Marianka Swain - Page 8

Caryl Churchill returns with a new quartet of shorts a?' and, at 81, she's still one of the most daring, formally inventive and linguistically dexterous playwrights working today. There's never any sense that her work could slide into another medium; it requires theatre's abstract arena, its live-wire liveness, the crucial space for an audience to bring their own readings, and the very act of storytelling unfolding.

This new illustrated companion volume to Irene Sankoff and David Hein's Tony and Olivier Award-winning musical Come From Away, which tells the remarkable true story of a small Newfoundland town that welcomed stranded air passengers on 9/11, is just as beautifully and thoughtfully crafted as the show itself.

ABBA mania shows no signs of abating. Following the Mamma Mia! stage musical and two movies, here we go again with Mamma Mia! The Party a?' a hybrid musical theatre/dinner/nightclub experience. London is the first place outside of Sweden to host it, with plans to expand to other territories soon (Las Vegas and New York are possibilities).

Breakin' Convention Presents at Sadler's Wells is a continuation of the venue's popular annual festival, offering hip-hop theatre-makers a platform for their full-length work. Innovative French b-boy Yaman Okur has collaborated with choreographer Sébastien Lefrançois and classical pianist Jean-Philippe Collard-Neven on 1mm Au Dessus Du Sol (1mm Above The Ground).

London is never short of temptations, whether splashy West End shows, epic dramas or bold fringe offerings. From Annie Baker's latest to Ealing comedy and a royal reunion, here are some of this month's most eye-catching openings. Don't forget to check back for BroadwayWorld's reviews, interviews and features!

How theatre should, or should not, be addressing Brexit is a constant topic of conversation. But while Lucy Prebble's phenomenal new work - a combination of horror, espionage thriller, love story and satire, with dazzlingly theatrical framing - doesn't centre around the B world, it is, unquestionably, the play for the present moment.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge is big business. She's a TV superstar, both comedy (Fleabag) and drama (Killing Eve); a Star Wars standout; and, in theory, the feminist saviour of James Bond. But never mind all that. Theatre needs her back.

Renowned medical ethicist Dr Daniel Sokol was the bioethics consultant for Robert Icke's acclaimed new play The Doctor, now playing at the Almeida Theatre and starring Juliet Stevenson. He talks to us about his role and the fascinating area of medical ethics.

London is never short of temptations, whether splashy West End shows, epic dramas or bold fringe offerings. From a landmark musical and Caryl Churchill to Wall Street and ABBA immersion, here are some of this month's most eye-catching openings. Don't forget to check back for BroadwayWorld's reviews, interviews and features!

Robert Icke, an associate director at the Almeida for the past six years, bids farewell in typically bold and epic fashion with his latest contemporary update. Arthur Schnitzler's Professor Bernhardi, which premiered in 1912, has been skilfully reconfigured as an interrogation of 2019's preoccupation with 'identity'.  

Steph Parry's previous work includes 42nd Street, Mamma Mia!, Wicked and Billy Elliot. Her current project is the immersive theatrical dining experience Mamma Mia! The Party, which begins at The O2 on 29 August.

Conductor Martyn Brabbins celebrated his 60th birthday in fine fashion: with a new commission for 14 composers to create their own set of orchestral variations on an anonymous theme, mirroring the shape of Elgar's Enigma Variations. Programme notes from the composers illustrated a genuine fondness for the celebrated conductor, and their perceptions of him - energy, warmth, generosity, humour and virtuosity - shone through in an impressively unified work.

London is never short of temptations, whether splashy West End shows, epic dramas or bold fringe offerings. From Robert Icke's latest to Fleabag, Evita and witchy adventures, here are some of this month's most eye-catching openings. Don't forget to check back for BroadwayWorld's reviews, interviews and features!

In Tahiti in 1940, a penniless Tennessee Williams lay in a hammock beside another writer also despairing of ever finding success, both binge-drinking rum-cocos and welcoming the dramatic storms that temporarily eclipsed their melancholy. To make matters worse, a party of German Nazis was bragging about their success in the war, and Williams' friend pitched 'the long swim to China'.

Oh Lord! The second Biblical Andrew Lloyd Webber opening of the week (taking his current London production total up to a whopping five from next month) is his early collaboration with Tim Rice, celebrating 50 years since its original concept album, and back home at the Palladium. But a joyfully fresh staging makes this a Joseph for 2019 - and a family-friendly summer hit.

JoAnn M Hunter has choreographed for Broadway and West End shows like School of Rock, Disaster and On A Clear Day You Can See Forever. Her current project is the London Palladium revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, starring Jac Yarrow, Jason Donovan and Sheridan Smith.

Adam Kay, doctor-turned-comedian and bestselling author, brings his irresistible combination of gross-out hospital tales, humorous songs and passionate advocacy back to the West End, delighting an audience of both medical professionals and keen fans.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child's creative dream team are reunited for another new venture - although this drama's family doesn't come with an in-built, wand-waving fanbase. Instead, this is a personal work from writer Jack Thorne, who based the play's ideologically committed Sal and David on his own parents.

Do not anger the theatre gods, for their vengeance is swift and mighty. On press night of Michael Frayn's peerless portrait of backstage disasters, the Lyric suffered its own "technical difficulties", adding a distinctly meta frisson to this already gloriously layered comedy.

Tony Award-winning actress Laura Benanti took a quick hiatus from starring in My Fair Lady on Broadway to make her London debut - and those missing out on the former needn't have worried, as she opened with a bravura 15-minute precis of the production, complete with musical highlights.