Bush Theatre News

Marco Ramirez's drama is loosely based on the story of heavyweight champ Jack Johnson.

Abrons Arts Center and New York City Players' American Playwrights Division present Really, a new play written by Jackie Sibblies Drury, directed by Richard Maxwell and designed by photographer Michael Schmelling. Performed by Elaine Davis, Tavish Miller and Kaneza Schaal, Really is a play about grief, intimacy and the difference between goodness and greatness seen through the lens of photography. A black woman takes pictures of her artist boyfriend's mom. As they jockey for a claim to him, they try to redefine themselves in the wake of his legacy.

Following another critically successful year, The Yard's Artistic Director Jay Miller is delighted to announce plans for Spring through to Summer 2016.

Due to unprecedented demand, the critically acclaimed production of Funny Girl, which is fast selling out its run, extends booking for a further 4 weeks until 8 October 2016. Tickets for the extension of Michael Mayer's "exhilarating embrace of a production - Independent" starring Olivier and BAFTA award-winning actress and "phenomenal talent - Independent" Sheridan Smith as Fanny Brice go on sale from 10am on 8 February.

FUNNY GIRL, starring Sheridan Smith, is now running Menier Chocolate Factory through March 5 before transferring to the West End's Savoy Theatre from April 9. According to the Daily Mail, the smash hit production, marking the musical's 50th anniversary year and helmed by Michael Mayer, has just extended its run at the Savoy by four weeks through October 8, 2016.

Terrifyingly, one in two of us will experience cancer first-hand. Toby Peach has bravely brought this universal issue to the stage and now his highly-acclaimed, five-star, award-winning Edinburgh Fringe show is embarking on a UK tour, starting at Vault Festival in London from 17th-21st February 2016.

Directed by Tom Littler. Designed by Phil Lindley. Sound by Max Pappenheim. Lighting by Rob Mills.

It is announced today that Claudie Blakley, Marcus Fraser, Mark Hadfield and Alex Macqueen will join previously confirmed cast members Kenneth Branagh and Rob Brydon in the Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company's new comedy The Painkiller. The fifth production in the Plays at the Garrick season will play from 5 March until 30 April with press night on 17 March.

Sian Thomas will be taking on the role of Mrs Fox in the Donmar's production of Welcome Home, Captain Fox! replacing Francesca Annis who regrettably has had to withdraw from the production for personal reasons.

This Easter, Wales Millennium Centre will premiere its first full-scale, original musical, ONLY THE BRAVE, produced with Soho Theatre, Daniel Sparrow Productions and Birdsong Productions. Based on the real lives of men and women caught up in the D-Day landings, this new production will star David Thaxton, Caroline Sheen and Neil McDermott, directed by Steve Marmion, Artistic Director of London's Soho Theatre.

The Royal Court has worked with a group of 12 writers from Syria and Lebanon over the last two years with workshops supported by the British Council in Broumana and Beirut. These workshops have been led by playwrights David Greig, Sam Holcroft and Royal Court International Director Elyse Dodgson. Excerpts from all of the plays were presented at Al Madina Theatre in Beirut in May 2015 directed by Richard Twyman.

CLICKBAIT is a darkly comic new play about society's attitude to porn and the women who make it for themselves. From the exciting all female writer/director team behind A First World Problem (Milly Thomas and Holly Race Roughan) comes this blistering study of how pornography is changing women's relationship to sex in the 21st Century.

The cast is announced and rehearsals begin today for RIGHT NOW, a co-production between the Bush Theatre, Traverse theatre Company and Theatre Royal Bath Ustinov Studio.

The Donmar announces full casting for the UK premiere of Elegy by playwright Nick Payne. Directed by Artistic Director Josie Rourke, the full cast is Barbara Flynn as Carrie, Nina Sosanya as Miriam and Zoe Wanamaker as Lorna, all making a return to the Donmar stage. Elegy starts previews from 21 April and imagines a very-near future in which radical and unprecedented advances in medical science mean that it's now possible to extend life.

In a production commissioned by the Finborough Theatre, the first professional UK production in more than 30 years of Andy Capp The Musical by Alan Price and Trevor Peacock runs at the Finborough Theatre, playing Sunday and Monday evenings and Tuesday matinees from Sunday, 7 February (Press Night: Monday, 8 February 2016 at 7.30pm).

Theatre Royal Plymouth Artistic Director Simon Stokes today announces the full cast for his production of James Graham's Monster Raving Loony.  Samuel James takes the role of Screaming Lord Sutch, with Joseph Alessi, Camilla Beeput, Joanna Brookes, Jack Brown playing a number of different characters. The production opens on Wednesday 10th February, with previews from Saturday 6th February, and runs until Sat 27th February.

With the critically acclaimed Show Boat currently running in the Crucible, and Partus and A Raisin in the Sun in rehearsals, Sheffield Theatres' Artistic Director Daniel Evans announces the full casts for the forthcoming productions of Waiting For Godot and the world premiere of Richard Bean's comedy thriller The Nap, both at the Crucible this spring.

The award-winning poet and playwright Sabrina Mahfouz is joining the judging panel in the sixth year of the prestigious WICKED YOUNG WRITER AWARDS. The WICKED YOUNG WRITER AWARDS were set up by the team behind the award-winning musical to recognise excellence in writing and encourage creativity. The closing date for entries is 11 March 2016.

Casting has been announced for award-winning writer Owen Sheers' acclaimed play Pink Mist, about the mental and physical scars of war, which opens at the Bush Theatre in January 2016 before a run at the Bristol Old Vic.