Dodie Smith’s comedy is revived in a desaturated production that crackles with deliciously sly humour. Emily Burns directs a series of majestic tableaux that, while wordy and excessively traditional at times, offer an authentic slice of polite society. It’s not the most action-packed or dramatic piece in existence, but Dear Octopus turns out to be like a classic vintage wine: it’s sophisticated and might be an acquired taste, but it ultimately gets you jolly like only wartime entertainment can.
The National Theatre has released production photos for Dear Octopus by Dodie Smith (I Capture the Castle), which will open in the Lyttelton theatre on 14 February.
The National Theatre has released rehearsal images for the upcoming revival of Dear Octopus by Dodie Smith (I Capture the Castle), playing in the Lyttelton theatre from 7 February. See all the photos here.
The National Theatre has announced the full cast for Dear Octopus. Dear Octopus will run at the Lyttleton Theatre from 7 February–27 March 2024. Learn more about the cast here!
Wigmore Hall's packed summer season (1 Apr – 21 Jul) features nearly 200 concerts and events. At the heart of Wigmore Hall's summer programme is the core chamber, piano and vocal repertoire upon which its reputation as the international home of chamber music is built, but there are also visits from legendary jazz musicians, Yiddish cabaret and forays into the avant garde.
Nigerian born writer, Inua Ellams, originally turned down working on Antigone due to feeling “no distant kinship with the protagonist.” Five years of work later, how could Ellams have predicted that his modern adaptation would feel so responsive to the current socio-political climate.
Check out all new production photos from Antigone at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre which opens on Friday this week.
Regent's Park Open Air Theatre has announced casting and the full creative team for Antigone. Written by Inua Ellams (Barber Shop Chronicles, Three Sisters), this contemporary retelling of Sophocles's epic story has been commissioned by the theatre in its 90th anniversary year.
A new play on the disintegration of civil society is well-timed, but too bitty in its structure to engage fully with its material or its audience
Daniel York Loh, Pandora Colin, Jules Chan and Pía Laborde-Noguez are announced today as the stellar multi-rolling ensemble cast in the premiere of acclaimed playwright Joel Tan’s No Particular Order.
The Bridge Theatre has just announced that it will postpone upcoming performances of Back & Sons due to a COVID scare within its team.
Two young people and their dæmons, with everything at stake, find themselves at the centre of a terrifying manhunt. In their care is a tiny child called Lyra Belacqua, and in that child lies the fate of the future. And as the waters rise around them, powerful adversaries conspire for mastery of Dust: salvation to some, the source of infinite corruption to others.
Directed by Nicholas Hytner, performances of Bach & Sons continue until 11 September 2021 with opening night on 28 June 2021. The associate director is James Cousins, with set designs by Vicki Mortimer, costumes designed by Khadija Raza, lighting by Jon Clark, sound by Gareth Fry and music supervised by George Fenton.
Johann Sebastian Bach, irascible and turbulent, writes music of sensuous delight for his aristocratic patrons, and gives voice to his deep religious faith in music for the church. He’s touchy, he’s fabulously rude, he has high standards (he stabs a bassoonist for playing badly) and he’s constantly in trouble with his employers.
Joining Simon Russell Beale who will play Johann Sebastian Bach in the world premiere of Nina Raine's Bach & Sons are Samuel Blenkin as Carl, Pandora Colin as Maria Barbara, Ruth Lass as Katharina, Douggie McMeekin as Wilhelm, Racheal Ofori as Anna Magdalena and Pravessh Rana as Frederick the Great.
Casting has been announced for the upcoming online live read-through of Romeo & Juliet. The event takes place on Thursday 11th March 2021, bringing to life William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet and free to watch for all school-age students across the UK.
Hampstead Theatre's Associate Company, The Mono Box, has announced the launch of The Monologue Library, audio recordings of renowned artists performing their favourite theatrical speeches.
Nicholas Wright's new play, set on the road in wartime America, examines the relationships between Paul Robeson and his Othello co-stars, José Ferrer and Uta Hagen. It does not waste that wonderful set up.
Pandora Colin, Ben Cura, Tory Kittles and Emma Paetz will make their Chichester debuts in Nicholas Wright's new play 8 Hotels, which Richard Eyre directs at the Minerva Theatre from 1 - 24 August (press night: 7 August).
Birth; marriage; death. And everything in between. As day breaks on another ordinary day, the townsfolk of Grover's Corners go about their business: newspapers are delivered; people go to work; gardens are tended to. And a boy and girl fall in love. But as life's events unfold and a community comes together, one question remains: 'do any human beings ever realise life as they live it? Every, every minute?'
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