Published: 15 December 2010
It is panto season. Time for silliness, japery and fun without too much thought required... which is exactly what adult audiences can expect from A Flea In Her Ear at… Read More
Published: 14 December 2010
The potty twosome are back. After latching on to a good thing with their reductive rendition of the Harry Potter books in Potted Potter, Dan and Jeff turn their hands… Read More
Talk show host Jerry Springer may be used to crowds booing his questionably moralled guests, but now he will be getting a taste of the audience’s derision for himself, as… Read More
For the first time ever, the Royal Court theatre – best known for its edgy new writing and obscenely young writers – has created a family show for Christmas. But… Read More
The tunnels beneath Waterloo Station are to host an all-male cross-dressing cast from 5 to 30 January as they perform Polish black comedy Ivona, Princess Of Burgundia.Witold Gombrowicz’s play is… Read More
Published: 13 December 2010
Young writers Joel Horwood and Morgan Lloyd Malcolm were commissioned in 2009 to write two pantomimes for the Lyric Hammersmith. With last year’s Jack And The Beanstalk collaboration with Richard… Read More
Theatre company HighTide is to make its West End debut with Edinburgh Festival hit Lidless, a play about a Guantanamo Bay interrogator, which runs at Trafalgar Studio 2 from 10… Read More
Published: 10 December 2010
Get Into London Theatre 2011 has proved more popular than ever, selling 21,000 tickets in the three days since booking for the annual reduced-price promotion opened.In this short period alone,… Read More
The Garrick theatre is to host a very different night of Theatreland entertainment from spring 2011, when burlesque production The Hurly Burly Show brings its risqué brand of performance to… Read More
Ghost Stories, the terrifying production that has been making audience’s leap from their seats at the Duke of York’s theatre since summer 2010 has extended its West End run until… Read More
Published: 9 December 2010
As the Royal Shakespeare Company moves into the Roundhouse for a 10-week London season, Associate Director David Farr shares his thoughts on the historic company’s innovative long ensemble.Rehearsals in British… Read More
Juliet Stevenson and James Fleet will lead the cast of Richard Bean’s climate change black comedy The Heretic, which opens at the Royal Court on 10 February (previews from 4… Read More
Published: 8 December 2010
As the Royal Shakespeare Company moves into the Roundhouse for its London season, Matthew Amer talks to the company’s Romeo and Juliet about the young lovers, Rupert Goold and having… Read More
If there is a perfect venue in London to indulge in some Christmas festivities, mince pies and mulled wine then Wilton’s Music Hall must be it. The oldest surviving Grand… Read More
British stage and screen director Mike Leigh is to return to the National Theatre with a new production in 2011, once again collaborating with actress Lesley Manville.The man behind much-acclaimed… Read More
Michael Grandage directs Derek Jacobi in a typically fuss-free production at the Donmar Warehouse which sets the politics, battles and infighting against an austere white background.In fact, Christopher Oram’s design… Read More
Published: 7 December 2010
Toby Jones and Niamh Cusack are to star in a new play about British artist Turner at the relocated Arcola theatre in January.The Painter has been written by award-winning playwright… Read More
Pop star turned musical theatre performer Jon Lee is to take on the role of Frankie Valli in hit musical Jersey Boys from 15 March, alternating the part with current… Read More
After a successful season at the Chichester Festival theatre earlier this year, Erich Segal’s classic, Love Story, transfers to London’s Duchess theatre in the hope that the musical version will… Read More
Published: 6 December 2010
Booking opens today for the 10th annual Get Into London Theatre, the ticket promotion organised by the Society of London Theatre which offers fantastic ticket deals to over 50 top… Read More
Published: 3 December 2010
New musical Legally Blonde leads the pack in the nominations for the 11th annual Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers’ Choice Awards, which were announced at a star-studded party this lunchtime.The musical theatre adaptation… Read More
Published: 2 December 2010
For a family show with a difference this festive season, Peppa Pig and friends inhabit the Criterion theatre until January and, unlike many Christmas-themed kids’ shows in the West End… Read More
Sick of the cold? The Royal Court’s Café Bar provides the ideal space to while away a chilly evening, finds Caroline Bishop. Royal Court Café Bar Royal Court, Sloane SquareCurrently… Read More
Susannah Harker and Claire Price are to join Joanne Froggatt and Christopher Simpson in the Bush theatre's Schools Season, while Sharon Duncan Brewster and Henry Lloyd-Hughes (pictured) are set to… Read More
