Cormac McCarthy isn’t known for cheery topics as anyone who has sat through (or read) The Road will testify and his play The Sunset Limited is no exception.
NEWS: Fertility tale About 500 receives UK premiere at VAULT Festival
Simona Hughes’ new play about eggs, time and the cruel lack of both, About 500, will premiere as part of London’s Vault Festival later this spring. Time to book your tickets!
NEWS: Old Red Lion stages first revival of Simon Stephens’ Nuclear War as part of triptych
Simon Stephens’ 2017 one-act play Nuclear War gets its first revival in March as part of a new triple bill at London’s Old Red Lion Theatre in Islington under newly appointed artistic director Alexander Knott.
NEWS: Drip Drip Drip, Pipeline Theatre’s taboo-busting play about the NHS, launches post-Brexit tour & London transfer
As the UK prepares to exit the EU this week, five-star Pipeline Theatre readies a new tour and London season for Drip Drip Drip, its taboo-busting play set in the NHS.
Meet the cast: Who’s who in the world premiere of Tom Stocks’ Netflix & Chill?
Who’s who in the cast of new mental health comedy Netflix & Chill? What have you seen them in before? Check out full biographies – and sneak a peek what they’ve been up to behind the scenes.
FIRST-LOOK: Arresting production photos & trailer for new 1950s-set police drama COPS
We need to take a trip down to the station. Check out our gallery of production photos and trailer for the world premiere of Tony Tortora’s COPS, set in a Chicago police precinct office in 1957. It’s just opened at Southwark Warehouse, where it’s running until 1 February 2020 only. Time to get booking!
Watch COPS’s post-show Q&A: How does a new play feel like a finely minted period revival?
To me, COPS, set in 1950s Chicago, comes across as so authentically period that it feels like it must be a finely minted revival. But it’s not: it’s a new play. Even more surprising then that it’s written by an author I’d never heard of before.
‘Writing Netflix & Chill brought up feelings I never thought about’: Tom Stocks on how family suicides influenced his new mental health comedy
From a scratch-night sketch to full-length play and baptism by fire on the fringe… Writer, performer and producer Tom Stocks gives an in-depth and honest account of his journey to date with new comedy Netflix & Chill and Actor Awareness, the company he set up to put the spotlight on working-class talent.
‘My desire is to rise against the odds in a racist justice system’: Daniel Francis on his role in the premiere of COPS
After his screen success in US fantasy series Once Upon a Time, London-born Daniel Francis returns to the UK stage to play an American detective in new 1950s-set play COPS at Southwark Playhouse. He told us more about what attracted him to the play. Time to get booking!
NEWS: Broadway fairytale Once Upon a Mattress follows 42nd Street at Gatehouse
After its Christmas success with 42nd Street, Upstairs at the Gatehouse continues its string of Broadway revivals in 2020 with a brand-new production of Mary Rodgers’ rarely seen fairy-tale musical comedy Once Upon a Mattress in March, starring Offies nominee Beth Burrows. Tickets are now on sale. Time to get booking!
NEWS: Netflix & Chill, written by Tom Stocks & directed by Luke Adamson, transfers to Drayton Arms in February
After hit runs at Canal Cafe and Baron’s Court Theatres last year, Tom Stock’s new play Netflix & Chill, directed by Luke Adamson, transfers to London’s Drayton Arms Theatre for a limited season from 11 to 29 February 2020, in support of The Mental Health Foundation. Time to get booking!
REHEARSAL PHOTOS: Behind the scenes with the Cops fighting the mob at Southwark Playhouse
You may have been munching mince pies over the holidays, but the police were working hard… including at London’s Southwark Playhouse where director Andy Jordan has been preparing his four-strong cast of COPS for their UK premiere. Check out our gallery of rehearsal photos – including an astonishingly adorable puppy! – and then get booking!
NEWS: Millennial romcom JEW…ish transfers to King’s Head Theatre after Edinburgh sell-out
Unleash the Llama’s acclaimed, sell-out romantic comedy JEW…ish returns to London this month for six performances only at the King’s Head Theatre, running from Tuesday 14 January to Sunday 19 January 2020.
Mob violence, mass consumerism & the arrival of Elvis: Andy Jordan on directing 1950s-set Cops
In Cops, written by ex American serviceman Tony Tortura, four policemen of different ages, classes and races in 1957 Chicago must work together to thwart the Mob. British director and producer Andy Jordan explains what drew him to the piece, which starts performances at London’s Southwark Playhouse on 15 January 2020…
10 plays from the past 10 years that stand out
Here is a snapshot of my favourite theatre from the past 10 years, the plays that stand out most in my memory, the ones I talk about if people ask.
New post-show Q&A: Join Terri for the UK premiere of 1950s-set comedy-drama COPS
As part of her ongoing post-show talk series, Mates co-founder Terri Paddock returns to Southwark Playhouse for the official opening night of the UK premiere of COPS. Got any questions?
‘A charming presentation of a Victorian classic’: A LITTLE PRINCESS – Drayton Arms Theatre
Over the years, I have come to the conclusion that the litmus test of a good Christmas show is not whether the grown-ups are enjoying the writing or the acting or the storyline, but how the children are responding.
WATCH Escape From Planet Trash post-show Q&A video: Why have Sink the Pink blasted off to outer space?
I had my own introduction to Ginger Johnson and Sink the Pink a year ago when I chaired a Q&A for How to Catch a Krampus, the first in a new queer trilogy at the Pleasance Theatre, which also marked the drag collective’s first-ever theatrical residency after a decade of mega club nights, festivals and glitter-doused parties.
‘My determination was fired up by the junior doctors’ strike’: Tania Amsel on writing & performing Blood Orange
When helping others is at the heart of your career, what happens when you’re the one who needs help? We talked to Tania Amsel about her new one-woman play Blood Orange, told from the perspective of an overwhelmed junior doctor at Christmas.
‘There are scenes that will remain with you long after the performance is over’: THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS – Cervantes Theatre ★★★★
After a cinematic start with the characters caught in spotlights mid-activity, we tumble into The House of the Spirits with a series of brutal scenes – rape, bullying, exploitation, pain.