV highlights programme of last night’s Olivier Awards. While quite entertaining, it’s no surprise that the telecast missed out a lot of good stuff – sometimes right in the middle of a quote. (Ahem, see Kevin Spacey, oh what’s his name… Matthew Warchus.) The TV version was just […]
Ultimate press pass: All the angles on 2015 #Oliviers shortlists
I offered my own take on yesterday’s 2015 Laurence Olivier nominations yesterday. But my view is only one, of course. The shortlists announcement was live-streamed across myriad platforms and attracted international headlines. So how did other commentators interpret the shortlists? Well, angles are varied, but they largely break down into the following five main thrusts: […]
2015 #Oliviers nominations: What’s in, what’s out? Full lists here
The biggest surprise for me at today’s Olivier nominations event at the ritzy Rosewood London hotel was just how much this event has grown in a few short years. Celebrating nominees: you’re all beautiful I remember so well when I held the first WhatsOnStage Awards Launch Party back in 2002. I believed then, as I […]
Critics’ Circle winners contradict Standard: any bets on Oliviers?
If you read my Best of the Best of #theatre2014 round-ups a few weeks ago, you may have been able to predict most of the winners of the Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards, announced today at the West End’s Prince of Wales Theatre. That’s with the possible exception of Best Actress, which based on the frequency […]
More Top 10 #theatre2014 lists: Mine and yours
Rounding up the best of the best of theatre 2014 highlights got me reflecting on my own year in theatre. Having unexpectedly left WhatsOnStage just before Christmas 2013, the shape and pace of my 2014 theatregoing was going to be inevitably different from the previous 16 years. For a time, I wasn’t even sure that […]
The best of the best of #theatre2014 round-ups
Can you keep up with all the 2014 theatrical year round-ups? I’ve rounded up the round-ups to give you a quick overview. The Guardian went ALL out looking back with a profusion of top 10 lists from its various critics, including eminence grise Michael Billington, fringe and festival queen Lyn Gardner, columnist Mark Lawson and […]
Review: King Charles III (Wyndhams Theatre)
This is not so much a review, more a collection of Facebook updates. 15.25 Saturday: “I haven’t paid for a theatre ticket in quite a while, so why am I thinking “bugger me, £59.50 for KING CHARLES III” It sparked a lot of lively conversation about the rising price of West End theatre and some […]
The post Review: King Charles III (Wyndhams Theatre) appeared first on JohnnyFox.
Review: King Charles III (Wyndhams Theatre)
This is not so much a review, more a collection of Facebook updates. 15.25 Saturday: “I haven’t paid for a theatre ticket in quite a while, so why am I thinking “bugger me, £59.50 for KING CHARLES III” It sparked a lot of lively conversation about the rising price of West End theatre and some […]
The post Review: King Charles III (Wyndhams Theatre) appeared first on JohnnyFox.