Bush Theatre News

Acclaimed local theatre-maker, Kate Gaul, has teamed up with esteemed UK Theatre Company Milk Presents to bring the award-winning play JOAN to Australia for the very first time. After numerous UK tours visiting over 60 venues and following a sell-out run at the 2016 Edinburgh Festival Fringe where JOAN won a Scotsman Fringe First Award, The Stage Award and Spirit of the Fringe Award, JOAN is coming to Sydney for a very special season for the opening weekend of the 40th anniversary Mardi Gras Festival.

Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres Robert Hastie today announces full casting for the world premiere of Chicken Soup. by Ray Castleton and Kieran Knowles the latter of whom returns to Sheffield Theatres after the success of Operation Crucible; and the regional premi re of Peter Morgan's smash hit play Frost/Nixon.

Mongrel Thumb today announce the cast for the world premi re of Stephanie Jacob's new comic drama, Again. Hannah Price directs Rosie Day (Izzy), Chris Larkin (Tom), Natasha Little (Louise) and Charles Reston (Adam). The production opens at Trafalgar Studios on 9 February, with previews from 6 February, and runs until 3 March.

Theatre Ad Infinitum's wordless tale of life, death and enduring love returns to tour the UK following years of extensive international touring amassing nine awards. Original performers George Mann and Deborah Pugh are joined by Sophie Crawford to retell, with precise gesture and touches of humour, the story of widower William who escapes to a comforting world of fantasy and memories rather than confront his grief. From beyond the grave, his wife Rose returns to help him let go. This poignant, life-affirming tale uses intricate and lifelike hand-held masks created by Madame Tussaud's senior sculptor Victoria Beaton to travel back and forth through William and Rose's relationship, wordlessly conveying a lifetime of memories in 75 minutes.

Director of Nuffield Southampton Theatres, Samuel Hodges, today announces the full cast for the company's inaugural production at NST City the world premi re of Howard Brenton's The Shadow Factory, which Hodges directs. Veteran of stage and screen Anita Dobson joins the cast as Lady Cooper/Ma (Wicked, Apollo Victoria Theatre; The Merry Wives of Windsor, RSC; Frozen, National Theatre) along with Shala Nyx who plays Polly. Dobson, known for playing the iconic role of Angie Watts in EastEnders, and Nyx join David Birrell (Fred/Hugh), Catherine Cusack (Lil/Sylvia), Lorna Fitzgerald (Jackie Dimmock), Hilton McRae (Lord Beaverbrook) and Daniel York (Len Gooch) to complete the company. The Shadow Factory opens on 15 February, with previews from 7 February, and runs until 3 March.

Kitchen Theatre Company continues its 2017-2018 Season with the regional premiere of Ironbound by Martyna Majok, a gritty, honest, and at times humorous look at an immigrant experience in America. Performances of Ironbound begin at the Kitchen Theatre Company in The Percy Browning Performance Space on January 21 and run through February 4.

Rehearsals begin today for The 5th Avenue Theatre's new production of Mamma Mia!, the celebrated musical that features the music of global pop sensation ABBA. The 5th Avenue Theatre is the first producing theater company in the Pacific Northwest to be granted the rights to create its own refreshed version of the show, which toured the world for nearly 20 years.

TheaterWorks (Rob Ruggiero, Producing Artistic Director) announced today that CONSTELLATIONS by Nick Payne will run January 18 through February 18, 2018 (note date change). CONSTELLATIONS is the 2nd show of TheaterWorks 32nd Season.

Rhys Ifans is to star in Mood Music which previews from 21 April 2018 with a press night on 2 May 2018. 'Music is medication. The elixir of life. It's for injecting into the blood stream to take away the pain...to promote euphoria...to adrenalise us and give us courage and fortitude.'

Theatre Exile continues its 2017/2018 season with Really by Jackie Sibblies Drury. In the studio she once shared with her boyfriend Calvin, a photographer poses Calvin's mother for a portrait. Like many artists, she struggles to capture on film what she envisions in her mind. As the photo shoot progresses, the women grapple with their memories of the man who was once the center of their lives.

Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres Robert Hastie today announces that Jonathan Hyde and Daniel Rigby will lead the company for Kate Hewitt's regional premi re production of Peter Morgan's Frost/Nixon. Hyde returns to Sheffield Theatres, where he recently played the title role in Hastie's production of Julius Caesar, to play Richard Nixon, with Daniel Rigby as David Frost. The full company will be announced in the new year.

Hailed as an icon of style, grace and strength, Jacqueline Jackie Kennedy Onassis was known for her alluring mystery and piercing sensuality. Much has been written and said about America's most famous First Lady. However, one detail usually omitted from the story is that she was human. Award-winning playwright Tom Dugan's one-woman drama Jackie Unveiled starring Saffron Burrows (Amazon's Mozart in the Jungle ) dares to peek behind the fa ade of America's most private public figure.

Chrissy Metz, the Emmy Award and Golden Globe nominated star of the NBC drama This Is Us, will make her stage debut in Neil LaBute's critically acclaimed play Fat Pig at the Geffen Playhouse.

The world's oldest and best theatre publication, The Stage, has announced the shortlist for its annual industry awards, celebrating success within the performing arts.

The Warren Miller Performing Arts Center (Executive Director John Zirkle) in Big Sky, Montana announced today it will present the world premiere of LEVITY, featuring Tony Award winner Michele Pawk as Connie, for three performances January 19 through January 21, 2018. Written by Stephanie DiMaggio and directed by Stella Powell-Jones, this new play was developed during WMPAC's summer acting workshop and is the first world premiere production ever to premiere in Big Sky.

The legendary Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson will be played by James Taylor and Patrick Robinson in the UK premiere of playwright Ken Ludwig's Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery.

The Geffen Playhouse today announced that Josiah Bania (CBS's The Good Wife) and Marcel Spears (ABC's The Mayor) will join Tony Award nominee Marin Ireland (Broadway's reasons to be pretty, Amazon's Sneaky Pete) in the West Coast Premiere of Martyna Majok's Ironbound, directed by Tyne Rafaeli (Actually).

Director of Nuffield Southampton Theatres, Samuel Hodges, today announces casting for the theatres inaugural production at NST City the world premi re of Howard Brenton's The Shadow Factory. Hodges directs David Birrell (Fred/Hugh), Catherine Cusack (Lil/Sylvia), Lorna Fitzgerald (Jackie Dimmock), Hilton McRae (Lord Beaverbrook) and Daniel York (Len Gooch). Further casting to be announced. The Shadow Factory opens on 15 February, with previews from 7 February, and runs until 3 March.

The critically acclaimed Shakespeare's Globe production of Farinelli and the King, starring three-time Tony Award-winner (Twelfth Night, Jerusalem, Boeing-Boeing) and Academy Award-winner (Bridge of Spies) Mark Rylance, opens tonight, December 17, 2017 at Broadway's Belasco Theatre (111 West 44th Street). The production plays a strictly limited engagement for 16 weeks only through Sunday, March 25, 2018. Scroll down to learn more about the company, plus watch a trailer for the show!

Manhattan Theatre Club's American premiere of The Royal Court Theatre's production of The Children, the new play by Olivier Award winner Lucy Kirkwood (Chimerica), directed by James MacDonald (Top Girls at MTC), opens tonight, December 12, at MTC's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street). Scroll down to learn more about the company, plus hear from the stars in the video below!