The Royal Shakespeare Company, which opens a season of eight plays at London’s Roundhouse tonight, has announced a five year partnership with the Camden venue which will see the company… Read More
The Royal Court, National Theatre and Almeida theatre have all received nominations in the 2011 South Bank Sky Arts Awards, to be announced on 25 January. Bruce Norris’s play Clybourne… Read More
Published: 1 December 2010
The Angina Monologues, a one-off night of comedy in aid of the British Heart Foundation led by Victoria Wood, has released the 100 best seats in the house four days… Read More
As his worldwide hit returns to London, playwright David Greig talks to Matthew Amer about dancing lobsters and why Midsummer is not a musical.There is an odd thing about Edinburgh… Read More
Published: 30 November 2010
Bourgeois Paris has never looked so terrifying than in Jean Cocteau’s tragicomedy Les Parents Terribles. One minute a farce, the next a frightening glimpse into the mentally unhinged, former Donmar… Read More
Published: 29 November 2010
Royal Ballet dancer Romany Pajdak describes a typical day in the life of a ballerina at one of the world's most respected dance companies. Romany Pajdak, 25First Artist, The Royal… Read More
Rory Kinnear and Nancy Carroll have won Best Actor and Actress at this year’s Evening Standard Theatre Awards, which were presented last night in a ceremony at the Savoy Hotel.Kinnear… Read More
Published: 26 November 2010
Leading men Alfie Boe and Mark Evans will be back on the West End stage in 2011, when they take over as Jean Valjean in Les Misérables and Fiyero in… Read More
Published: 25 November 2010
Funny men and QI colleagues Alan Davies and Stephen Fry are lending their voices to this year’s Lyric Hammersmith pantomime Dick Whittington And His Cat, which plays from 27 November.… Read More
Unlike Enid Blyton’s Mallory Towers or the jolly-hockey-sticks hi-jinks of St Trinians, EV Crowe’s Kin paints a bleaker and more sinister picture of life inside a private girls’ boarding school.… Read More
Hannah Waddingham, who played the Witch in the Open Air theatre’s production of Into The Woods this summer, will take on witching duties once again next year to play the… Read More
The Menier Chocolate Factory has come up with the perfect foil to cold, dark winter nights: an evening of supreme silliness, with some surprisingly sophisticated illusions thrown in. I say… Read More
Published: 24 November 2010
The Vaudeville theatre’s An Ideal Husband and The Glass Menagerie at the Young Vic theatre have both added extensions to their runs. West End comedy An Ideal Husband will now… Read More
Eagle-eyed theatre fans will start to notice festive Theatre Tokens imagery as they make their way to work or flick through their favourite magazines in the coming weeks.The sensational snowy… Read More
All’s well that ends well in Sheridan’s comedic romp where, as always, the course of love never does run smooth. But for those that think playing games with the opposite… Read More
Published: 23 November 2010
Actor, recording artist, radio presenter… and now producer. Michael Ball finds time in his busy life to have a quick chat with Caroline Bishop. “I’m a bit frazzled,” says Michael… Read More
Shakespeare’s Globe is gearing up for the Christmas season with a range of seasonal additions to its exhibition.As well as its monthly Activity Weekends for families – the next one… Read More
Former soap star turned West End leading man Richard Fleeshman is over the moon at the chance to take the Patrick Swayze role in Ghost The Musical, describing the chance… Read More
Flashdance The Musical has announced it will close on 15 January, just three months after opening at the Shaftesbury theatre. The production had been booking to the end of February.Starring… Read More
Exasperating, beguiling, vulnerable, terrifying, Tracie Bennett runs the gamut of emotions in a star turn as Judy Garland in End Of The Rainbow. Peter Quilter’s drama, which has been brewing… Read More
Published: 22 November 2010
A stage adaptation of classic novel Lord Of The Flies and musical offerings The Beggar’s Opera and Crazy For You will feature in the 2011 season at the Regent’s Park… Read More
High-class food and views to match make The Swan at Shakespeare’s Globe a restaurant to flock to, with or without a theatre ticket, finds Caroline Bishop. The Swan Shakespeare’s Globe,… Read More
Matthew Fox and Olivia Williams are to be directed by Neil LaBute in his new play In A Forest, Dark And Deep at the Vaudeville theatre from 3 March (press… Read More
The Evening Standard Awards shortlist has been announced today, with the Royal Court and National Theatre dominating the awards across the majority of categories.The already highly decorated Royal Court will… Read More
Stage One, the charity dedicated to developing and supporting producers for the commercial theatre industry, has increased the capacity of its bursary and apprentice schemes by 50% in the last… Read More
Published: 19 November 2010
The Tony Award-winning Million Dollar Quartet will make its West End debut at the Noël Coward theatre in February 2011. Currently playing on Broadway and in Chicago, the musical tells… Read More
