Alan Bennett News

There's a bumper summer season line up at The Fugard Bioscope during December and January.

Nottingham Playhouse will partner with National Theatre Live for the first time to broadcast their new production of The Madness of George III.

Northern Broadsides will once again join forces with the award-winning New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme and warm the hearts of theatregoers this Spring when they stage William Shakespeare's glorious tale of antagonistic romance and chaotic comedy - Much Ado About Nothing.

'There is no better way of forgetting something than by commemorating it.' That's not from Bury the Dead, Irwin Shaw's 1936 expressionist anti-war play, but from Alan Bennett's The History Boys. The boys in question are clustered around a First World War memorial, learning, for the first time, a narrative that implicates Britain. 'So much for Our Glorious Dead,' says one of them.

Filmed live at London's Bridge Theatre during its limited run. The Beth, an old fashioned cradle-to-grave hospital serving a town on the edge of the Pennines, is threatened with closure as part of an efficiency drive. A documentary crew, eager to capture its fight for survival, follows the daily struggle to find beds on the Dusty Springfield Geriatric Ward, and the triumphs of the old people's choir. Alan Bennett's celebrated plays include The History Boys, The Lady in the Van and The Madness of George III, all of which were also seen on film. Allelujah! is his tenth collaboration with award-winning director Nicholas Hytner.

PREMIERES (Paulette Haupt, Artistic Director), the New York based music theater organization whose mission is "to bring new music theater to light," is pleased to announce the cast and creative teams for this season's INNER VOICES, the biennial series of solo works featuring new teams of playwrights and composers. Performances begin TONIGHT at 8:00pm for a limited run through Saturday, November 17, 2018 at The TBG Mainstage Theatre (312 West 36th Street - between 8th & 9th Avenues). Opening Night is Thursday, November 1, 2018 at 8:00pm.

Nottingham Playhouse is delighted to announce Adam Penford's second season as artistic director, including the return of the hugely popular Wonderland.

The Habit of Art is a wonderfully funny and deeply moving revival of Alan Bennett's fantastic 2009 follow up to The History Boys. The play focuses on a fictional meeting between WH Auden and Benjamin Britten in 1972, when Britten seeks out his old friend to combat his loneliness and ask advice about his new composition of Death in Venice. This meeting is framed as a play within a play where rehearsals are taking place; aged thesps Fitz and Henry play Auden and Britten respectively, musing on life, ageing, sex and art.

Britain's foremost political playwright David Hare returns with a new play examining the current state of the Labour Party. Or not exactly - this is a world with no Brexit, no Corbyn, nothing, in fact, to anchor it to the burning issues of 2018. A relief, perhaps, but this is a state-of-the-nation play unwilling to examine our actual state.

Miles Jupp, one of Britain's leading stand-up comedians and revered actors (Mock the Week, Balamory, The News Quiz, Rev, The Durrells), will tour the UK in 2019, with the world premiere of THE LIFE I LEAD by James Kettle, directed by Selina Cadell, opening at the Exeter Northcott on 6 February.

National Theatre Live broadcasts return to the McAninch Arts Center, located at 425 Fawell Blvd. on the campus of College of DuPage, as part of the MAC's 2018-2019 Season. Kicking off the series today, Oct. 4 will be "Julie," a contemporary adaptation of August Strindberg's masterpiece, "Miss Julie."  

Following a slew of four and five star reviews for performances in York, Brighton, Salisbury and Oxford, Alan Bennett's The Habit of Art comes to the Belgrade Theatre this November in a new production from Original Theatre Company.

The National Theatre has today announced its new season

The Madness of George III, written by Alan Bennett, is an epic, multi award-winning drama. Set in 1788, King George III (played by Mark Gatiss) is the most powerful man in the world. However, his behaviour is becoming increasingly erratic; and his mind unravels at a dramatic pace.

An historic performance of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem by The Bach Choir on October 3rd at Westminster Cathedral will be supported by a cast of three celebrities speaking and reading about the horrors of war. The Requiem was Britten's musical plea for peace. He chose The Bach Choir to perform on the first recording of the work almost 60 years ago and now once more they will be performing the work.

The Morris Museum will launch its new partnership with National Theatre Live on Sunday, September 23, 2018 at 2:00PM in the Bickford Theatre. This new opportunity to experience theatre at the Bickford, provides the best seat in the house for live performances and encore screenings transmitted by satellite from stages in the UK.  Attendees will experience some of the foremost talents in these world-class productions.

After opening to critical acclaim in 2009, the Original Theatre Company in collaboration with York Theatre Royal are bringing back Alan Bennett's The Habit of Art in its first revival since the original sell-out run. Centred around a fictional meeting between two of the 20th century's most influential gay artists, poet WH Auden and composer Benjamin Britten, the production boasts a stellar ensemble cast including Matthew Kelly and David Yelland.

Melbourne Theatre Company Artistic Director Brett Sheehy AO today revealed MTC's 2019 Season; a feast of theatrical delights at Victoria's state theatre company.

It's 1910 and spoilt, lonely Mary Lennox lives a life of luxury in India with her aristocratic parents. But when an unexpected twist of fate suddenly leaves her orphaned, she is sent to live with an unknown uncle in Misselthwaite Manor - a mysterious place - on the wild Yorkshire Moors. With the help of some unexpected friends, Mary sets about discovering the legend of its secret garden.