Mica Blackwell - Page 2

Revolutionising musical theatre when it first premiered in 1963, Joan Littlewood’s Oh What A Lovely War found humour in expressing its anti-war sentiments to songs popular for the period, even garnering a film adaptation directed by Richard Attenborough.

Since its five-track EP was released in 2020, much hype has surrounded new musical British Treason. Spawning concert versions at Cadogan Hall and the Theatre Royal Drury Lane starring West End heavyweights including Hadley Fraser, Rosalie Craig, Carrie Hope Fletcher and Bradley Jaden, Treason’s first fully staged touring production now stops at the Alexandra Palace.

Riddled with cliched dialogue and unfunny gags, much of the play is spent watching a dysfunctional family bicker through meandering conversations with little structure or purpose.

Following an acclaimed run at Edinburgh Fringe, Box Tail Soup’s puppet-based adaptation of James’ horror is now terrifying audience-goers across the UK, stopping at London’s The Pleasance Theatre.

As The Statesman says, the late Mustapha Matura was “the most perceptive and humane of Black dramatists writing in Britain. His 1981 satire Meetings can be proof of that, first opening Off-Broadway and now making its first major 21st-century UK return to the Orange Tree Theatre. In his directorial debut, JMK Young Directors Award winner Kalungi Ssebandeke’s production proves why this classic remains hilarious as ever.

In 1972, Caryl Churchill’s first professionally staged work Owners caused quite the stir when it opened. Part farcical comedy, part biting critique of the housing crisis, her play now returns from Artistic Director Stella Powell-Jones.

Loosely based on the article The Ivory Highway, Lynn Nottage’s (MJ The Musical) eye-opening drama first made its Off-Broadway premiere in 2018. Now setting its sights in London’s Kiln Theatre, her powerful message on the impact of corruption and greed still remains as urgent as it did five years ago.

First opening in 2022, Anupama Chandrasekhar's (When the Crows Visit) debut play for The National Theatre, The Father and The Assassin . One of India’s most prominent and taboo-busting playwrights, her historical epic returns to the Olivier stage, now with Olivier winner Hiran Abeysekera (Life Of Pi) taking over as the titular assassin.

In today’s more progressive world, society still tells women the most fulfilling part of life is to have children. So often they’re told “give it a try” or “you’ll change your mind,” but Florence Howard’s debut play Agatha at Theatre503 boldly says sometimes women don’t want children, and that’s OK.

Spy For Spy is a play with a difference: The audience is in control of how its scenes play out, picking song titles with red heart balloons forty minutes before the performance starts.

Starting life in 1984 and garnering a successful reboot in 2020, Spitting Image remains a British comedy staple. Taking jabs at every public figure possible regardless if they’re a politician, celebrity, royal family member or musician, the cult classic show has made its way to the West End following a run at Birmingham Rep.

Last night, The Time Traveller’s Wife: The Musical  hosted an official launch event at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London. Performances on the night included cast members David Hunter, Joanna Woodward, Tim Mahendran & Hiba Elchikhe as well as writers of the original music and lyrics Joss Stone and Dave Stewart. See photos from the event.

Following an acclaimed run at Edinburgh Fringe, Maltese co-writers and activists Davinia Hamilton and Marta Vella’s Blanket Ban is now home at the Southwark Playhouse for the next month.

A smash hit in theatres including The King’s Head, The Vaults and Edinburgh Fringe, his drama comedy now returns in an updated version at the Waterloo East Theatre.

Barney Norris wrote his debut play Visitors when he was only twenty years-old. Following its 2014 premiere at the Arcola, it garnered critical acclaim and earned Norris a Critic’s Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright. Following a national tour and Off-West End run at the Bush, Norris returns almost a decade later in the director’s chair for Visitors’ first major revival at the Watermill Theatre.

A staple of the British stage, Noël Coward’s Hay Fever was inspired by the playwright’s travels in New York meeting an eccentric family. Supposedly, the matriarch wasn’t kind to Coward’s perceptions of their lifestyle, but this comedy of manners still paid off and has become one of his best known works. In celebration of the 50th anniversary of Coward’s passing, the charming Mill at Sonning is staging a new revival.

Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler has been a vehicle for many actresses to show off their dramatic chops. But when you have Diana Rigg, Ingrid Bergman and Ruth Wilson previously inhabit the titular role, it’s easy to see why. Often dubbed “the female Hamlet,” Ibsen’s titular story breathes new life in Harriet Madeley’s queer spin premiering at Reading Rep.