John Osborne News

A new theatrical general management company has launched this month with news of its first touring show; John Osborne's The Entertainer, starring Shane Richie and directed by Sean O'Connor. The Entertainer will open week commencing August 26th at Leicester Curve and finish the tour in Shrewsbury on 23rd November 2019.

Shane Richie will play 'Archie Rice' in a brand-new production of John Osborne's The Entertainer - chosen as one of the greatest plays of the 20th century by Michael Billington.

You've seen Orange is the New Black. You've seen Locked Up. You've seen Bad Girls. So, what have we got that's different? Well, for one, we've been to prison.

Insightful, moving, funny and inspirational take on the interconnected worlds of women, science and space travel

This fascinating tome offers an insider's history of the National Theatre, via some 800 letters exchanged between Artistic Directors, actors, directors, playwrights, politicians, agents, critics and more. From arcane trivia through to vigorous words on the very nature and purpose of drama, it's a theatre geek's must-have.

Chris Stapleton reveled in a celebratory night in Nashville as he took home three wins at "The 52nd Annual CMA Awards," while Keith Urban warmed hearts with his gracious acceptance of the coveted Entertainer of the Year trophy. Country Music's Biggest Night was hosted for the 11th consecutive year by Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood and aired live from Bridgestone Arena in Nashville Wednesday, Nov. 14 on the ABC Television Network.

Rubicon Theatre Artistic Director Karyl Lynn Burns today announced that London-based director Katharine Farmer will helm the company's next two productions, a two-piano version of South Pacific (Dec. 5 - 23, 2018) which concludes Rubicon's 20th Anniversary Season, and Heisenberg (Jan. 30 - Feb. 17, 2019), a co-production with Laguna Playhouse, where the show runs Mar. 27 to Apr. 14, 2019).

Rubicon Theatre Artistic Director Karyl Lynn Burns today announced that London-based director Katharine Farmer will helm the company's next two productions, a two-piano version of South Pacific(Dec. 5 - 23, 2018) which concludes Rubicon's 20th Anniversary Season, and Heisenberg (Jan. 30 - Feb. 17, 2019), a co-production with Laguna Playhouse, where the show runs Mar. 27 to Apr. 14, 2019).

Dawn King's Foxfinder will have its West End premiere at the Ambassadors Theatre from 6 September 2018 for a strictly limited season until 5 January 2019. Olivier Award-winner Iwan Rheon (Game of Thrones' Ramsay Bolton, Misfits) will star in the unsettling and darkly comic drama directed by Rachel O'Riordan whose production of Killology at the Royal Court won the 2018 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Affiliate Theatre. Further casting will be announced at a later date.

Producer David Binder just announced today that Golden Globe Award Winner and Emmy Award Nominee Keri Russell will join three-time Emmy Award nominee Adam Driver in the first revival of Pulitzer Prize Winner Lanford Wilson's BURN THIS. Directed by Tony Award winner Michael Mayer, BURN THIS will begin performances in March 2019 at a Broadway theater to be announced.

Full casting is announced for Foxfinder's West End premiere which begins performances at the Ambassadors Theatre on 6 September and will play a strictly limited season until 5 January. Olivier nominee Bryony Hannah (Call the Midwife) and Paul Nicholls (Law & Order, The C-Word, EastEnders) will join the previously announced Heida Reed (Poldark) and Olivier winner Iwan Rheon (Game of Thrones' Ramsay Bolton, Misfits) in Dawn King's unsettling and darkly comic drama.

Millions of Poldark fans were left heartbroken on Sunday evening when Heida Reed's character Elizabeth Warleggan met her untimely and tragic end in the season finale. After four series as a lead in the much-loved BBC drama, Heida Reed bowed out in a dramatic episode which saw her character Elizabeth die from a concoction taken to induce early labour. As the nation tuned in for the season four finale this week, the emotional scenes saw Poldark fans take to social media in their droves to express their dismay at the shock departure of this popular character.

In a new production commissioned by the Finborough Theatre, the rediscovery of Tony Harrison's Square Rounds in its first UK production for nearly 30 years opens at the Finborough Theatre for a four week limited season on Tuesday, 4 September 2018 (Press Nights: Thursday, 6 September and Friday, 7 September 2018 at 7.30pm).

This year PBH Free Fringe is pleased to announce a special roster of rotating shows in a venue offering full disabled access.

Dawn King's Foxfinder will have its West End premiere at the Ambassadors Theatre from 6 September 2018 for a strictly limited season until 5 January 2019. Olivier Award-winner Iwan Rheon (Game of Thrones' Ramsay Bolton, Misfits) will star in the unsettling and darkly comic drama directed by Rachel O'Riordan whose production of Killology at the Royal Court won the 2018 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Affiliate Theatre. Further casting will be announced at a later date.

Chrissy Metz, the Emmy Award and Golden Globe nominated star of the NBC drama This Is Us, will make her stage debut in Neil LaBute's critically acclaimed play Fat Pig at the Geffen Playhouse.

The Public Theater (Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis; Executive Director, Patrick Willingham) will begin previews for a limited eight-week run of the Abbey Theatre and the Royal Court Theatre's acclaimed production of CYPRUS AVENUE on Saturday, June 2. The new play, written by David Ireland and directed by Royal Court Artistic Director Vicky Featherstone, features Stephen Rea, who last performed at The Public in 2008 in Sam Shepard's Kicking a Dead Horse. The run at The Public follows encore engagements at Dublin's Peacock Stage at the Abbey Theatre (April 30-May 19) and the MAC in Belfast (May 23-26). CYPRUS AVENUE will run through Sunday, July 29 in The Public's LuEsther Hall, with an official press opening on Monday, June 25.

Due to incredible demand, Brothers Osborne will return to the UK for a run of headline shows in November / December 2018; this announcement comes as the award-winning duo – originally from Maryland, now based in Nashville – are poised to start their first ever headline tour of the UK & Ireland, with venues selling out fast and upgrades taking place where possible.  

The Public Theater (Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis; Executive Director, Patrick Willingham) announced today a two-week extension for the world premiere of MLIMA'S TALE. Written by two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage and directed by Obie Award winner Jo Bonney, MLIMA'S TALE continues The Public's Astor Anniversary Season at their landmark downtown home on Lafayette Street, celebrating 50 years of new work and the 50th Anniversary of HAIR. MLIMA'S TALE will now run two additional weeks through Sunday, June 3.

Final casting is announced for a rare production of D H Lawrence's The Daughter-in-Law, a searing and unforgettable drama about heartache, inequality and the ties that bind, set in the heat of the 1912 miners' strike.