Battersea Arts Centre News

After an international search, Sadler’s Wells today announced the appointment of UK-based creative innovator Rob Jones to the new role of Associate Artistic Director. He begins his role at Sadler’s Wells in August 2022. 

The 2022 BBC Proms celebrates a homecoming of large-scale orchestral repertoire to the Royal Albert Hall. This year's festival will feature a programme of a scale not heard at the Proms since 2019: the symphonic music of our past responding vividly to the moment, from Verdi's Requiem on the First Night of the Proms, to Mahler's Second Symphony with the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle, to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony performed by the Chineke! Orchestra and Chineke! Voices under Kevin John Edusei.

Regent's Park Open Air Theatre have today announced MOREoutdoor events as part of their 90th anniversary season.

Lindsay Duncan stars alongside Hilton McRae and Emily Bruni in the UK tour of August Strindberg's The Dance of Death, adapted by Academy Award-winning playwright Rebecca Lenkiewicz and directed by Arcola Theatre's Artistic Director Mehmet Ergen.

New Earth Theatre today announce the cast for Tsunagu/Connect Live, created by Kumiko Mendl and Kazuko Hohki. This theatre production was developed in response to an oral history project launched in 2020, that conducted over 30 interviews with Japanese women living in the UK.

The Orange Tree Theatre today announces the full cast for the UK première of Pamela Carter's The Misfortune of the English. Oscar Toeman directs Hubert Burton (Harrison), Vinnie Heaven (Eaton), Eva Magyar (Tour Guide), and Matthew Tennyson (Lyons). The production opens on 28 April, with previews from 25 April, and runs until 28 May, with a livestreamed performance via OT On Screen on 12 May and available to stream on demand from 31 May – 3 June.

The UK Pantomime Association has announced the nominations for The Pantomime Awards in association with Butlin's.

Wise Children today announce that Liam Tamne joins the company as Heathcliff for the world première production of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights on 15 March, completing the run at the National ahead of the UK tour. Adapted and directed by Emma Rice, the show is a co-production with the National Theatre, Bristol Old Vic and York Theatre Royal.

We’ve been saying it for decades, robots are going to take over the world. While it’s obvious now that there are many jobs that can be undertaken by more efficient metal arms and the lot, for a while we latched on to the reassurance that there are some things that they simply cannot do - being empathetic or feeling, for instance. While working robots have the tendency to be removed from looking like the human figure, it’s more and more common to see humanoid machines in human roles. They’re carers and sexual partners, customer service assistants and hotel receptionists.

In March 2020, theatres, community centres and arts venues across the UK went dark, disconnecting audiences and theatre artists. In response, ETT and Headlong came together to imagine a project that would celebrate the extraordinary diversity of the national touring network: an ‘open source’ idea for performances and storytelling that could happen around a campfire, to inspire theatre companies across the UK.

Figs in Wigs will reprise their  live art, feminist adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's classic novel Little Women – Little Wimmin as part of WOW – Women of the World – London 2022 Festival prior to a UK tour. Running at the Southbank Centre from 11-13 March, the London edition of the WOW is the world's biggest, most comprehensive festival celebrating women, girls and non-binary people.

ViSiBLE, a theatre company dedicated to creating work focused on later life, today announce the full cast and new dates for the world première of Five Characters in Search of a Good Night's Sleep, devised by Mike Alfreds and Sonja Linden with the company - Geraldine Alexander, Andrew Hawkins, Sally Knyvette, Gary Lilburn and Vincenzo Nicoli.

Midlands-based independent theatre studio China Plate have announced the appointment of their first ever Executive Director, Chloe Courtney, and Sarah Preece as the Chair of the Board. Chloe Courtney takes up their role in March, joining the leadership team of Artistic Directors Ed Collier and Paul Warwick and in May Sarah will take over from Phyllida Hancock who was in the role for four years.

Winners of The Stage Awards 2022, in association with Tysers Insurance Brokers, were announced at Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London today, on Monday, January 31. 

Following the success of POLITICAL MOTHER UNPLUGGED and the short film POLITICAL MOTHER: The Final Cut, Hofesh Shechter Company presents Contemporary Dance 2.0 performed by Shechter II, the acclaimed apprentice company of the celebrated choreographer for dancers aged 18-25. 

On the premise that his question cannot be answered, Malik Nashad Sharpe has developed the concept, choreography and direction of 'He's Dead' “to shed tears for the things that we cannot unearth.” Combining dance, text, live action, and sound, the work explores humanisation, how far we can extend our care. This is their first time performing live at Battersea Arts Centre (BAC).

The Arts Foundation announce the five recipients of The Arts Foundation Futures Awards £10,000 Fellowship for Animation, Materials Innovation, Music for Change, Theatre-Makers and Visual Arts.

BAC will also celebrate talented young people in Homegrown festival this spring, a platform for emerging artists to perform and present their own events. Further details on how to apply will be announced soon.

Moving Roots, a creative touring network led by Battersea Arts Centre, today announces arts organisation Restoke (Stoke-on-Trent) as its newest member, joining producing partners Common Wealth (East Cardiff), Jumped Up Theatre (Peterborough) and The Old Courts (Wigan).

OffWestEnd has announced 86 finalists for its Offies awards 2022. The Offies recognise and celebrate the excellence, innovation and ingenuity of independent, fringe and alternative theatres across London, helping to raise their profiles and rewarding the new talent that they nurture, which is essential for the future of the theatre industry.