Joe Hill-Gibbins

Closing the 2023/24 Season, the English National Opera will present a semi-staged concert performance of Béla Bartók’s psychodrama Duke Bluebeard’s Castle on 21 and 23 March at the London Coliseum.

If the idea of spending time with your family over the festive season is one that makes you queasy, spare a thought for the Alvings. They have enough skeletons in the closet to populate a graveyard.

Marking a decade since the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse opened, Shakespeare’s Globe is thrilled to announce the 10th Anniversary Season, running from November 2023 to April 2024.

The Young Vic Theatre is delighted to announce director Taio Lawson as the 2023 Genesis Fellow / Associate Director, a two-year programme for experienced directors and theatremakers to develop their craft in directing, programming and artistic planning, made possible with support from the Genesis Foundation.  

The Young Vic Theatre today announces a new production of Further than the Furthest Thing, the award-winning play and haunting modern classic by Zinnie Harris (This Restless House, How To Hold Your Breath), directed by Young Vic Associate Director and Genesis Fellow Jennifer Tang (AI, Mountains: The Dreams of Lily Kwok).

Nearly four months ago, it was announced that Joe Hill-Gibbins will be the next artistic director of Headlong Theatre. Now, it has been announced that he will no longer join the staff. He was originally set to begin in summer 2020.

 Award-winning theatre company Headlong, have today announced the appointment of critically acclaimed theatre and opera director Joe Hill-Gibbins as their new Artistic Director. Currently working as a freelance director, with a new production of The Marriage of Figaro opening at English National Opera this month, he joins Headlong in Summer 2020. Donna Munday has also been announced as the new Chair of the company's Board of Trustees and will succeed current chair Robin Paxton on the 18 March.

Joe Hill-Gibbins returns to ENO with his staging of The Marriage of Figaro, making his main stage debut alongside Chief Conductor of the Munich Symphony Orchestra Kevin John Edusei, who makes his ENO debut in the pit.

Calixto Bieito's critically praised production of Carmen returns to the London Coliseum this January.

The Young Vic Directors Program announces the launch of a new, improved Genesis Network website. The website has been updated and developed to better facilitate the community and peer-support at the heart of the Young Vic Directors Program, the only scheme of its kind, which has been running for nearly twenty years. The program currently serves nearly 1,000 directors, designers and producers living in the UK at the early stages of their career.

he JMK Trust, in partnership with Birmingham Repertory Theatre, today announce that Will Ashford receives the inaugural JMK Bob Carlton Bursary, which through the generous support of Bob's family, will fund a role as an Assistant Director at Birmingham Rep. This bursary has been established in Bob's name as an opportunity for a new director with a connection to the Midlands, where Bob hailed from.

On March 9th, Third Rail Repertory Theatre will screen The Tragedy of King Richard the Second and Antony & Cleopatra at the World Trade Center in downtown Portland. The performances were live-captured at London's National Theatre and will be screened in high-definition as part of Third Rail's National Theatre Live program, which brings the best of London Theatre to Portland audiences. 

The Tragedy of King Richard II is currently being broadcast live to cinemas from the Almeida Theatre in London as part of National Theatre Live. See an exclusive clip from the film below!

The Tragedy of King Richard the Second marks the Almeida's first National Theatre Live, broadcasting to audiences around the world on 15 January. We spoke to actor Leo Bill and caught up with Camera Director Tony Grech-Smith, to find out how those onstage and those behind the scenes (and screens) prepare.

Well, it's that time of the year again--time for a look-back on what was worth making note of during the calendar year that's about to come to an end. It's from a totally personal, subjective point of view, of course, but frankly that's the way opera-lovers always seem to like it, n'est-ce pas? The productions worth noting come from places big, small and in-between, from composers old as the hills to freshly minted or somewhere in between (likewise the performers), from traditional or boldly modern to simply stand up and sing.

'Forget, forgive, conclude and be agreed...' Sure, the Almeida's The Tragedy of King Richard the Second is one you won't soon forget, thanks to stand out performances from Simon Russell Beale and Leo Bill. Even staunch devotees of the original text will be able to forgive Jeff James' edit, which lifts and drives the piece. But to conclude: it's unlikely that all will agree on Joe Hill-Gibbins' chaotic and sometimes polarizing vision.

Discussing how relevant the play is to not only our time but this very week, Saskia Reeves also shares the joys of working on Shakespeare with Declan Donnellan and Joe Hill-Gibbins, 'directors who have real imagination and love the text and storytelling'.

Simon Russell Beale returns to National Theatre Live screens following broadcasts of Timon of Athens and King Lear, and his recent role in the National Theatre's critically acclaimed production of The Lehman Trilogy. Beale plays William Shakespeare's Richard II, broadcast live from the stage of the Almeida Theatre in London to The Ridgefield Playhouse screen on Tuesday, January 15 at 2pm and shown in an encore screening Thursday, January 17 at 7pm. This visceral new production about the limits of power is directed by Joe Hill-Gibbins, whose previous plays include Little Revolution at the Almeida and Absolute Hell at the National Theatre. These screenings are part of the Atria Senior Living Classical Series with support from Whistle Stop Bakery and are underwritten by Jeanne Cook, Liz & Steven Goldstone and Sabina &Walter Slavin.

I hope somebody from New York City Opera was at BAM last weekend, because Mark-Anthony Turnage's GREEK--a modern retelling of the Oedipus myth from Scottish Opera/Opera Ventures, presented by BAM's Next Wave Festival--is just what the doctor ordered for that company. A great story, a small cast, a score that maybe won't leave you humming but moves like gangbusters, a simple production that doesn't look cheesy (except maybe in a mozzarella-ish way). And, oh yes, a happy audience for a work that deserves greater reach on these shores.

The Almeida Theatre today announces the full cast for Joe Hill-Gibbins's new production of Shakespeare's The Tragedy of King Richard the Second, with Simon Russell Beale in the title role.