Multi-Oscar-nominee Ellen Burstyn will make her London stage debut by joining Keira Knightley and Elisabeth Moss in The Children’s Hour at the Comedy theatre in January. American actress Burstyn is… Read More
Sarah Lancashire and Reece Shearsmith will star in theatre impresario Cameron Mackintosh’s new musical comedy Betty Blue Eyes, which will open at the Novello theatre in March 2011.Betty Blue Eyes… Read More
Can it really be nearly Christmas again? As more than a few mince pieces have already been munched in the Official London Theatre office and the West End has been… Read More
The Donmar Warehouse has announced casting for the opening two productions of its 2011 season, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and Moonlight.League Of Gentlemen and Psychoville star Steve… Read More
This modern dress, Spartan production of Ibsen’s 1892 play is a haunting oddity, a dream-like, trippy, chilling tale about the power of the mind and the cost of ambition. Halvard… Read More
Published: 18 November 2010
Quirky cabaret show La Soirée has announced its shoulder-dislocating, table-leg-swallowing, hula-hooping style of entertainment is to remain in London for an extra month. The show, playing in a specially constructed… Read More
In a letter written to his grandfather, reprinted by the Young Vic in its programme for The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams writes that his mother attended the opening night when… Read More
Published: 17 November 2010
As she prepares to play the late great Judy Garland in a new play in the West End, chip-loving Northern lass Tracie Bennett tells Caroline Bishop why she is no… Read More
It is the 1970s and we are invited to Fela Anikulapo-Kuti’s legendary club The Shrine. To get to it you have to cross through the most dangerous parts of the… Read More
The National Theatre has commissioned a piece of documentary theatre about our changing relationship with the planet. Greenland will open in the Lyttelton theatre in a spring season that also… Read More
Published: 16 November 2010
Stephen Fry will lead a cast of well-known faces in a one-off charity performance of an alternative nativity by Patrick Barlow on 5 December. Star Child, which is being staged… Read More
Richard Bean and Simon Stephens will debut new work at the Royal Court theatre this spring, with Stephens joining forces with acclaimed director Katie Mitchell for the first time.The playwrights,… Read More
Wilton’s Music Hall will be decked with boughs of holly this Christmas as it presents a Victorian-themed festive show from 6 to 18 December.Wilton’s Vintage Christmas is a variety hall… Read More
Published: 15 November 2010
It’s not often that a theatre company can claim a history as worthy of telling as any of the fiction they create, but Clean Break’s beginnings are as inspiring as… Read More
Mayor of London Boris Johnson has sent a strong message of support to the arts today with the unveiling of a cultural strategy calling for continued investment in culture by… Read More
Stuart McQuarrie and Jason Watkins have joined the cast of Bruce Norris’s Clybourne Park, which transfers to the West End early next year after a successful run at the Royal… Read More
Published: 12 November 2010
Diminutive American actor Leslie Jordan, best known for his Emmy Award-winning role in sitcom Will And Grace, is to bring his autobiographical one-man show My Trip Down The Pink Carpet… Read More
The Bush theatre is to leave its current home above a pub on Shepherd’s Bush Green to move into a new permanent home in the old library building on Uxbridge… Read More
Award-winning actress Anne-Marie Duff is to make her first stage appearance since the birth of her first child when she opens in the Old Vic production of Rattigan’s Cause Célèbre… Read More
Just three years after its inception, the Apprentice Scheme for New Producers run by theatrical charity Stage One is going from strength to strength, with its apprentices learning their craft… Read More
Young musical theatre stars Richard Fleeshman and Caissie Levy will appear as Ghost The Musical’s fated lovers in the forthcoming Piccadilly theatre production. Joining the pair on stage are Andrew… Read More
Published: 11 November 2010
A neat, well-structured play which ties up its loose ends, Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband is a study of human frailty against the pressures of Victorian society.There is a sense,… Read More
Published: 10 November 2010
After a succession of big budget films have made her one of Britain’s most recognisable young actresses, Gemma Arterton is heading to the off-West End Almeida theatre, where she can… Read More
The American creators of Afrobeat musical Fela!, which is due to open at the National Theatre next week, are at the centre of a multi-million pound copyright claim, though the… Read More
Joe Wright, the award-winning British director of films Atonement and Pride And Prejudice, is to return to the theatre his parents founded to direct a puppet show next year.Wright, whose… Read More