Alex Eales News

The National Theatre has announced new productions for all three South Bank stages this summer: Alan Bleasdale’s Boys from the Blackstuff and Mnemonic in the Olivier theatre and The Grapes of Wrath in the Lyttelton theatre, alongside the previously announced The Hot Wing King in the Dorfman theatre. 

Marina Carr’s award-winning play returns to London directed by Carrie Cracknell and starring Conversations with Friends starlet Alison Oliver (who trod the same boards earlier this year in Women, Beware the Devil). A compelling analysis of toxic dysfunction and female pain, Portia Coughlan is a jarring family drama shackled by tragedy. It propels Oliver into theatre stardom. 

The Almeida Theatre has announced the full cast for Carrie Cracknell’s production of Marina Carr’s Portia Coughlan. 

The full cast of Bristol Old Vic's Autumn headline production Hamlet has been announced, bringing together some of the hottest young talent and theatrical heavyweights for a visceral new production running from 13 Oct - 12 Nov.

An unflinching examination of power and gender roles told through the perspective of a student-teacher relationship that is unafraid to pose difficult questions of its audience.

Theatre Royal Bath Productions and Jonathan Church Productions' critically acclaimed production of David Mamet's highly provocative drama Oleanna, directed by Lucy Bailey, will tour the UK this Summer from 8 June, visiting Cambridge, Bath, Southampton and Malvern, before transferring to the West End's Arts Theatre, London from 21 July to 23 October 2021.

Can a controversial production that was staged nearly 30 years ago still feel relevant today? The answer is a resounding yes.

Theatre Royal Bath is now presenting Betrayal. The show runs from 14 October to 31 October.

In the week that Dominic West appeared in a cringe-worthy “We’re still happily married” two-hander on the doorstep of his Wiltshire home with his deceived wife, the opening of Harold Pinter’s tale of betraying loved ones couldn’t be more timely.

The Opera Theatre of St. Louis continues its 44th festival season of world class opera with a magnificent production of Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto. OTSL presented a splendid Rigoletto fourteen years ago, but this production is, I think, even better. It's the best Rigoletto your ever likely to see.

Helen of Troy didn't launch a thousand ships but was a put-upon sexual victim and Marilyn Monroe--born Norma Jeane Baker, of the title--was a cloud in the shape of a woman. It was also a “disaster to be a girl” in those days before #MeToo, with powerful men (whether Menelaus or Arthur Miller) holding beautiful women captive (and worse). That was just part of Anne Carson's new ”dramatic work,” NORMA JEANE BAKER OF TROY, with its effective tonal score by Paul Clark, and two wonderful performers, soprano Renee Fleming and British actor Ben Whishaw, under director Katie Mitchell.

During her lifetime, Pina Bausch's expansion of German expressionist dance into raw, bizarre but nonetheless affecting spectacle revolutionised contemporary dance. In the decade since her sudden death, her company Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch has restricted itself to performing the back catalogue of prolific work she created.

'My mother says you're tragedy personified,' reports a precocious child to Carol, who recently attempted suicide. It's typical of Alice Birch's harrowing new play, which wrings blistering humour as well as despair from its accomplished portrait of women in pain and their disconnect from those around them.

Royal Court Theatre has announced the cast for Anatomy Of A Suicide, written by Alice Birch, directed by Katie Mitchell.

Opera Theatre of St. Louis continues its forty-first season with another remarkably fine production-Verdi's Macbeth.

Katie Mitchell helms Sarah Kane's graphic play CLEANSED, beginning tonight, February 16, at the National's Dorfman Theatre.

Katie Mitchell will helm Sarah Kane's graphic play CLEANSED, beginning February 16 at the National's Dorfman Theatre.

Pat Barker's Booker-nominated novel, REGENERATION, has been adapted for the stage by Olivier Award-winning playwright Nicholas Wright (His Dark Materials, Vincent in Brixton), it opened at Royal & Derngate, Northampton on 29 August 2014 prior to a national tour. The production plays Wolverhampton Grand Theatre from 4 - 8 November 2014.

Pat Barker's Booker-nominated novel, Regeneration, has been adapted for the stage by Olivier Award-winning playwright Nicholas Wright (His Dark Materials, Vincent in Brixton), opening at Royal & Derngate, Northampton from 29 August to 20 September, with press night on 2 September, prior to a national tour.

Pat Barker's Booker-nominated novel, Regeneration, has been adapted for the stage by Olivier Award-winning playwright Nicholas Wright (His Dark Materials, Vincent in Brixton), opening at Royal & Derngate, Northampton from 29 August to 20 September, with press night on 2 September, prior to a national tour. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the company in rehearsal below!