Royal Shakespeare Company News

Trustus Theatre is bringing a new adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol to the Thigpen Main Stage this December. This new script by Patrick Barlow, the Tony-award winning playwright of The 39 Steps, is a whirlwind telling of the classic holiday story where five actors take on all of the roles. Trustus will be one of only four theatres who have the rights to produce this new adaptation as the show also makes its Off-Broadway premiere this holiday season. Scrooge and all of his ghostly counterparts will come to the Thigpen Main Stage as A Christmas Carol opens Friday December 6th at 8:00pm. The show will run through December 21st, 2013 with matinees on Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets may be purchased at www.trustus.org.

It was announced today that the Broadway production of Shakespeare's timeless love story ROMEO AND JULIET, starring international film star Orlando Bloom in his Broadway debut opposite two-time Tony Award nominee Condola Rashad, will play two weeks past its originally announced 14-week limited Broadway engagement - with a final performance set for Sunday, December 8, 2013, after 27 previews and 93 regular performances at the Richard Rodgers Theatre (226 West 46th Street).

The UK premiere of Claudia Dey's acclaimed play comes to The Little starring Sinead Matthews (A Time to Reap, Royal Court; The Changeling, The Glass Menagerie, Young Vic; The Master & Margarita, Complicite at Barbican and on tour; Women of Troy, The Mandate, National; The Wild Duck, Donmar), Vinette Robinson (Hamlet, Young Vic; Measure for Measure, National Theatre; Speaking Like Magpies, RSC; Tender Napalm, Southwark Playhouse; Sherlock) and Dylan Smith (Private Lives with Kim Cattrall, Toronto and Broadway; Zadie's Shoes, Finborough; Golden Swords, Shakespeare's Globe; Total Recall, 300, Eastenders).

Regrettably, due to medical circumstances beyond his control, Craig Bierko will not be resuming his role as Miss Trunchbull in the Broadway production of Matilda the Musical. During rehearsals for the role of Agatha Trunchbull, Craig injured his shoulder making it impossible for him to meet all the physical requirements of the part.

The Almeida Theatre's five-star production of Ibsen's Ghosts, adapted and directed by Richard Eyre, will transfer to Trafalgar Studios, playing from Tuesday 17 December. Lesley Manville, Jack Lowden, Brian McCardie and Charlene McKenna will reprise their roles and are joined by Adam Kotz as Pastor Manders.

The Royal Shakespeare Company's (RSC) production of William Shakespeare's RICHARD II with David Tennant was screened across the U.K. last Wednesday, November 13th. The production was seen by more than 60,000 people in 364 cinemas across the U.K., generating more than £1 million ($1.6 million) in box office receipts, including the more than 20,000 people who booked tickets for upcoming screenings.

THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL Arthur Pita's magical family show premieres at DanceEast for Christmas 12 - 24 December 2013 DanceEast, The Jerwood DanceHouse, Ipswich Award-winning director & choreographer Arthur Pita premieres his new dance theatre show The Little Match Girl at DanceEast, Ipswich this Christmas, from Thursday 12 to Tuesday 24 December. A dance theatre adaptation after Hans Christian Anderson's classic story, The Little Match Girl presents a magical festive treat for all ages 4 and above.

Julie Taymor, the Oscar and Tony Award-winning director of film, theatre and opera comes to 92Y tonight, November 17 to talk about her work in a conversation moderated by actor Harry Lennix, who received a Golden Satellite Award in Taymor's Titus.

Move over Grinch; Santa Claus is coming to town and taking up residence at Rubicon Theatre in Ventura! Rubicon's November/ December HOLIDAY CENTRAL calendar offers a sparkling array of more than 35 shows and events for all ages. The festivities begin with the return of a holiday revue with six Broadway singers and a local children's chorus; followed by a late-night adult comedy presented in a cabaret setting; a poetic reading of wartime love letters; and culminating with an enchanting new musical from the Tony and Olivier Award-winning director of Les Miserables and Nicholas Nickleby and the creators of Jane Eyre and Daddy Long Legs, who will have a five-week residency at Rubicon during the holidays.

Jamie Wilson, Paul Elliott, Duncan C Weldon and Matthew Mitchell are delighted to announce the full casting for the World Premiere of "ROBIN COUSINS' ICE". The national tour opens at Southampton Mayflower Theatre on Thursday 16 January 2014, ahead of a planned world tour.

Director Richard Eyre's adaptation of Ibsen's GHOSTS, running at The Almeida Theatre now through 23 November, will transfer to Trafalgar Studios beginning 9 December 2013, according to the Daily Mail.

Breakfast With Mugabe, Fraser Grace's award-winning drama, returns by popular demand, after its successful New York City premiere this past August at the Signature Center, for a 10 week run at The Lion Theatre on Theatre Row, commencing in January 2014.

The inimitable Olivier Award winner and Tony Award nominee Fiona Shaw (Medea, 2002 Next Wave; Happy Days, 2008 Spring Season; John Gabriel Borkman, 2011 Spring Season) and dancer Daniel Hay-Gordon perform one of the best loved poems in the English language, Samuel Taylor Coleridge's epic The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, under the acclaimed direction of Phyllida Lloyd. This fiery, pared-down adaption of the 215-year-old tale tells of consequences paid while marooned at sea and of man's wanderings throughout the world in search of meaning.

Once again, Coventry's Belgrade Theatre is covering all bases this Christmas, with festive fun for the family on the Main Stage in its traditional pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk, and a yuletide treat for grown-ups in its brand new B2 Xmas Show, Oh No It Isn't!, starring RSC actress Katy Stephens.

The Brewing Dept. is proud to present the final production of its inaugural cycle, a new staging of Henrik Ibsen's The Lady from the Sea, running tonight, November 14-17, 2013.

The cast of the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Roald Dahl's Matilda The Musical will kick off the annual BBC Children in Need 2013 Appeal Night broadcast on Friday 15th November from 7:30pm on BBC One. As previously announced, Sir Terry Wogan, Tess Daly, Fearne Cotton, Zoe Ball and Nick Grimshaw will play host to some of the biggest names in music, comedy and entertainment including One Direction, Doctor Who, Harry Hill, and cast of Call The Midwife.

Following critically acclaimed, smash-hit runs at The Hartford Stage and San Diego's Old Globe Theatre, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder stars Tony Award Winner Jefferson Mays and Bryce Pinkham, and features Lisa O'Hare, Lauren Worsham, Jane Carr, Pamela Bob, Joanna Glushak,Eddie Korbich, Jeff Kready, Mark Ledbetter, Jennifer Smith, Price Waldman, and Catherine Walker. A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder officially opens on Sunday, November 17. Scroll down to learn more about the cast!

The stage premiere of Shakespeare in Love will open at London's Noel Coward Theatre in the summer of 2014. This new play will be adapted for the stage by Lee Hall from the screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard. Declan Donnellan will direct and the production will be designed by Nick Ormerod. Shakespeare in Love will be produced by Disney Theatrical Productions and Sonia Friedman Productions.

The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) previously announced that it is collaborating with Picturehouse Entertainment on 'Live from Stratford-upon-Avon', a new programme to screen its productions live from Shakespeare's home town, and will work with Ravensbourne College to stream the production straight to UK schools.