Barbican Theatre News

The supremely talented singer, songwriter and actress Kerry Ellis has announced the release of her 4th studio album, Kings & Queens, out on Westway Music on 12 May 2023.

Belgian dance company Peeping Tom verily put the 'trip' into Triptych, a brilliantly bizarre neo-noir dance trilogy full of deliciously dark delights.

A party where no guests turns up. A punch bowl spiked with enough booze to get a mountain gorilla drunk. And a dancing carrot stick. Welcome to Bill's 44th birthday.

A mime show about the tragedy and the beauty of being human, all too human.

Slashed, smashed, squished, shot, stabbed and splatted: these are only some of the ways that Canadian company The Old Trout Puppet Workshop kill off their creations in the pitch-black Famous Puppet Death Scenes, making its London premiere at The Barbican as part of this year's London International Mime Festival.

Baritone Michael Mayes, a native Texan, returns to Dallas for his first venture into Richard Wagner and The Ring Cycle, debuting the role of Alberich in a new production of Das Rheingold. Born and reared in Cut'n'Shoot, Mayes graduated with a degree in Vocal Performance from the University of North Texas.

Wiltshire Creative has announced full casting for their production of Alan Ayckbourn's How the Other Half Loves. Gareth Machin directs Sam Alexander (William Featherstone), Sherry Baines (Fiona Foster), Philip Bretherton (Frank Foster), and Rebecca Cooper (Mary Featherstone), Haydn Oakley (Bob Phillips), and Joanna van Kampen (Teresa Phillips).

If 2020 was the year theatre ground to a halt and 2021 was when it nervously found its legs again (only to fall over occasionally), then 2022 was when it blasted back to some kind of normal with many pandemic-delayed shows finally seeing the inside of a venue.

Over 400 state school pupils from Barking and Dagenham have enjoyed an exclusive insight into the making-of the landmark theatrical adaptation of Studio Ghibli's My Neighbour Totoro. A targeted programme of insight sessions, in-school workshops and subsidized theatre tickets has been made possible through the RSC's partnership with TikTok.

Some highlights of the last year and some hopes for an uncertain future

Tickets are now on sale for the 5th Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, the largest of its kind in North America, returning January 18-29, 2023, at venues large and small throughout the city.

Roundabout Theatre Company's 2023 Gala will honor Amy Sherman-Palladino, Daniel Palladino, Scott Ellis, and Black Theatre United on Monday, March 6 at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York City.

2022 got off to a shaky start. The shadow of Omicron loomed threatening another year of cancellations and a return to the online realm. But as soon as Covid worries dissipated and theatres reopened their doors with confidence, a gentle tide of scandals and uproars ebbed and flowed across the theatre world. Yes, theatre is back, but is it better than ever?

The UK and Ireland Tour of Disney's The Lion King will welcome 12 new members to its cast of over 50 actors, singers and dancers this winter. The award winning landmark musical is currently playing a season at Manchester Palace until 11 March, where over 300,000 people will experience the show during the only North West dates.

A selection of theatres that are offering relaxed performances of their shows over the festive period.

This is a theatrical experience unlike any other, crafted with accessibility at the helm. The framework of each unique production is built around empowering disabled people’s autonomy; Rachel has every freedom available to her as both cast and audience await her next creative decision.

Designed to support mid-career artists and companies working in theatre and dance, the Barbican Theatre Open Lab programme gives artists the opportunity to develop a new project, idea or performance as well as taking part in a year-long programme of support.

Vincent Dance Theatre (VDT) has been moving people and making them think with powerful, provocative, socially-engaged dance theatre work since 1994. Against a post-pandemic backdrop, where everything appears to be 'back to normal', Hold Tight articulates the social and emotional confusion that three years of isolation, uncertainty, planning and re-planning has left within us.

A profound meditation on the nature of mental illness

The global premiere of Studio Ghibli's My Neighbour Totoro has now arrived on London's Barbican stage, but what did the critics think?