Leaphia Darko

 Joining the previously announced Anton Lesser (Pope Benedict XVI) and Nicholas Woodeson (Cardinal Bergoglio – the future Pope Francis) in the London premiere and tour of Anthony McCarten’s The Two Popes, will be Lynsey Beauchamp as Sister Brigitta and Leaphia Darko as Sister Sophia, with Malcolm James and Angela Jones in the ensemble.  

Shakespeare's Globe has announced the 201920 Sam Wanamaker Playhouse Season. Centred around She Wolves and Shrews, the season is a celebration and interrogation of women, power, and the role of the feminine in shaping our past, present and future. The candlelit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse will play host to a world-premiere of Ella Hickson's new play Swive [Elizabeth], Shakespeare's Henry VI, Richard III, and The Taming of the Shrew, and Middleton's Women Beware Women. Sandi and Jenifer Toksvig have written a new family show dubbed, Christmas at the (Snow) Globe, and a series of candlelit ghost tales will include a new story from Jeanette Winterson. Other events running throughout the season include half-term storytelling festival, Half Term Tales at the Globe, with the new Children's Laureate Cressida Cowell, and a double bill of Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own and Three Guineas, marking the centenary year since the removal of the sex disqualification act. The Globe's flagship project for secondary and post-16 students, Playing Shakespeare with Deutsche Bank, reaches its 14th year with Macbeth.

London is never short of temptations, whether splashy West End shows, epic dramas or bold fringe offerings. From timely plays to the beginning of open-air theatre season, here are some of this month's most eye-catching openings. Don't forget to check back for BroadwayWorld's reviews, interviews and features!

Shakespeare's Globe is delighted to announce the Summer Season 2019. Celebrating and interrogating our 'sceptred isle' through Shakespeare's history plays, a year-long journey begins with Richard II, opening 22 February in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, continuing into the Globe Theatre this summer with Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, and Henry V. The season also includes A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Ben Jonson's Bartholomew Fair, and the return of 2018's As You Like It. Robin Hood tales will form the core of the Read Not Dead series this year, and festivals throughout the summer include Women & Power and Poland is Hamlet. This year's Playing Shakespeare with Deutsche Bank production will be Romeo and Juliet, opening on 28 February, with 20,000 free tickets available to state secondary schools. The Shakespeare's Globe Touring Ensemble will once again present a trio of plays for the audience to choose from: The Comedy of Errors, Pericles, and Twelfth Night.

Love's Labour's Lost is one of Shakespeare's earlier comedies and has never been one of his more popular plays. Even attempts to make it more appealing by Kenneth Branagh in 2000 by turning it into a musical did little to sway public opinion. Nick Bagnall's production focuses more on slapstick comedy than it does on passion and romance.

Shakespeare's Globe has announced full casting for Nick Bagnall's Love's Labour's Lost, opening in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse on Thursday 23 August.

Nicholas Hytner's production of Julius Caesar, the London Theatre Company's second production at the Bridge Theatre, runs from 20 January to 15 April 2018, with opening night on Tuesday 30 January 2018. Designs are by Bunny Christie, with costumes by Christina Cunningham, music by Nick Powell, lighting by Bruno Poet and sound by Paul Arditti.

Nicholas Hytner's promenade production of Julius Caesar, the London Theatre Company's second production at the Bridge Theatre, runs from 20 January to 15 April 2018, with opening night on Tuesday 30 January 2018. Designs are by Bunny Christie, with costumes by Christina Cunningham, music by Nick Powell, lighting by Bruno Poet and sound by Paul Arditti.

Rehearsals begin today (4 December 2017) for Nicholas Hytner's promenade production of Julius Caesar, the London Theatre Company's second production at the Bridge Theatre.

The world premiere of Emily Jenkins' pioneering new play Cookies is being supported by Lily Allen, Ted Reilly, Maddy Hill and Lady Viola Grosvenor, who will act as Ambassadors to the Cyberscene Project - a venture which uses theatre to tackle cyber bullying.